Several study abroad scholarships and grants are available for students who are seeking to finance their program.

UWM, Wisconsin and Community Scholarships & Grants

UWM Scholarship Portal

These scholarships are made possible by the generous gifts made by donors, friends, and alumni of UW-Milwaukee who are committed to the education of UWM students. To begin, you must be admitted to either the Milwaukee or Waukesha campus locations.

Wisconsin Study Abroad Grant

The Wisconsin Study Abroad Grant provides funding for qualifying undergraduate UWM students to offset the cost of study abroad. Funding is contingent upon state budget legislation. The amount of funding awarded per student differs from year to year based on the number of qualified applicants. If you are participating in a semester or year-long program, you will likely receive more funding than if you participate in a short-term summer or UWinteriM program. The maximum award is $2,000. The average award is $500 – $800 for a short-term program and $1,000 for a semester. Meeting application requirements for the grant does not guarantee an award.

To qualify for a Wisconsin Study Abroad Grant you must:

UWM’s CIE, Department of Financial Aid, Student Employment and Military Education Benefits offices evaluate applicants and make grant awards accordingly.

Application Deadlines:

  • October 15 for UWinteriM and Spring programs
  • March 15 for Summer and Fall/Academic Year programs

Please note – any student currently applying to study abroad in a country with a U.S. Department of State travel advisory of 3 or 4 or a CDC travel notice of 3 or 4 will need to complete an additional approval process. Eligible students would only receive the Wisconsin Study Abroad Grant if this approval is granted.

UWM Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) Scholarships

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at UWM develops, supports, and promotes teaching, research, and outreach about Latin America and the Caribbean. They offer various scholarships, fellowships, and research-travel grants such as:

Donald R. Shea Scholarship: The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offers a limited number of scholarships in the amount of $250-500 for undergraduate students demonstrating academic interest in Latin American and/or Caribbean studies. The scholarship may be used for UWM sponsored semester-long or short-term study abroad in the Latin American/Caribbean region, and for other academic opportunities in the region that can be accepted for UWM credit

For more information, visit their website.

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship for Undergraduates: The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), through funding made possible by the U.S. Department of Education (US/ED), invites eligible undergraduate students to apply for academic year fellowships (two awards) for the study of intermediate or advanced Portuguese language in combination with Latin American and Caribbean area studies courses. UWM Letters and Science students and those from the professional Schools/Colleges, as well as underrepresented students, are all encouraged to apply.

For more information, visit their website.

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship for Graduate Students: 

These fellowships are awarded to promote training in less commonly taught languages of the region for students pursuing a Latin American/Caribbean area studies specialization in their graduate program. The primary language for the award is Brazilian Portuguese, but other less commonly taught languages of the region (Haitian Creole, Quechua, Aymara, Mixtec, Yucatec Maya, Kaqchikel Maya, etc.) are eligible for approval.

For more information, visit their website.

Research-Travel Award for Graduate Students: Several awards ranging from $250 to $500 for research or conference presentations (for graduate students only).

For more information, visit their website.

Rita Mae Conway Memorial Scholarship

The Rita Mae Conway Memorial Scholarship was created to help support nursing students who are planning to study abroad on a UWinteriM program. The scholarship will award $1,000 to the nursing applicant who best personifies the way Rita Mae Conway lived her life: care for others, volunteering, and most importantly, love of family.

For information on how to apply, please see the official Scholarship flyer, or contact Mike Walk at walk@uwm.edu.

The Humanity in Action Fellowship

The Humanity in Action Fellowship is an intensive and demanding program that brings international groups of university students and recent graduates together to explore national histories of discrimination and resistance, as well as issues affecting the various minority groups today.

Eligibility

Students and recent graduates from universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.

Rotary Grants

The grants are provided to scholars that are expected to be outstanding ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country.

Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grant

National Scholarships

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

This scholarship program awards Pell Grant recipients up to $5,000 to study abroad for a semester or year. Gilman scholarships are awarded every semester.

Please visit the Gilman website for more information on the scholarship. Contact the Scholarship advisor Kate Betka (kbetka@uwm.edu) for more information about on-campus advising opportunities and guidelines.

In the past, students who have taken advantage of on-campus advising have been more likely to receive the award than students who applied on their own.  The scholarship advisor and a designated financial aid advisor must certify all Gilman applications coming from UWM in order for them to be considered complete.  Even if you do not wish to pursue on-campus advising, please let the scholarship advisor know if you plan to apply for this scholarship. All applicants will need to provide the scholarship advisor with required information in order for them to certify their application.

Informational sessions are held twice a year for anyone interested in applying for this scholarship. Information on dates, times and locations of these and many other sessions can be found on our Study Abroad Events page.

NSEP Boren Awards for International Study

Boren Scholarships provide up to $25,000 to U.S. undergraduate students studying abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad,  including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are NOT included. Boren Fellowships provide up to $30,000 in funding to graduate students meeting the same language and regional 

Broadly defined, Boren applicants must identify how their study abroad program, as well as their future academic and career goals, will contribute to U.S. national security.  NSEP uses a broad definition of national security because the scope of national security has expanded to include not only the traditional concerns of protecting and promoting American well-being, but also the challenges of global society. Such challenges include sustainable development, environmental degradation, global disease and hunger, population growth and migration, and economic competitiveness.

Students selected to receive a Boren Scholarship must commit to working for the U.S. government for at least a year following the completion of their education.

Awards are given away once a year with deadlines in January for study beginning between June 1, the year of the award or the following March 1.  

Deadlines & Information:

  • Campus candidate review is available, but a complete application must be received by December 1 for consideration.
  • Scholarship and Fellowship (for graduate students) have different deadlines, so please check the Boren website to confim the time.

This is a very competitive scholarship. Serious applicants should begin the process early.

To find other resources about the Boren awards, please visit: https://www.borenawards.org

To learn about on-campus NSEP Boren advising opportunities and guidelines please contact Sue Conway (conways@uwm.edu).

Informational sessions are held twice a year for anyone interested in applying for this scholarship. Information on dates, times and locations of these and many other sessions can be found on our Study Abroad Events page.

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce the scholarship competition for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program in thirteen critical need foreign languages. The CLS Program provides fully-funded group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to ten weeks for undergraduate and graduate students.

  • Languages offered: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu
  • U.S. citizenship is required
  • Students from all academic disciplines including business, engineering, law, medicine, sciences, and humanities are encouraged to apply
  • While there is no service requirement attached to the CLS awards, participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period and later apply their skills in their professional careers.
The Fulbright Program for U.S. Students

The Fulbright Program is administered by The Institute of International Education (IIE) and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. It offers fellowships to U.S. students for study, research, and/or teaching assistantships abroad.

Please see the Fulbright website and contact UWM’s Fulbright Program Advisor Sharon Gosz (schetney@uwm.edu).

Deadlines:

  • September (UWM campus deadline): If you would like assistance with the application process or if you would like/need a campus committee to evaluate your application (strongly recommended), you must meet with the Fulbright advisor well before this date. Complete applications must be submitted for review by this deadline; revisions may be made after the campus interview and prior to the national deadline.
  • October (national deadline): Deadline to submit electronic applications.  While not required in all cases, applicants are strongly encouraged to work with an advisor. Consult with your Fulbright advisor & the Fulbright website for specific deadlines.
The Fund for Education Abroad

 The Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) invests in promising students with financial need who wish to study abroad.As an applicant for an FEA Scholarship, you are automatically considered for all available scholarships (general and dedicated) based on answers you provide on your application online.

Provider-based Scholarships

Please note that these scholarships are only applicable to these provider programs and cannot be applied to other study-abroad programs.

AIFS Scholarships

AIFS hosts an array of international programs.  AIFS annually awards more than $250,000 in scholarships to semester and summer students who submit application materials demonstrating high academic achievement.

API Scholarships
CAPA Scholarships
CEA Scholarships

CEA offers three categories of scholarships:

  • Merit-based scholarships that award exceptional academic achievement
  • Need-based scholarships that mitigate financial and economic barriers
  • Diversity scholarships for students from diverse backgrounds and for students with disabilities
CIEE Scholarships

CIEE  hosts programs for studying, teaching, and working all over the world. They understand that going abroad can be costly, so they offer numerous grant and scholarship opportunities.

Deadlines

  • April 1st for summer, fall and academic year (Fall-Spring) programs
  • November 1st for winter, spring and academic year (Spring-Fall) programs
CisAbroad Scholarships

70% of all CisAbroad students receive scholarships or grants to go abroad? Candidates will be awarded only one scholarship, but you may apply to as many as you’d like.

Deadlines

  • Spring Semester Programs: October 15 (award notification November 15)
  • Summer Semester Programs: March 1 (award notification April 1)
  • Fall Semester Programs: April 1 (award notification May 1)
ISA Scholarships and Grants

ISA is a study abroad provider. ISA provides numerous scholarships to students applying for a semester or year abroad through the ISA program. Scholarship applications are made available to all eligible participants upon acceptance to the program.

Deadlines

  • January intake – October 30th
  • February intake – November 30th
  • May intake – February 28th
  • July intake – April 30th
  • September intake – June 30th

Region-specific Scholarships

Bridging Scholarships for Study in Japan

The Associated Teachers of Japanese Bridging Project offers scholarships to American undergraduate students participating in study-abroad programs in Japan.

Undergraduate students majoring in any field of study are eligible to apply for these scholarships. Japanese language study is not a prerequisite.  Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must be enrolled as undergraduates in a college or university in the United States before and during the time they are studying abroad.

DAAD German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship

The DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) offers several scholarships to undergraduates and graduates interested in studying in Germany.  Of particular interest to UWM students is the Undergraduate Scholarship which grants students spending a semester or year in Germany a €650/month stipend, as well as funding for travel expenses.  This scholarship is offered once a year.  It is a very competitive scholarship and students are encouraged to begin the application process early.

Please visit DAAD website for more information.

Herstmonceux Castle Scholarship

Dr. Alfred Bader generously funds awards (up to $2,500/semester) for eligible UWM students participating in the Herstmonceux Castle Study Abroad Program. Students accepted to participate in this program are encouraged to apply for this scholarship. Please contact study abroad coordinator Yomarie Castellano (yomarie@uwm.edu) for more information.

Huayu Enrichment Scholarship

The Taiwanese government offers scholarships to students interested in improving their Chinese language skills in Taiwan. When applying, students have four award period options to choose from (one year, nine months, six months, or three months). Recipients of this scholarship will be awarded approximately $790 per month for the duration of their award period. This scholarship can be used for UWM’s Mandarin Training Center study abroad program, but must meet all eligibility requirements.

Additional Scholarship Resources

Fastweb

Fastweb.com is a website dedicated to keeping students informed about domestic and international scholarship, grant, and internship opportunities. They maintain a searchable database of numerous opportunities that you could apply for.

IIE Passport Study Abroad Funding

This comprehensive online database of study abroad scholarships, fellowships, and grants allows students to search by country or subject to find study abroad funding opportunities that they are eligible to apply for.

ScholarshipPortal.edu

ScholarshipPortal.edu is an integrated, centralized European platform providing information on all scholarships offered for studying in Europe. The database already contains over 700 scholarship programs. Students can now find and compare relevant programs based on their nationality, background, where and what they want to study, and many other kinds of search criteria. ScholarshipPortal has been developed by StudyPortals and the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA). It is funded by the European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme.

StudyAbroad.com

StudyAbroad.com is a great resource. It explains information about scholarships, including how recipients are selected, and offers a list of many different scholarships for you to consider.

PLATO

The Project for Learning Abroad, Training and Outreach (PLATO) is an integrated study abroad training, certification, and diversity outreach program which provides comprehensive support resources for study abroad to all U.S. college and university students – with special support for underrepresented students.