7 Scholarships to Help You Study Abroad

Imagine yourself in Japan roaming throughout Tokyo admiring the cherry blossom trees or in Akihabara, admiring the nearby anime shops. Or do you find yourself eating Belgium waffles in Belgium? All of that is possible by applying to the wide variety of scholarships available.

Here are seven scholarships that are awarded to help American students pay for their study abroad experience.

Fund for Education Abroad

Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) is a program that gives scholarships to underrepresented students for the chance to study abroad. The FEA scholarship can be used toward any other country and any program. Awards range between $1,250 to $10,000. Their application closes on September 16, 2020.

Boren Awards

Scholarships are awarded by the Boren Awards Regional Flagship Language Initiatives that range between $2,500 to $20,000. The awards are offered to those interested in learning critical languages such as Chinese, Swahili, Portuguese, Arabic, and more. The deadline to apply for undergraduate students is February 3, 2021.

Global Poet Scholarship

Whittier College offers $2,000 to all students that can be applied to any study abroad program whether that be a semester or for our short term in January (called JanTerm). A requirement of the scholarship is to wait to study abroad until spending three semesters on campus.

Critical Language Scholarship

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) is a program sponsored by the United States government where they encourage American undergraduates and graduates to study abroad while learning foreign languages. CLS offers a sponsored summer abroad that is “critical to America’s national security and economic prosperity”. The program offers 15 languages such as Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu. The award amount varies. The deadline to apply is November 17, 2020.

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is offered by the Institute of International Education with aid from the U.S Department of State. The scholarship is offered to undergraduate students who are recipients of the Pell Grant. If awarded, the scholarship is up the max $5,000. The deadline to apply is October 6, 2020.

Ryan Smith ’21 spent part of his spring semester in Indonesia thanks to the Gilman award.

Killam Fellowships Program

The Killam Fellowship Program applies to American undergraduate students who would like to spend a year or a semester at a Canadian University (and vice versa). The program offers $5,000 per semester as well as an additional $500 to cover anything else. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2021.

The Blakemore Foundation Language Grant

The grants are awarded for one academic year of advanced language study in East or Southeast Asia. Students of all majors are encouraged to apply. The application closes December 30, 2020.

When you study abroad, you’ll gain meaningful memories, learn a new language, and create lifelong friendships. So what are you waiting for? Check out these scholarships alongside many more that are available to students.