Support and funding for students

We offer full and partial scholarships to everyone that needs help with the participation fee.

Scholarships

Scholarships are financial awards to help towards paying the participation fee. You don’t need to pay them back. Last year, 94% of scholarship requests were successful!

  • Scholarships are allocated based on your financial situation and personal circumstances only. We do not require you to send any evidence but we do require you to submit a truthful statement detailing your (and/or your family’s) financial situation. We will want to know:
  • Your family situation (e.g. do you live with only one parent or do other relatives live with you and your parent(s)/siblings?);
    Your parent(s)’s or legal guardian’s employment situation (without stating their income), and whether you are working alongside school;
    Unexpected expenses;
    Why you are requesting the amount indicated (e.g. you can only cover 50% of the fee with your part-time job).

You can preview the whole application, including the scholarship section, here.

The deadline for the submission of scholarship applications is 15th May 2024. If you would like to apply for a scholarship after this date, please contact scholarships@discover.sk

Scholarship award criteria

When awarding scholarships, the award committee takes into account:

  • your demonstrated need for a scholarship to attend Discover;
  • your motivation to come to Discover;
  • where you come from and what school you attend;
  • your ethnic background;
  • the highest level of education completed by your parent(s) or legal guardian.

In awarding scholarships, the committee does NOT make decisions based on:

  • your gender;
  • your nationality;
  • the overall quality of your application / the grade your application received;
  • your extracurricular activities.

Support for Roma students

Are you Roma? You attend for free!

Since 2023, Discover has been running a special scholarship programme for Roma students. If you indicate that you are Roma in your application, you are eligible for full funding, no questions asked. 

This year, we have 5 fully-funded spots across all our sessions, and are working on securing more.

Would you like to make a donation and sponsor a Roma student? Please email emma.nabi-bourgois@discover.sk or head to our Darujme page. 

Support for Ukrainian students

Since 2023, Discover has been running a special scholarship programme for Ukrainian students, both in Czechia, Slovakia, and in Ukraine, who have been affected by the war with Russia.

This year, we will be giving out 10 full and partial scholarships to Ukrainian students, including 5 at the international session taking place in Svaty Jan pod Skalou between 11th and 18th August 2024.

Would you like to make a donation and sponsor a Ukrainian student? Please email emma.nabi-bourgois@discover.sk or head to our Darujme page.

Support for students with disabilities

Do you have a physical disability or reduced mobility? Session E, which is happening in Hostacov between 21st and 28th August 2024, is taking place in a wheelchair-friendly venue.

Of course, disabled students are entitled to full and partial scholarships based on financial need.

Accessibility matters to us! If you can recommend any mobility-friendly venue for Discover Summer Academy 2025, please email emma.nabi-bourgois@discover.sk.

Support for neurodivergent students

Students on the spectrum are welcome! Whether you have been diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, or you are dealing with another mental health issue and you’re worried that it could influence your experience at Discover negatively, we want to assure you that our community already counts several neurodivergent students and tutorgs.

Mental health and creating a safe space for all matters to us greatly. Many activities are organised at Discover, but none of them are mandatory or graded – you can feel free to take part in an activity in your own way, or to spend some time alone instead.

Every session is attended by at least one therapist (who is either trained in psychology or social work), whom you can turn to with whatever concern. There is also a medic, who can definitely help you if you need to take medication, at every session.

Of course, neurodivergent students are entitled to full and partial scholarships on the basis of financial need.

If you need more support and hesitate to apply to Discover Summer Academy as a result, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at discover@discover.sk so that we can find a way to help you together.

Support for LGBTQ+ students

Discover supports the rights of all students’ to affirm their own gender and sexual identity. Our community of former students, tutors and organisers already counts many LGBTQ+ members, and you can always count on one of us should you require support, guidance or a listening ear.

We know that LGBTQ+ children and young people experience particularly high rates of poor mental health. Mental Health and wellbeing is an important topic at Discover, and we make sure that every session has at least one therapist in attendance, on top of one medic.

Some of the other measures we take to make Discover more inclusive:

  • normalise sharing pronouns for tutorgs and students;
  • arrange for at least one gender-neutral bathroom at venues;
  • always make sure that activities related to health or relationships include and don’t marginalise LGBTQ+ experiences;
  • make special accommodation arrangements for trans and non-binary students who need it;
  • have all members of Discover sign our code of conduct, which includes a zero tolerance on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and language;
  • collect feedback from our students on their experiences at Discover Summer Academy.

If you have any suggestions on how to make Discover more inclusive of LGBTQ+ members, please email emma.nabi-bourgois@discover.sk.

LGBTQ+ students are entitled to full and partial scholarships on the basis of financial need.

Support with your application

It isn’t always about money.

If you’ve never been to Discover, or even to any other summer camp, filling out the application can be confusing, or even scary. We’re here to help you! We will schedule time with someone to help you fill out the application step-by-step.

If you have any questions, need someone to help you apply, or require any other kind of assistance, please contact us at discover@discover.sk.

Contact us

If you have any questions about submitting a scholarship application or the outcome of your scholarship application, please contact us at scholarships@discover.sk.

If you have any questions about our diversity and inclusion effort or how you can help, please contact emma.nabi-bourgois@discover.sk.

If you have had a negative experience with another Discover member, and would like to talk to someone about it, please don’t hesitate to contact our community ombuds Monika Vaclavkova and/or Matej Lorko.

If you require support with submitting an application or have question about attending, please reach out to us at discover@discover.sk.