Conference Scholarships — flights, hotels & tickets, paid for

Why bother? These aren't vacations. The career fairs at these conferences are where companies recruit in person — people walk out with interviews and offers. You get the trip paid for and you skip the online application pile.

How to use this page: check the stamp on each ticket for eligibility, check the status line for timing, then apply through the official link on the stub. That's it.

Fully funded — the flagships

YOU→LAS VEGAS · RE:INVENT

All Builders Welcome Grant

✈ round-trip airfare 🏨 5 nights hotel 🎟 full conference pass 🤝 AWS mentorship

The biggest cloud conference in the world, fully covered. Aimed at people in their first five years in tech — and this year's program explicitly includes university students preparing for a tech career. Must be 21+; international applicants arrange their own visa.

Global · 21+ Status: 2026 window may have closed mid-July — check the link. Reopens annually in spring. Set the reminder now.

ABW · AWS-26 Apply on AWS

YOU→12+ MAJOR CONFERENCES

Google Conference Scholarships

✈ round-trip travel 🏨 hotel for travel dates 🎟 registration 💵 $100 stipend

One application program, many conferences — past eligible lists have included Grace Hopper, SHPE, SACNAS and other major industry events. The North America program prioritizes groups historically excluded in tech, but Google's own language says all qualified students can apply. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by region.

US · Canada · Mexico Status: rolling, by region — decisions typically within ~4 weeks.

GCS · ROLLING See program & apply

YOU→GHC · NEURIPS

Citadel Conference Travel Grant

✈ travel 🏨 accommodation 🎟 conference pass

Fully funded attendance at some of the most competitive conferences in the world — recent cycles covered Grace Hopper Celebration and NeurIPS. Open to bachelor's, master's and PhD students in quantitative fields: CS, math, physics, statistics, engineering. Also one of the best backdoors to getting on a top quant firm's radar.

Check per cycle Status: opens per conference cycle — check the careers page for the current window.

CTG · QUANT Apply on Citadel

YOU→GRACE HOPPER CELEBRATION

GHC Scholars Program

✈ travel 🏨 accommodation 🎟 registration 🍽 meals

Full ride to the biggest women-in-tech conference on earth — the career fair alone has hundreds of companies hiring on-site. For women and non-binary students in tech. Separate company-sponsored GHC scholarships (Microsoft, Goldman and others have run them) stack on top of this route — search "[company] Grace Hopper scholarship."

Intl. varies by year Status: applications typically open in spring for the fall conference — verify this year's window at the link.

GHC · ANITAB GHC official site

YOU→TAPIA CONFERENCE

Tapia Conference Scholarships

✈ up to $600 travel 🏨 3 nights hotel 🎟 registration

Registration fee, three nights of hotel (shared double room) and a reimbursable travel stipend up to $600 for accepted applicants. Open to community college, undergrad and grad students. Big recruiting presence from major tech companies.

US students only Status: 2026 deadline passed (early March) — next cycle opens ~winter. Calendar it.

TAPIA · CMD-IT Tapia official site

The one everyone skips

Your university's travel fund

Almost every university quietly budgets money to send students to conferences — and it goes unspent because nobody applies. This is the highest-probability option on this page.

Search "[your school] conference travel grant" or "student travel fund" — check your faculty, your department, and your student union separately. They often each have one.
Email your department administrator one line: "Does the department have funding for students attending industry or academic conferences?" That email takes 30 seconds.
Apply early — most funds reimburse, so keep every receipt, and many review applications 30–60 days before the conference date.

Before you apply — three things

Apply before you feel ready. These are built for students — the bar is lower than you think, and most people disqualify themselves by never applying.
Tell a story, not a résumé. Most applications ask why attending would change your trajectory. Answer that question specifically — what you'd do there, who you need to meet — not with a list of achievements.
Watch the limits. Some programs cap you at one funded conference per academic year, and most exclude people who already accepted a similar grant. Pick your best-fit conference first.

A note on accuracy: every program on this page was checked against official sources on the date stamped above. Deadlines and eligibility change every cycle — always confirm on the official page before booking anything. If something here is out of date, DM me @byaaryaman and I'll fix it.