Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Knight-Hennessy funds up to three years of any graduate degree, or combination of degrees, that a scholar is about to begin at Stanford. Each year includes a fellowship for tuition and fees, a stipend for living and academic costs (housing, meals, books, supplies, local transport and personal expenses) and a travel stipend meant to cover one economy-class return trip to Stanford. New scholars also receive a one-time relocation stipend for moving costs and technology, and in years two and three scholars can apply for extra funds for academic enrichment such as conference travel.

For degrees longer than three years, the rest is funded elsewhere. PhD and DMA students receive up to twelve quarters from Knight-Hennessy and are funded by their department from year four; MD students receive up to eleven quarters, with years four and five funded by the School of Medicine; JD/MBA students receive nine quarters and apply for need-based aid for the rest. Stipends may be taxable, and scholars must budget for that.

Citizens and residents of every country can apply, including undocumented students and DACA recipients. The key limit is time since the first degree: for the 2027 cohort you must have earned your bachelor's degree in January 2020 or later, no more than seven years before enrolment. Military service extends this by two years (January 2018 or later).

You must enrol full-time in a Stanford graduate degree such as a DMA, JD, MA, MBA, MD, MFA, MPP, MS or PhD. Current Stanford graduate students can apply for a new full-time degree, and first-year Stanford PhD students can apply to join from their second year. Some programmes are excluded, among them the Honors Cooperative Program, the Master of Liberal Arts, the JSD and MLS, and coterminal degrees.

Knight-Hennessy cannot admit you to Stanford. You submit two separate but concurrent applications: one to Knight-Hennessy Scholars and one to your Stanford graduate programme. To become a scholar you need an offer from both, and it is possible to be admitted to Stanford but not to the programme. The Knight-Hennessy application is free; your degree programme charges its own fee, which Knight-Hennessy cannot waive.

There are no deferrals, even when your department allows one. If you cannot enrol in the year you are selected, you must reapply, and only while you remain within the seven-year limit.

Every scholar takes part in the King Global Leadership Program, a series of workshops, lectures, projects and experiences alongside the degree, including KHeystone Projects, which scholars lead on real-world problems. Denning House is the community's home on campus.

Cohorts are deliberately mixed. Across all scholars so far, 46 per cent hold non-US passports, 51 per cent identify as people of colour and 18 per cent are the first in their family to graduate from college. After Stanford, alumni stay involved as mentors and guest speakers for later cohorts.