Tips for preparing study abroad scholarship applications:
- In your scholarship essay, connect your past experiences to your study abroad goals. Why do you want to study abroad? What has prepared you for it?
- Be honest and passionate in every part of the application. Passion really does shine through!
- Show your willingness to embrace diversity. You will inevitably face diversity, culture shock, and obstacles while abroad, and we want all our scholarship recipients to be ready for that! We search for students who show perseverance and open-mindedness above all else.
Additional study abroad scholarships and funding opportunities
- Many of our Access Partners offer funding for students who attend their programs.
- The Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship offers significant funding for U.S. citizens of limited financial means to enable them to study abroad.
- The Diversity Abroad Network has an Overseas Ambassador Program created for current students or recent graduates who are planning to study, intern, volunteer or teach abroad.
- The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers grants for recent graduates, graduate students, and young professionals to conduct individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs.
- The Critical Language Scholarship is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities.
- Boren Scholarships provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests.
- First Trip scholarships are available for college students who have never left the United States. Their application has no essay or GPA requirement!
- Many universities’ study abroad offices offer scholarships. Make sure to check with your university for specific funding opportunities they may offer.
Other Resources
- Are you a student looking for Gap Year funding? FEA Access Partner CET Academic Programs offers Gap Year programs and funding. Learn more here.
- Afford Your Travel is a valuable resource for students, especially first-time travelers, looking for affordable travel accommodations. By finding affordable flights based on custom criteria, Afford Your Travel’s mission is to improve accessibility to both domestic and international travel, with the aim of enriching the worldviews of clients and those they come into contact with. Services for first-time travelers are more expansive and may include accommodation and itinerary planning.
- Accounting.com offers a “Financial Aid for Minority Students” resource page.