WGU Offers Scholarships to Help Fill Cybersecurity Skills Gap

SALT LAKE CITY – As part of an ongoing strategy to help fill the United States’ critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals, competency-based, nonprofit Western Governors University (WGU) is offering eligible new students a scholarship that could reduce their tuition by more than one-third.

The WGU Cybersecurity Scholarship, worth up to $5,000 per student, launched this week in recognition of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. New WGU students enrolling in the B.S. Cybersecurity and Information Assurance or M.S. Cybersecurity and Information Assurance program are eligible to apply through Dec. 31, 2019. Recipients will be awarded $1,250 per six-month term—renewable up to four terms—toward those programs. Already-low tuition is about $3,500 per term.

According to CyberSeek, an initiative funded by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), the U.S. is facing a growing shortfall of cybersecurity professionals—nearly 314,000 as of January 2019. WGU is a leading educator of cybersecurity professionals, with more than 4,000 undergraduates and nearly 1,500 graduate students enrolled in a cybersecurity degree program. WGU’s cybersecurity curriculum is designed and regularly updated with input from cybersecurity experts and leading IT employers to meet the most recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Security Agency (NSA) guidelines. Graduates work for leading companies and organizations around the world— including at the highest levels of the federal government.

Designed to meet the needs of adult learners, WGU’s competency-based education allows students to take advantage of their knowledge and experience to move quickly through material they already know, so they can focus on what they still need to learn. Students complete their programs by studying with schedules that fit their lives, advancing as soon as they demonstrate mastery of the subject matter. WGU faculty members work one-on-one with students as mentors, offering guidance, support, and individualized instruction. While WGU’s degree programs are rigorous and challenging, competency-based learning makes it possible for students to accelerate their progress, saving both time and money.

WGU’s cybersecurity programs are perfect for either current or aspiring cybersecurity professionals. And in addition to earning a degree, students enrolled in these programs earn industry certification, embedded in the curriculum and at no extra cost, along the way.

To learn more about WGU’s Cybersecurity Scholarship, or to apply, visit www.wgu.edu/cyberscholarship.