Scholarships Specifically for Study Abroad Students

Why look beyond regular financial aid

Federal aid, including Pell Grants and student loans, generally still applies when a program is approved through a home college, so study abroad does not automatically mean losing existing aid. A separate group of scholarships exists specifically to close the extra gap costs like international airfare, visas, and program fees create, on top of whatever a regular financial aid package already covers.

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

The Gilman Scholarship awards close to 3,000 scholarships a year, up to $5,000 each, to US citizen undergraduates who receive a Federal Pell Grant and want to study or intern abroad, per Gilman Scholarship . The money covers program tuition, room and board, books, local transportation, insurance, airfare, and passport or visa fees. Students studying a critical need language while abroad can add a supplemental award on top of the base Gilman amount. Recipients also gain 12 months of noncompetitive eligibility for federal government hiring, a practical bonus for students eyeing public-sector work. Applications open on a cycle tied to the academic term a student plans to study abroad, and the process requires a personal statement plus a follow-on service project proposal completed after returning home.

Boren Awards

The Boren Scholarship, for undergraduates, funds study of less commonly taught languages in world regions tied to US national security interests, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Awards reach up to $25,000 for a year of study (25-52 weeks). Students combining domestic and overseas study through the Boren-Flagship Initiative can receive up to $30,000, per Boren Awards . The national application deadline typically falls in late January.

Recipients commit to at least one year of federal government work in the national security field after graduation, and Boren Scholars must begin that service within three years of graduating, per Boren Awards . That commitment is a real tradeoff to weigh before applying, not a formality.

Critical Language Scholarship Program

The State Department-funded Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program sends US undergraduate and graduate students overseas for a fully funded summer of intensive language study, covering airfare, tuition, housing, and meals at no cost to the student. Roughly 315 students were selected for the 2026 program, studying languages including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Swahili, per CLS Program . Undergraduates need at least one year of college coursework completed by the program start date to apply. The program runs fully immersive, students sign a pledge to speak only the target language for the length of the summer, and no prior language experience is required for most languages offered.

Fund for Education Abroad

The Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) supports US citizen and DACA undergraduates who are underrepresented in study abroad, show financial need, and have no prior study abroad experience. Awards run up to $1,500 for a summer program, $5,000 for a semester, and $10,000 for a full academic year, per Fund for Education Abroad . Programs must run at least 14 days to qualify. The application requires a program budget, a personal essay, and typically a letter of recommendation, submitted directly through FEA rather than through a home college.

What these scholarships have in common

Every program on this list requires a home institution or program provider to confirm enrollment, sets a hard annual deadline months before departure, and asks for a personal statement explaining why the destination and language matter to long-term goals. None of them award money automatically alongside financial aid, a separate application is always required.

Stacking scholarships together

Nothing stops a student from applying to more than one of these programs for the same trip, though most exclude combining an award with another government-funded scholarship covering the identical costs. A Gilman award and a home college's own study abroad grant typically stack without conflict, since one is federal money and the other is institutional.

Where else to look

• The study abroad office at a home college, many keep a list of destination-specific and donor-funded scholarships.

• The study abroad program provider itself, some offer need-based grants for their own programs.

• A host university's international office, which sometimes offers incoming exchange scholarships.

• Major-specific national scholarships and fellowships tied to a field of study, which sometimes fund an international component.

• Destination-country cultural institutes and foreign government scholarship offices, which occasionally fund short-term study for visiting US students.

Timing around your program dates

Award notifications for fall and academic-year programs typically arrive in the spring before departure, while summer program awards notify in the winter or early spring of the same year. Missing a scholarship deadline by even a few days usually means waiting for the next program term instead of the current one.

How to apply

Apply early. Gilman, Boren, CLS, and FEA all run on set annual cycles months before a program starts, and most require an acceptance letter or detailed budget from the study abroad program as part of the application. Treat each scholarship application as separate work from the program application itself, since deadlines rarely line up, and read every eligibility rule closely: Pell Grant status, language of study, and prior study abroad experience each disqualify otherwise strong applicants from specific programs. Set aside time before each deadline to request recommendation letters and translate transcripts if the destination country requires it, since these documents often take weeks to arrange and a late request can force skipping a scholarship cycle entirely.