5 STEM Study Abroad Scholarships to Number Crunch

Looking for STEM study abroad scholarships for your science, technology, engineering, or math program? You’ve come to the right place! ☆ What’s all the buzz? STEM this, STEM that. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics studies, otherwise known as STEM, are getting more exposure these days. The National Education Association says, “If the United States is to hold a competitive edge in a rapidly changing global workforce, bolstering the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce is essential.” And this includes everyone.

From high schools to universities, there’s been increasing emphasis towards students who wish to study such academic disciplines (women especially!). But STEM students often feel left in the dust when it comes to getting out of Dodge for a semester. “There just aren’t many opportunities to study abroad, Dad. There aren’t any scholarships to help me out.” That’s baloney! There are, and there’s certainly a way to get you off the ground.

As if being a STEM major isn’t demanding enough, between writing those nitty-gritty lab reports and then some, you’re gonna need to fund your study abroad experience one way or another. Rather than breaking the bank, why not apply for STEM study abroad scholarships? There’s an “s” on scholarships there because your chances of scoring some help will significantly increase by casting a wider net. Not so breaking news, right? Who knows—maybe you’ll even be granted more than one, which can really lighten your load!

5 awesome STEM study abroad scholarships

1. Boren Scholarship

Boren-funded programs are eight-week summer sessions for undergraduate STEM students. An initiative of the National Security Education Program to further the national security agenda, the idea behind the Boren Scholarship is to promote opportunities through the provision of funding to American STEM students obtaining their Bachelor’s in one of the designated STEM fields. This hefty STEM study abroad scholarship is a handsome sum of $8,000 that could do a lot of damage in terms of your study abroad bill.

2. Cultural Vistas STEM LAUNCH

Cultural Vistas provide a unique STEM study abroad funding opportunity for students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) based in the state of Georgia. Since 2013, Cultural Vistas has been helping students from Spelman College and Morehouse College gain an international perspective with this program in Germany in the realm of STEM disciplines.  

The award amount is to help, if not completely cover the majority of the duration of the stay abroad, even including your airfare. Are you currently an undergraduate, bachelor-seeking candidate? If so, this one’s for you. Bonus? Program participants have the opportunity to visit the American Embassy and the German Bundestag, along with excursions to museums and several historical sites.

3. Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program

The U.S. State Department’s special STEM study abroad scholarship is a need-based grant to help undergraduate students get off the ground and out into the world. This program offers up to $8,000 to help off-set the price of a study or intern abroad program. Eligible participants are those who receive National Pell Grant funding from a two-year college or four-year college or university. With this program, along with some of your Pell Grant assistance, you might be able to have all your financial bases covered!

4. The University of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP)

STEM students attending the University of California who have a knack for research should consider applying to this $1,000 scholarship in the quest for that moolah! This excellence-based award is meant to encourage students interested in conducting research abroad during their undergraduate studies. The great thing is that the discipline of your research doesn’t matter but you will have to be enrolled at UC within the last six months. What’s rather remarkable is the STEM network at UC; 90 programs in 34 countries are just for STEM majors. They take this matter serious on the west coast!

5. National Debt Relief Scholarship

Believe it or not, the National Debt Relief Scholarship has five $1,000 scholarships up for grabs for students interested in taking their undergrad STEM studies overseas. Outstanding students should apply!

Other ways to pay for STEM study abroad

• Apply for general grants. Odds are you can use any kind of study abroad grant to help finance your study abroad program.

• Financial aid. Speak to your financial aid office to find out more. You can usually use your state-issued financial aid towards international programs. You might want to speak with your study abroad office about this one too, since there are some rules to this game.

• Seek scholarships to study abroad. At the end of the day, study abroad scholarships are STEM study abroad scholarships. Apply for all sorts of funding to fund your STEM program.
• Study abroad loans. You might consider taking out a loan to fund your study abroad. Is there a difference between taking out a loan for your university fees and your study abroad program fees? Not always!
• Make a FundMyTravel account! Go to the crowd with a FMT account. It’s wicked easy, too. Create your campaign, share it with family and friends, and pack your bags.

Ready to find STEM study abroad scholarships?

Voilà—there you have it. There might not be many STEM-labeled study abroad programs or scholarships, so you might have to dig a bit deeper (or hardly at all?!) to find opportunities relevant to your academic discipline. Simply search your area of interest to suss the study abroad situation out. Let us reassure you, there are specific opportunities precisely designated to students in the STEM domain.

Once you find ones that seem like your match made in heaven, you’ll probably start thinking about that money, honey. Moral of the story: apply to STEM study abroad scholarships, and then some. You might need to take different avenues to realize such study abroad dreams by combining funding routes. The good news: like every difficult math equation, there’s always a solution! Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

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