Studying abroad is one of the most exciting activities you can do as a college student, especially if you’ve never been abroad before or are trying to learn a foreign language. But like college, study abroad programs can cost a pretty penny, which is why you should definitely apply for study abroad scholarships.
In this guide, we'll go over how much study abroad programs typically cost, what kinds of study abroad scholarships are available and what these scholarships usually cover, how to find study abroad scholarships, and finally how to make your scholarship application stand out.
Step 1: Apply for FAFSA
First things first, every year before the new college academic year starts, you should apply for FAFSA, or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. With FAFSA, you can become eligible for government-funded loans or grants, which you can usually apply toward tuition and fees, including those of your study abroad program.
FAFSA can also tell you whether you're eligible for a work-study job, which lets you earn some extra cash at your home university before you go abroad.
Step 2: See If Your Study Abroad Program Offers Scholarships
Once you’ve decided which study abroad program you want to participate in, start doing research to see whether that program or the organization that runs it offers any study abroad scholarships to students.
Some popular organizations you’ll likely see running study abroad programs are the following:
For example, say you’re a current student at the University of Pittsburgh who's thinking of studying in Paris for a semester. This study abroad program in Paris is run by CIEE, so you should go directly to the CIEE website to see what study abroad scholarships they offer.
Step 3: Check Your School’s Funding Resources
Most universities have a wealth of resources and links you can use to help you find study abroad scholarships and summer study abroad scholarships.
I first advise getting on your home university’s official website and going to the study abroad programs pages. You should be able to find a section somewhere about funding for study abroad programs. For example, on the University of Michigan study abroad page, there are links for "U-M Funding" and "External Funding Sources."
You can also check your university’s general funding page to see whether there are any regular scholarships you might be able to apply toward study abroad.
Note that I recommend seeing whether you’re eligible for internal (university-based) scholarships before you start looking for external study abroad scholarships (see Step 4 for tips on doing this).
If you can’t find any scholarships on your school’s official website, make an appointment to see your study abroad advisor. They should be able to tell you what scholarships you're eligible for and which scholarships can be applied to which programs, countries/languages, and majors.
Your advisor might also have some suggestions for external funding resources you can use if funding isn’t available through the school or the program you want to do.
Step 4: Search for Study Abroad Scholarships Online
If you haven’t secured any funding through your home university or study abroad program, then it’s time to start looking outward at external study abroad scholarships.
The best way to find these, besides asking your school and study abroad advisor, is to search for them yourself online. Tons of study abroad scholarships and summer study abroad scholarships are available to high school, college, and graduate students.
You can use the following resources to browse study abroad scholarships and summer study abroad scholarships you might be eligible for:
Abroad101: One of the most detailed study abroad scholarships lists that organizes scholarships by program/organization
Go Overseas: An annually updated list of the most popular study abroad scholarships
Diversity Abroad: An extensive list of study abroad scholarships that mainly target first-generation, minority, and low-income students
StudyAbroad.com: A long list of study abroad scholarships
GoAbroad.com: A list of study abroad scholarships with updated information on eligibility, costs, deadlines, etc.
Note that when looking for scholarships, don’t feel the need to limit your searches to study abroad scholarships specifically—in actuality, many regular scholarships for college or graduate-level education can be applied toward study abroad programs, too.
As for regular scholarships that aren’t necessarily specific to study abroad (but might be able to be applied toward a study abroad program), here are some of the best search engines you can use:
School life 😷😷