The cost to attend CESSI in 2025 is $5,000.* This cost includes tuition and student fees.
New UW-Madison Students: Students who have not attended UW-Madison before will also be assessed a one-time document fee of $130, which covers the cost of future transcript requests.
International Students: May incur additional fees. Please review the WISLI international students page carefully and view this infographic.
CESSI Application Fee: All applicants must pay the $25 non-refundable application fee (click HERE to pay) to be considered for admittance.
It is our goal to make CESSI as affordable as possible. If the application fee or new student document fee are a hardship, please reach out to cessi@creeca.wisc.edu to discuss your case.
* The above fee structure does not apply to current UW-Madison Wisconsin and Minnesota resident undergraduate students. WI and MN undergraduates follow the normal UW-Madison fee structure, which can be found here.
Please note
CESSI courses are non-standard, and our policies and deadlines differ from those of UW-Madison. Please read our policies here and contact us prior to the start of the program with any questions.
Funding
Four different sources of funding are available for eligible applicants, although students are also encouraged to explore alternative funding options available through their home institutions.
To aid you in determining which funding opportunities you are eligible for, we recommend using the CESSI Funding Quiz.
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Title VIII Fellowship
2025 Title VIII Fellowship Deadline: Feb. 1, 2025
The Title VIII Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State, provides funding for research and language training to American scholars and students for the study of Eastern Europe and Eurasia (Independent States of the Former Soviet Union). Title VIII maintains U.S. expertise in the regions and brings open-source, policy-relevant research to the service of the U.S. Government. Fellows are encouraged to pursue speaking engagements with INR’s Office of Analytic Outreach and seek employment with a U.S. government agency.
Title VIII fellowships cover full tuition at CESSI and provide a stipend of $3,500 to help cover living expenses for the summer.
Eligibility: open to U.S. citizens who are graduate students (or will be beginning a graduate program in the fall), post-baccalaureate scholars, and working professionals.
For application instructions, see the “Additional Instructions” section here.
If you have already submitted an application to CESSI and wish to be considered for Title VIII, please reach out to us at cessi@creeca.wisc.edu.
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
2025 FLAS Fellowship Deadline: Feb. 14, 2025
FLAS Fellowships cover full tuition at CESSI and provide a stipend of $3,500 to cover living expenses for the summer.
Eligibility: open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and U.S. nationals. Undergraduate students must be studying at the intermediate (2nd year) or advanced (3rd year or above) level of a language to receive a fellowship. Graduate students might be granted an exception to study the beginning level of a language with FLAS support if the student has achieved advanced proficiency in another language of the world area of specialization, and if learning a second language of that world area is required for the student’s overall training and expertise. Graduate students who are applying for beginning language study will need to explain why an exception should be granted as part of their application. Post-baccalaureate scholars and working professionals are also eligible for a FLAS fellowship if they are studying a language at the intermediate or advanced level, or they are studying at the beginning level with advanced proficiency in another language.
Non-UW-Madison students whose home institution is eligible to award FLAS Summer Fellowships are encouraged to apply first to their home institution.
For more information and to apply, visit the FLAS website.
CESSI Tuition Remission Scholarship
2025 CESSI Tuition Remission Scholarship Deadline for Priority Consideration: Feb. 1, 2025
All CESSI students are eligible to apply for a tuition remission scholarship of up to $4,000. Scholarships are awarded based on merit and availability of funding.
For application instructions, see the “Additional Instructions” section here.
Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes (WISLI) Tuition Scholarship
2025 WISLI Tuition Scholarship Deadline: March 2, 2025
The WISLI Tuition Scholarship covers 50% of tuition for summer 2025 language study at one of the WISLI summer language institutes including CESSI.
All applicants to a WISLI summer language institute are eligible to apply, including domestic and international students, students in degree programs at UW-Madison or another institution, and adult lifelong learners and non-degree seeking students.
For more information including application instructions and to apply, click here.
Funding for Nontraditional or Returning College Students
An additional funding opportunity is available for nontraditional or returning adult undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree program students at UW–Madison.
Application period: November 16–February 10Criteria and application: Wisconsin Scholarship Hub (WiSH); using the filter, select Division of Continuing Studies scholarships
Important Information
- CESSI is an eight-week session and all students must enroll for the full session. All students will be billed for the full eight-week session at the start of CESSI. No refunds will be issued after the first Friday of classes.
- The CESSI program fee includes UW-Madison segregated fees, which grant students access to libraries and university health center services (not including health insurance).
- All payments for program fees are due to UW-Madison by the first Friday of classes. CESSI students pay their program fees in different ways: some are self-funded, some receive financial support (such as the FLAS) from their home institutions or employers, and some may receive financial support (FLAS, Title VIII fellowship, or fee remission) from UW-Madison. Regardless of how program fees will be paid, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all processes are in place for payment before classes begin. Since each situation is different, students should contact the CESSI program coordinator to discuss their own situation.
- Students receiving a FLAS Fellowship or other funding from their home institution must submit a letter of authorization from the sponsoring organization. Contact the CESSI program coordinator at cessi@creeca.wisc.edu for instructions.
- If a student receiving a scholarship or fellowship through UW-Madison drops out of the CESSI program at any point before the end of the eight-week session, they may be required to pay back part or all of the scholarship or fellowship. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis by CESSI staff.