Fulbright grants are funded under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 through an annual appropriation made by congress to USIA and by foreign governments, universities, corporations and private donors.
Fulbright grants are available for study or research.
Travel grants are available to selected countries to supplement maintenance awards from other sources that do not provide funds for international travel or to supplement the applicant's personal funds. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, composed of 12 education and public leaders appointed by the president of the U.S., establishes criteria for selection of candidates and has final authority for the awarding of grants. Applicants must be U.S. citizens at the time of application and hold a bachelor's degree or its equivalent by the beginning date of the grant. Creative and performing artists are not required to have a bachelor's degree, but they must have four years of relevant training or study. All applicants are required to have sufficient proficiency in the language of the host country to carry out their proposed study or research.