Scholarships study abroad

Financial Aid - options

External Scholarship resources:

Who offers scholarships?:

Scholarships come from a variety of sources: schools, employers, individuals, private companies, nonprofits, religious groups, or professional organizations.

Why?

These sources offer scholarships for a variety of reasons. Some are offered to students that have financial need. Some scholarships have academic requirements like a certain GPA or enrollment in a particular major. There are athletic, music, and art scholarships. There are scholarships for minorities and first generation students; and some for students with certain community affiliations or religious affiliations.

Scholarship Search

Here are some tips to help you find funding for study abroad experiences:

Visit www.studentaid.ed.gov and use our free Scholarship Search to look for scholarships you might qualify for. You can also click on MyFSA to customize your search.
Collegeboard.com: Features an online questionnaire that matches information with specific scholarship opportunities.
FastWeb: Provides details on more than 600,000 scholarships.
Scholarships.com: Contains a scholarship search and insights on a variety of related topics.

Ask your community:

Check with foundations and civic groups.

Check with local, community, religious, and ethnicity-based organizations, or organizations (including professional associations) related to your field of interest, such as the American Medical Association or American Bar Association.
Check with your employer and/or your parents’ employers.
Check with your union and/or your parents’ unions.
Select this link for information about student aid from other federal government agencies.
Select this link to check state education agencies’ Web pages.
Visit your local library’s reference section (look under “student aid” or “financial aid”).
Look for programs such as Upward Bound, Talent Search, or GEAR UP. Ask your high school counselor whether you are eligible to participate in one of these programs.
Lastly, you can use the Internet to find other free scholarship search services.

External Study Abroad Scholarships
The following scholarships from other organizations can be used for study abroad. Check the sponsor's site for details. This list is not exhaustive; it presents only some of the better-known opportunities. Click here for links to other external scholarship resources.

Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) - FEA was created in order to open doors for deserving education abroad students. Starting with the 2011-2012 academic year, FEA will award funds for students planning to study abroad on any academically rigorous program. FEA scholarships are intended to meet the financial needs of students who might not be eligible for government grants or existing funds limited to specific programs or groups of students.

BUTEX North American Scholarships - each year BUTEX awards sixteen scholarships to students studying abroad for either a semester or for a whole academic year. Eight scholarships are available to North American students studying in the UK. The value of each scholarship is £500 and will be paid to the winners once they have arrived and registered at their host university. Applications will be accepted starting in January and the deadline for all applications is in May.

Diversity Abroad - aimed at increasing non-traditional student participation in education abroad in the Asia/Pacific region.

Circumnavigators Club Around the World Grant - $9,000 to develop and carry out a research project involving a minimum of ten weeks of travel to at least five different countries. Applications due November 1 of even-numbered years.

Fulbright Program - Sponsored by the US Department of State, the Fulbright Program provides funding for graduate studies, research and teaching abroad. MSU's Fulbright Advisor is Dr. Frank D'Itri. ditri@msu.edu Deadline is late September.

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship - $5000 per semester or academic year for students currently receiving federal Pell Grants. Deadlines in late September and early April.

Grand Rapids Community Foundation: Economic Club of Grand Rapids Study Abroad Scholarship - For business majors. Deadline April 1.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grants - designed to help support undergraduates as they seek knowledge and experience in their academic fields by studying abroad. Forty-five $1,000 grants are awarded each year.

The National Security Education Program (NSEP) David L. Boren Undergraduate Scholarships - Merit-based awards vary with program costs and financial aid status. Maximum award for summer is $8,000, $10,000 per semester and $20,000 for academic year. For study abroad in all countries except Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Deadline in February.

Sara's Wish Foundation - established to perpetuate the memory of Sara Christie Schewe, killed in a fatal bus crash in India in 1996 while participating in the University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea Program.

Rotary International Scholarship - Multiple awards available with multiple deadlines and in varying amounts.

MORE:

Boren Scholarships: Funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), these scholarships provide up to $20,000 to undergraduate students from the US to study abroad in areas of the world that are underrepresented in study abroad.
Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship Program: Recipients are awarded up to $5000 to defray the costs associated with studying abroad.
Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grants: Fifty $1,000 grants are awarded each year to help support undergraduates as they seek knowledge and experience in their academic fields by studying abroad.
BUTEX North American Scholarships: Eight $1000 scholarships are awarded each year to currently registered students at US universities who will study abroad at a BUTEX member institution in the UK.
Glimpse Correspondents Program Grants: The Glimpse Foundation and The National Geographic Society are seeking talented writers, photographers, and filmmakers. Each selected participant will receive a $600 grant and will see their work published in Glimpse and National Geographic media.
United Negro College Fund
Hispanic College Fund
Becasmae: Scholarship opportunity for students taking Language and Culture courses in Spain.
Rotary International: Ambassadorial Scholarships
The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)
The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) : Scholarships for Italian-Americans