Funding Study Abroad

Why do you think you can’t afford to study abroad? This is no longer an excuse and should not be the only reason stopping you from studying abroad.

Let me fix this for you really quickly and be nice and frank. You absolutely can study abroad no matter what. Nowadays, study abroad is very much a part of our culture and university experiences and there are great ways you can fund your study abroad experience.

Another way to look at it – if you need gen eds, classes for your major, etc., you are going to be paying for these at your home university anyway, you may as well just do it elsewhere for a little. It is worth taking out more loans to go, I can absolutely guarantee this.

Here are some hacks on how to fund your study abroad experience.

Government Funding

You may not know this, but often FAFSA and other government loans will cover your study abroad costs. Work with your University Study Abroad Office to apply government loans toward your study abroad.

Private Loans

Sallie Mae and some of the other common private loans are now beginning to offer loans for study abroad students. Check out to see if your program qualifies for this.

Languages

Often, many majors require languages as general education. The easiest way to find scholarships and grants for your travel studies is to learn a language. Common languages have less scholarships, however, you may be able to secure scholarships through your language departments at your college. Each Language study abroad has their own requirements, so make sure to do some research before applying to these scholarships.

Less commonly taught languages can often be fully funded by grants or scholarships (FLAS/FulBright/Boren).

Scholarships

Study Abroad Offices will often award scholarships through the office. Departments are always a good way to start looking as well.

If you are adventurous, take a look at this site to see 65 scholarships for studying abroad. Google some of these scholarships and see if you are eligible.

Less Common Locations

Many uncommon study abroad places will likely have huge funding opportunities. For example, when I worked at the Study Abroad Office at my University, there was a donor willing to give full rides for all students traveling to South Korea – this averaged to about 3 students a year. See if your Study Abroad Office knows of any of these opportunities

Donations

Sign up for a GoFundMe account, do a car wash, ask family to donate money for every A you receive the semester before, write a blog abroad and get sponsored, etc. Get creative, there are many ways you can have people donate to y

STA Travel

You can often find cheaper flights to your location with this websites like STA travel geared toward students.

Budgeting

Begin to save as soon as you decide you will be studying abroad. There are odd jobs that you can pick up and set some money aside so that you can fully enjoy your time abroad.

How did you fund your study abroad?

Questions to ask yourself when choosing to study abroad.

1. Where do you want to go?

First and foremost, where in the world do you want to go? No matter where you choose, this experience is about to change your life forever.

Most Popular:

Barcelona, Spain; Madrid, Spain; Florence, Italy; London, England; Paris, France; Sydney, Australia; San Jose, Costa Rica; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Tokyo, Japan

Less common, but awesome locations:

Berlin, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Uppsala, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Angers, France; Lyon, France; Geneva, Switzerland; Lucerne, Switzerland; Melbourne, Australia; Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; Cape Town, South Africa; Singapore; China; Granada, Nicaragua; Bogota, Colombia

2. Are there University programs there, or do you need to look into third party companies?

See a list of some popular third party companies below:

EUSA, CAPA, AIFS, AFS, API, CEA

3. What courses do you need for your Major and do these programs cover them?

Reach out to your study abroad office to make sure you are benefitting academically from studying abroad.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If choosing a third party program, make sure to check with your Study Abroad Office to see if the course credits transfer appropriately.

4. How are you going to afford studying abroad?

You may want to follow a couple of avenues here.

• Budget – make yourself a budget on how much the program will cost, flights, living, and extra expenses. Make sure to figure out exactly how much you ned before choosing your program.
• Federal Loans – Often you will find that government funding can be applied to study abroad programs. Make sure to look into your government funding to see if you can pull additional student loans for this (WORTH IT!)
• Scholarships – For many study abroad programs and offices, there will be scholarship opportunities for you. Check out grants and scholarships here to see if you qualify! Scholarships can also be found within departments, see if you can find any there as well.
• Languages – You can often find many scholarships for people studying languages.
• Less common places – Many uncommon study abroad places will likely have huge funding opportunities. For example, when I worked at the Study Abroad Office at my University, there was a donor willing to give full rides for all students traveling to South Korea – this averaged to about 3 students a year.

For more info on scholarships, check out my blog post here.

5. Read blogs from alumni of the program.

Make sure that is exactly where you want to spend a good portion of your year!

6. Apply for the program and let the process begin!