Penn Career Services announced a significant decrease in funding for summer 2026 programs, citing a lack of financial resources to support more than three students.
According to a recent update, Career Services will limit its summer 2026 funding to the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award, which supports research on various global matters. Career Services has historically provided undergraduate students with a wide range of summer funding opportunities, often supporting those who pursued underfunded or unpaid programs.
The award limits applicants to undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences, giving preference to those working full-time “for at least eight weeks.”
“We were informed in January that there would unfortunately not be funds available for Summer 2026,” Executive Director of Career Services Barbara Hewitt wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Many Penn students rely on Career Services’ financial support to accept internships or other opportunities, offsetting associated costs that might otherwise exclude certain applicants.
Career Services previously offered a general summer funding opportunity to any currently enrolled, full-time undergraduate students receiving financial aid from the University who intended to pursue a summer “internship, service program, or research opportunity.”
The Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award was established in June 2017 by 1982 College graduate Suzanne Turner and 1982 College graduate and Penn Carey Law graduate David Schulman. The award is dedicated to supporting students pursuing internships that aim to “further human rights causes in the U.S. and around the globe.”
The award grants students up to $5,000 and is intended to cover “travel expenses, living expenses, and/or other expenses related to the summer experience.” Career Services is responsible for the management and distribution of these funds.
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Unlike many other funding opportunities, receiving financial aid from the University is not an eligibility requirement of the Turner Schulman Human Rights Internship Award. According to the Career Services website, though, the upcoming program’s “funding is limited and we expect to be able to award 2-3 students.
While the decrease in funding will impact students, Hewitt emphasized that Career Services still offers many other means to connect students with opportunities.
“Career Services remains committed to helping students explore other sources of funding at Penn or externally, for example, by maintaining a Penn Sources of Funding page as a resource for students,” Hewitt wrote.
Last month, the Penn Museum announced the suspension of its anthropology summer camp for summer 2026 — similarly citing limited operational and financial capabilities.
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The numbers behind Penn’s postgraduate fellowships
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Staff reporter Ryan Rucker covers the University’s graduate schools and can be reached at rucker@thedp.com. At Penn, he studies political science.
