Travel Scholarships

This is going to be a list of all travel scholarships I have found over the years that will allow students to travel abroad. Normally these scholarships will require you to either be attending a university, or to have completed your university degree.

As always, grades will be important – but perhaps not as important as you might think. Almost all will require some sort of personal statement so I recommend starting far ahead. I will note, where possible, when a scholarship will require a certain financial status (I am not eligible for any of these so I am not an expert). Travel Scholarships for Americans will be updated when I find anything new out there!

Critical Language Scholarship/CLS

Summer Program, about 5 weeks – This is a language learning program, but only of specific languages the US considers it critical more of its citizens know. Currently this includes Korean, Russian, Persian, Swahili, and many more. Some programs require previous knowledge of the language (like Japanese) but others do not (Korean).

• Requirements: You have to still be enrolled in school (undergrad or graduate). The window to apply for this is generally fairly narrow, and they never announce when their application is ahead of time but I believe early September is around when it opens.

Fulbright

1 Year with Extensions Available – This program has many variations. You can teach abroad for a year (sometimes with the ability to renew). You can attend a masters program. You can pursue a research or creative project. You can receive a post-doc. There are a looooot of options here. Please check out my Fulbright series for information on the teaching option!

• Requirements:  Application typically closes late September to early October the year preceding your travel. Not as focused on good grades, but still helpful.

Gates Cambridge

1-3 years, Masters, MSc/MLitt, or PhD – This scholarship is for those who would like to attend Cambridge University in the UK. Includes full tuition and living stipend.

• Requirements: Pretty standard, application is a shorter window and appears to close around early October.

Germany Study for Free

Up to 4 years – This isn’t really a scholarship, but Germany has free tuition to all people, including Americans. This isn’t as fantastic as it would seem as you still need to come up with the money for your living situation and there aren’t really any scholarships available (I’ve checked, they aren’t normally given to the average American). Some courses are taught in English, others in German.

Korean Government Scholarship Program

3-4 years, Masters, PhD with year long Korean training program – This scholarship is for those who would like to attend a Korean university in South Korea. Includes full tuition and moderate living stipend.

• Requirements: You normally have to start off pretty early/late and take a few months between finishing your last program as Korea has a different start/end date to their schools similar to Germany.

Marshall Scholarship

2 Years Masters – This scholarship involves being able to get up to two master’s degrees in the UK. They provide a stipend and tuition. You can apply to do just one year long masters, but I would not recommend it based on what I’ve seen – that’s not as favored by the committee.

• Requirements: The deadline is normally in early October.

Mitchell Scholarship

1 Year Masters – This one provides tuition and stipend for a year long master’s in Ireland. This one is particularly interesting as many other scholarships require you to have recently graduated (normally within three years of graduation) but the Mitchell allows 10 years!

• Requirements: the deadline is normally the end of September.

Princeton in Asia

1 Year – These are fellowships for teaching, working for non-profits and businesses, and many other options. They have placements in Asia only, but include many lesser supported areas such as Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, etc., as well as more “well-known” Asian countries like China, Japan, and Vietnam.

• Requirements: Application typically closes in early November the year preceding travel.

Princeton in Africa/Latin America

1 Year – Similar to the above but the acceptance rate for Africa is below 10% and you must have studied Spanish extensively for Latin America.

Teaching Assistant Program in France

1 Year with renewal – let’s you teach English in France with a small living stipend. You can also get government assistance because the stipend is normally only 800euros a month or so.

• Requirements: You must have studied French or speak French at a middling degree. B1 is standard if you’re familiar with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.