Student Funding and Awards
Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs
Colby’s hub for politics, policy, and the press.
Student Funding and Awards
The Goldfarb Center provides robust support to students who are interested in furthering their personal and professional interests in politics, policy, and the press through internship experiences, support for research projects, and post-graduate plans.
Student Internship Grants
Along with DavisConnects, the Public Policy Lab, and other campus collaborators, the Goldfarb Center funds internships that align with our mission to empower students to think critically, engage meaningfully, and drive change.
Current students can apply to the Goldfarb Center for grants – including Sandy Maisel Grants – to offset costs associated with both paid and unpaid internships including:
- JanPlan Legislative internships curated by the Public Policy Lab in Augusta, Maine
- Summer internships in Washington D.C. through the Goldfarb Center’s Hill to Hill program
- Summer, JanPlan, and semester-long internships found and/or secured with the help of DavisConnects in the areas of politics, policy, and the press
- Summer, JanPlan, and semester-long internships in the areas of politics, policy, and the press secured through other means such as direct community or alumni connections, provided these internships meet the College’s criteria for either academic credit or transcript notation
Upcoming Application Dates and Deadlines
Summer ’26 Funding Cycle
Application Opens: Monday, March 16 @ 12:00 AM
Application Closes: Thursday, April 2 @ 11:59 PM
Award Notifications: Wednesday, April 22
Fund Disbursement Requirements: May 22
Sandy Maisel Grants
Dozens of opportunities are funded each year through the Sandy Maisel Student Internship and Research Grants. This is possible because of generous gifts from a group of alumni seeking to honor the late Sandy Maisel, Professor and founding director of the Goldfarb Center.
This support allows Colby students to build on their classroom experience with hands-on opportunities throughout the United States and abroad. Awards are intended to encourage students to explore internship opportunities related to public affairs and public policy; funds may also be used to support research in public affairs, such as a senior thesis.
Please submit all materials according to instructions for each category as outlined here.
Franko-Maisel Prize for Public Affairs
The Franko-Maisel Prize for Public Affairs is a $10,000 prize awarded annually to a graduating senior who has demonstrated exceptional engagement with and commitment to topics or issues in the areas of public affairs during their time at Colby College. As a recognition of the awardee’s involvement in these areas, the Prize aims to serve as a direct investment in the awardee’s ability to continue to engage with and contribute to public affairs-related endeavors at any level of service – including the community, local, state, national, or global levels – following graduation.
The Prize is designed to empower awardees to take steps to launch and/or deepen their personal or professional involvement in work, projects, or organizations in the aforementioned areas, in either the domestic or global spheres. It is both a prestigious acknowledgement of the awardee’s past achievement as well as a generous financial contribution towards a promising future of work in the public interest.
The Franko-Maisel Prize is possible because of a generous gift from Patrice Franko, the Grossman Professor of Economics and Professor of Global Studies, and the late Sandy Maisel, Professor and founding director of the Goldfarb Center.
Read more about the Franko-Maisel Prize for Public Affairs here.