Javits and FLAS Fellowships — Federal Graduate Fellowships in Humanities and Foreign Languages

Two federal fellowship programs — the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program (no longer accepting applications since FY2012, but technically still on the books) and the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship Program — represent the federal government's direct investment in graduate-level education in the humanities, arts, social sciences, and critical foreign languages. Both are authorized under the Higher Education Act and administered by the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education, but they operate through different mechanisms and serve distinct purposes. Javits selects individual doctoral students of exceptional promise in the humanities and arts; FLAS supports students pursuing foreign language and area studies at federally designated National Resource Centers — graduate programs that Congress funds to build U.S. expertise in strategically important languages and regions.

Current Law (2026)

Legal Authority

• 20 U.S.C. § 1134 — Javits Fellowship Program authority: directs the Secretary to award fellowships to students of superior ability selected on the basis of demonstrated achievement, financial need, and exceptional promise, for doctoral study in the humanities, arts, and social sciences
• 20 U.S.C. § 1134a — Fellowship Board: establishes a Fellowship Board that selects Javits fellows and determines eligible fields of study each year
• 20 U.S.C. § 1134b — Stipends: fellow stipends are based on financial need as determined by each institution using the same methodology as other Title IV need analysis; institutional payments are made separately per fellow
• 20 U.S.C. § 1122 — FLAS Program authority: directs the Secretary to provide allocations of fellowships to institutions with approved National Resource Centers in modern foreign languages and area studies; the allocations fund both academic-year and summer language study fellowships for graduate students

Key Mechanics

The Javits Fellowship Program (20 U.S.C. § 1134) awards fellowships to doctoral students in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, selected competitively by the Javits Fellowship Board based on exceptional academic ability and financial need. Each fellow receives a stipend based on financial need (determined by the institution) plus a cost-of-education allowance paid to the institution; fellows may receive support for up to 48 months. The program is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents at any point before completing their doctoral qualifying exam. The FLAS Program (20 U.S.C. § 1122) differs structurally: FLAS fellowships are allocated to universities with Department of Education-approved National Resource Centers in specific foreign language and area study fields (e.g., East Asian Studies, Middle Eastern Studies); the NRC institution then selects individual FLAS fellows from among its own students. FLAS fellows must be enrolled in an approved NRC program and must study a "less commonly taught" language (not Spanish, French, or German, which are considered "commonly taught" for FLAS purposes). FLAS fellowships cover academic-year and summer study; summer FLAS fellows must devote at least half their summer to language study. Both programs require annual reporting by fellows; Javits fellows who do not complete their degrees within the support period must notify the Department of Education. As of 2025, both programs are funded by annual appropriations at approximately $12–15 million each.

The Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program

The Javits Fellowship Program is named for Jacob K. Javits, the longtime Republican Senator from New York who championed federal investment in graduate education and foreign language study during the Cold War era. The program funds doctoral study specifically in the humanities, arts, and social sciences — disciplines that have fewer fellowship funding alternatives than STEM fields, where NSF, NIH, and DOD fellowships are more abundant. Javits fellows are selected through a national competitive process by a Fellowship Board appointed by the Secretary; unlike most federal fellowship programs, selection is centralized rather than delegated to individual institutions.

34 CFR Part 650 — Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Program (20 sections, implementing 20 U.S.C. § 1134):

• § 650.1 — What the program does: the Secretary awards fellowships to students of superior ability selected on the basis of demonstrated achievement, financial need, and exceptional promise for doctoral study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences; the program targets the doctoral pipeline — students who are not yet enrolled in doctoral programs or who are in the early stages — not advanced doctoral candidates seeking completion funding

• § 650.2 — Who is eligible: an individual is eligible if they are enrolled in a doctoral program at an accredited institution, are not studying for a religious vocation, are in a field the Fellowship Board has designated as eligible for that competition year, and have demonstrated financial need and academic achievement; there is no citizenship requirement in the regulatory text, though the Secretary has implemented citizenship requirements consistent with other Title IV programs

• § 650.5 — What the fellowship includes: each Javits fellowship consists of (a) a stipend paid to the fellow, calculated based on financial need using the same institutional need-analysis methodology as other federal student aid, and (b) an annual institutional payment — historically set at approximately $10,222 per fellow per academic year — paid directly to the institution to cover costs associated with hosting the fellow

• § 650.10 — Application process: individuals apply directly to the Secretary in response to an application notice published in the Federal Register; unlike FLAS, there is no institutional intermediary — the applicant competes in a national pool evaluated by the Fellowship Board; applications typically require transcripts, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, and a writing sample

• § 650.20 — Selection by the Fellowship Board: the Fellowship Board establishes criteria for fellow selection and, each year, selects specific fields of study within the humanities, arts, and social sciences, and the number of fellows in each field; the Board's field designations determine where the competition is open — a year might emphasize American history and musicology while a different year emphasizes philosophy and comparative literature; field selection reflects the Board's assessment of where doctoral talent pipelines need investment

• § 650.33 — Fellowship duration: a Javits fellow may receive the fellowship for up to 48 months (4 years), or the time required to receive the doctoral degree, whichever is less; this covers the bulk of a humanities doctoral program but typically does not fund the dissertation completion phase; the Secretary may award up to 24 months before the fellow provides evidence of satisfactory progress toward the degree

• § 650.34 — Fellow obligations: recipients must maintain satisfactory progress as determined by their institution and devote essentially full time to the program of study; outside employment must be consistent with maintaining full-time enrollment

• § 650.35 — Study interruptions: an institution may allow a fellow to interrupt study for up to 12 months — for work, travel, or independent study away from the institution — without losing fellowship eligibility; the 12-month interruption does not count against the 48-month maximum fellowship period

• § 650.36 — Changes in field or institution: after an award, a Javits fellow may not change the field of study or the institution attended without the prior approval of the Secretary; this prevents fellows from parlaying a competitive Javits award in a niche field into an unrestricted doctoral credential in an entirely different discipline

• § 650.42 — Stipend calculation: the institution annually calculates the fellow's financial need using Title IV methodology; the stipend is based on financial need; fellows with higher calculated need receive larger stipends; the institutional payment ($10,222/yr) is separate from and in addition to the need-based stipend

  The Javits program is small by federal program standards — typically 50 to 100 new fellows per year — but highly competitive and prestigious within the humanities. For doctoral students in fields like philosophy, classics, art history, musicology, and anthropology, where non-federal fellowship funding is scarce and doctoral programs routinely last 6-8 years, a Javits award represents a significant multi-year funding commitment that allows recipients to focus on research without adjuncting or unrelated employment. The program's centralized, national selection process means that Javits fellows are distributed across many institutions rather than concentrated at a few wealthy research universities. Recent rulemakings: 58 FR 58084 (Nov. 1993) — implementing regulations originally established; 64 FR 3199 (Jan. 1999) — minor amendments to institutional payment procedures.

The Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship Program

The FLAS Fellowship Program serves a fundamentally different purpose: building national capacity in foreign languages and area studies that the private market underproduces. FLAS is part of the Department of Education's Title VI international education portfolio, which also funds National Resource Centers (NRCs) — federally designated centers of excellence in specific world regions and languages at universities across the country. FLAS fellowships are awarded by NRCs to their enrolled students, not by the Secretary directly to individuals. A student does not apply to the Department of Education for a FLAS fellowship; they apply to the NRC or approved program at their institution, which has already received a fellowship allocation from the Secretary.

34 CFR Part 657 — Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Program (19 sections, implementing 20 U.S.C. § 1122):

• § 657.1 — Program structure: under FLAS, the Secretary provides allocations of fellowships to Centers (National Resource Centers) and other administrative units at eligible institutions; the Center receives a grant specifying how many academic-year and summer fellowships it may award; the Center's faculty and administrators then select individual fellows from among its enrolled students

• § 657.2 — Eligible grantees: the Secretary awards fellowship allocations to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions; the institution must have an approved Center or program in modern foreign languages and area studies — essentially, the institution must have an active NRC grant (34 CFR Part 651) or other approved Title VI program before it can receive FLAS allocations

• § 657.3 — Instructional requirements: fellowship allocations must support both foreign language instruction and area studies — students must be pursuing a program that integrates substantial language training with study of a geographic world region; this dual requirement distinguishes FLAS from pure area studies or pure language programs; the language must be a modern foreign language (not classical or ancient), and the area must be a geographically designated region approved by the Secretary

• § 657.4 — Student eligibility: to receive a FLAS fellowship, a student must (a) be a citizen, national, or permanent resident; (b) be enrolled in a graduate program at an institution with an approved Center; (c) be pursuing study in a designated language/area combination; and (d) make a commitment to use the language and knowledge in a career in government, education, or the nonprofit sector — a service commitment that differentiates FLAS from purely merit-based graduate fellowships

• § 657.5 — Fellowship components: each fellowship consists of an institutional payment and a stipend; additional allowances — for specialized language training materials, intensive immersion programs, or overseas study costs — may be included as specified by the Secretary in the annual program notice

• §§ 657.20–657.21 — Institutional selection criteria: the Secretary evaluates institutional applications for fellowship allocations based on the quality of the applicant's Center or program in foreign language and area studies; key criteria include: the scope and depth of language instruction offered, the strength of area studies curriculum across relevant disciplines, the qualifications of faculty, the institutional commitment to language study (library resources, language labs, intensive programs), and the Center's track record in placing fellows in government, education, and research careers

• § 657.22 — Priorities: the Secretary may establish priority areas for FLAS allocations — specific critical languages (Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Swahili, and others) or specific world areas (East Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa) where federal demand for language expertise is acute; during priority years, institutions with strong programs in priority languages receive additional consideration in allocation decisions

• § 657.30 — Distance education restrictions: FLAS fellows may satisfy course requirements through in-person instruction or, with the Secretary's prior approval, hybrid formats; correspondence courses are expressly ineligible; the in-person requirement reflects the program's emphasis on intensive, immersive language learning, which research consistently shows is more effective when conducted face-to-face

• § 657.32 — Fellowship termination: an institution must terminate a FLAS fellowship if the fellow is not making satisfactory progress, is no longer enrolled, fails to maintain study in the designated language and area, or fails to follow the approved plan of study; funds must be returned to the Secretary upon termination

  FLAS fellowships fund both academic-year fellowships (for full-time graduate study during the regular academic year, integrating language courses with area studies seminars) and summer fellowships (for intensive language study during the summer, typically at domestic intensive language programs or overseas immersion programs). Summer FLAS fellowships are particularly important for students pursuing critical languages — Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Swahili, Hindi — who need intensive immersion to achieve functional proficiency quickly. The summer fellowship mechanism was designed specifically to allow graduate students to do intensive language training that their regular semester programs cannot provide. Students receiving summer FLAS fellowships often attend domestic intensive programs (like Middlebury Language Schools or IU Bloomington's SWSEEL) or participate in Department of Education-funded overseas programs.

How It Affects You

If you are a graduate student in the humanities, arts, or social sciences considering doctoral programs: the Javits Fellowship is one of the few competitive graduate fellowships in the humanities that is not field-specific and not tied to a particular institution. If you're applying to doctoral programs in disciplines where external fellowship funding is scarce — literature, history, philosophy, musicology, art history, anthropology, cultural studies — the Javits competition is worth tracking. The Department of Education publishes the annual Federal Register application notice, typically in late fall or early winter. Selection is by the Fellowship Board, which reviews applications nationally; a strong writing sample, compelling academic narrative, and demonstrated financial need all factor into competitiveness. Note that the fields the Board designates as eligible shift from year to year — check the current year's Federal Register notice to confirm your intended field is open for competition.

If you are a graduate student in a foreign language, area studies, or international relations program: your first step is finding out whether your institution has an active National Resource Center (NRC) grant and whether that NRC has a FLAS fellowship allocation. NRCs are competitive grants — about 100 centers at 60+ institutions hold NRC grants at any given time, covering world regions from East Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East to Eastern Europe. Your institution's NRC office or Graduate School office should be able to tell you whether FLAS fellowships are available and how to apply. FLAS applications are made to your institution's Center, not to the Department of Education — and each Center sets its own application requirements and timeline. Summer FLAS fellowships are often easier to obtain than academic-year fellowships and can fund intensive language study that dramatically accelerates your language proficiency. If your institution lacks an NRC, you can still apply through consortia arrangements at partner institutions that do hold NRC grants.

If you are a university administrator or NRC director: FLAS fellowship allocations are determined through the NRC grant competition — institutions compete for both NRC designations and associated FLAS fellowship allocations simultaneously. Larger, more comprehensive NRC grants receive larger FLAS allocations. The Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) maintains guidance on the NRC competition and FLAS allocation formulas at ed.gov/programs/iegpsflasf. FLAS administration requires detailed record-keeping — each fellow's language/area study plan, academic progress, stipend disbursement, and post-graduation career outcome must be tracked and reported to the Secretary; the Department uses this data in subsequent NRC competition cycles to assess a Center's FLAS track record.

State Variations

Neither Javits nor FLAS has a state funding component. Both are purely federal programs. The geographic distribution of FLAS fellowships reflects the distribution of NRC grants — concentrated at major research universities with established international studies programs, including those on both coasts and in the Midwest. Javits fellowships are distributed more evenly across institutions, since the Fellowship Board selects individuals nationally rather than allocating by institution.

Recent Developments

Both programs have faced budget pressures and, in 2025, operational disruption from Department of Education workforce reductions.

• Department of Education RIFs in 2025 and FLAS disruption: the Department of Education shed roughly 50% of its workforce in early 2025, including OPE staff who administer Title VI programs; FLAS fellowship allocations were delayed, and NRC grant renewals were processed more slowly; National Resource Centers reported uncertainty about fellowship funding for the 2025–26 academic year
• Critical language priorities and China competition: FLAS priorities have increasingly emphasized Chinese, Arabic, Korean, and other languages identified in the National Security Language Initiative as critical; the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO) — which administers the David L. Boren National Security Education Program — has expanded its own fellowship programs that partially overlap with FLAS in function; competition for students between NSEP (security-career commitment required) and FLAS (broader career commitment) is an ongoing policy discussion
• Javits funding eliminated since FY2012: Javits appropriations were zeroed out in FY2011 and the program has not accepted new fellowship applications since FY2012, though the statutory authority remains on the books; existing fellows were honored through completion of their degrees; humanities advocacy groups, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Humanities Alliance, have pushed for restoration of Javits funding as part of broader arguments for federal investment in the humanities; no restoration has materialized as of 2026
• Title VI reauthorization and FLAS structure: the Higher Education Act has not been fully reauthorized since 2008; Title VI (international education, of which FLAS is part) is subject to the same continuing authorization uncertainty as other HEA programs; proposals to expand FLAS to include undergraduate-level fellowships and to create a summer-only fellowship track for advanced language study have been discussed in HEA reauthorization working groups but not enacted