Economic Crime Scholarships
Fight White Collar and Financial Crime
Economic and financial crimes are often all rolled into one big category of white-collar crime. White-collar criminals are those most often at work behind the scenes in large and intricately constructed corporate environments. Some are high-level accountants and financial gurus whose intelligence with numbers gets them into trouble; others have their hands in the computer networks, secretly hacking passwords and stealing information for their own surreptitious purposes.
Students interested in pursuing a career in white collar crime fighting are entering a constantly changing and competitive field. It is so new that college degrees in financial crime or economic crime are few and far between. However, professionals in the field hail from backgrounds in accounting and finance, business, criminal justice, and information technology.
Scholarships and Degree Programs Related to Economic Crime
The Utica College Economic Crime Institute specializes in educating the next generation of white-collar crime fighters from fraud investigators to computer forensic specialists and everything in-between. Students may pursue the Bachelors in Criminal Justice/Economic Crime or a Masters in Economic Crime Management. Both degrees are currently the only programs of their kind. Students are offered unique opportunities to experience internships and co-op educational programs that offer the chance to interface with working professionals in the field of economic crimes. The Masters program is also attractive for its distance-learning format. Students at Utica College receive thousands of dollars in scholarships and financial aid each year, making it one of the most sought after programs.
The University of Texas-San Antonio offers a major in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Economic Crime Investigation. Students pursuing this course of CJ studies are not only engaged in curriculum related to general criminal justice, but also receive education in the motives and methods of high-level business crimes, including general white-collar crime, cyber-crime and financial crime. The department offers its own scholarships that change on an annual basis. Interested students must contact the Criminal Justice department for current awards.
The University of Alabama-Birmingham offers a hybrid degree to students in the Criminal Justice program or MBA program who are interested in concentrating in economic crime. The Graduate School Department of Criminal Justice now offers a Specialization in White Collar and Corporate Crime. Students receive additional courses in related subjects before completing the degree. Because this is a graduate level program, most of the monetary assistance given to students is in the form of assistantships, which may be applied for directly through the Graduate School of Criminal Justice.
Specialized Scholarships
Closely related to "economic crime" are the specialized fields of study in Forensic Accounting and Fraud Management, both of which synthesize criminal justice know-how with high-level financial crime.
The University of Alabama-Birmingham offers the ACL Forensic Scholarships to students in the Accounting major who are committed to pursuing careers in fraud investigation or forensic accounting. Qualified applicants must have high GPAs and possess superior skills in accounting to be considered. Awards are up to $1,000.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners funds the annual Ritchie-Jennings Memorial Scholarship. Awards are given to well over two-dozen students majoring in forensic accounting or criminal justice who are interested in a career in Fraud Management. Eligible applicants must write an essay explaining their career goals as well as have demonstrated academic excellence in their majors. Scholarships are $1,000 and are applied directly to students' tuition.