SCHOLARSHIPS
Thanks to Solar Energy International’s partners, we are able to offer need-based scholarships to cover tuition costs for solar training to a select number of aspiring and current solar professionals each year. Want to honor a loved one or a passion in a meaningful way through dedicating a scholarship? Click here to make your gift!
Women in Solar Power Scholarship
The SEI Women in Solar Power Scholarship program connects women, and anyone who identifies as such in a significant way, with the funding needed for solar energy training, networking and mentorship opportunities, and clean energy employer / job connections.
Thanks to SEI’s generous partners and donors, we are able to offer scholarships to cover tuition costs for solar training to aspiring and current solar professionals. These scholarships are here to help you achieve your solar journey goals.
If you are a woman and would like to apply for a Women in Solar Power scholarship, click the button below.
Native American Education Scholarship
The Native American Solar Education scholarship aims to increase Native American Indian representation among the clean energy industry by awarding solar training tuition fees to hand-selected Native American students, helping to facilitate their professional development and eventual entry into the solar energy workforce.
Solar Energy International (SEI) and REC Americas have formed a partnership to provide a scholarship aimed to increase Native American representation among the clean energy industry. The scholarship will award $10,000 in solar training tuition fees to hand-selected Native American students to help facilitate their professional development and eventual entry into the solar energy workforce. With a strong belief that there is a career for everyone in the solar industry, the scholarship aims to elevate underrepresented voices to strategically address some of the weaknesses prevalent in the industry. By empowering soon-to-be solar energy experts with the necessary training, the scholarship will help strengthen and build a more diversified solar workforce.
The scholarship funding is open to students in the U.S. who are at least 1/4 Native American Indian and a member of a federally recognized tribe. Selected candidates will be given tuition funds to cover SEI’s online or in-person training, with a goal of eventual job placement with a partner company.
Walt Ratterman Scholarship
If you are from a developing country and would like take SEI training in order to bring renewable energy technologies to your community, you may qualify for the Walt Ratterman Scholarship.
Walt Ratterman was an instructor, alumni, supporter and friend of SEI, who perished in the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He was also an incredibly dedicated one-of-a-kind individual who touched thousands of people’s lives around the world. Walt was in Haiti working on solar projects for health clinics with the organization that he cofounded, SunEnergy Power International (SunEPI). SunEPI works around the world to improve people’s quality of life with renewable energy technologies in remote, rural areas.Some of Walt’s work can be seen in Adrian Belic’s award winning film “Beyond the Call” which documents Knightsbridge International, a humanitarian and medical aid organization to which Walt belonged that worked in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
Walt and his Knightsbridge buddies were described as a cross between Indiana Jones and Mother Theresa, and there is no better way to describe Walt. Fear was not a word in his vocabulary, and he had a heart of gold. And that is probably an understatement on both accounts. Whether it was crossing the border into Burma in the middle of the night with solar equipment to train Burmese medical technicians, or wearing a burqa in Afghanistan under the Taliban to see what it was like to be a woman in that country, Walt’s quest for knowledge and his desire to help those in need was extraordinary. If there were people in need, and Walt could help, it didn’t matter their geographic, political or religious affiliation, he would be there. To Walt, humanitarian aid knew no boundaries.
Walt brought solar training and humanitarian aid to Rwanda, Uganda, Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Palestine, the Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Tibet, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the list goes on. And the list of NGO’s he worked with is almost as long as the countries he worked in. The Solar Electric Light Fund, Green Empowerment, the Border Green Energy Team, Solar Energy International, Engineers without Borders, Light Up the World, and many others all benefited from Walt’s incredible knowledge and dedication. SEI feels privileged to have known and worked with Walt over the years. Although he is now gone from this Earth, his spirit lives on, in the many thousands of lives around the world that he has touched, and the remarkable work that people he has inspired will keep on doing.
He was truly a solar hero. Thanks to our generous supporter of the Walt Ratterman scholarship fund, the Abe Littenberg Foundation.
SEI General Scholarship
Tuition assistance to those in financial need, from any country worldwide, and who are often underemployed or unemployed and in search of a new and meaningful career.
With help from our partners and donors, Solar Energy International (SEI) is here to help you achieve your solar journey goals. Fill out an application today to get started.
“Incredible experience, incredible training, incredible staff, incredible location.”
-Brian Angelo