Study Abroad Scholarships: Who Pays, for What, and Which Are Open

Study abroad scholarships open and close on different clocks, and none of the top Google results for the term on 11 November 2026 said which ones were open. So that day I read each scholarship's official page, and the visa and money rules on each government's own site. Eighteen awards in all.

The Critical Language Scholarship's banner read "Apply by November 17, 8 PM Eastern". Chevening's 2027-28 round had closed in October. The Holland Scholarship's old address redirected to a page called the NL Scholarship. Three awards, three clocks.

The short answer: study abroad money comes in two lanes. One pays for a US college student's semester or year abroad; the other pays for a whole degree in another country, the USA included. The lists barely overlap, and most deadlines fall between October and February for study that starts the following year.

Six of the 18 were closed and six were open. The rest open by March 2027 or follow dates set by your country or the program. I applied for none of them, so every figure below is what the awarding body or government printed, and none of it promises an award.

Two lanes: a semester abroad or a whole degree abroad

The lanes have different readers, funders and rules. Open Doors 2025, the Institute of International Education's annual count and the latest edition on 11 November 2026, puts numbers on both:

• 298,180 US students studied abroad for academic credit in 2023/24, up 6% on the year before.
• 1,177,766 international students studied at US colleges and universities in 2024/25, up 5%. India sent the most: 363,019.
• Project Atlas partners reported more than 95,000 American students enrolled in full-degree programs in their countries.

Lane A is the US student abroad for credit. Its awards need US citizenship or nationality (the Fund for Education Abroad also takes permanent residents and DACA recipients), and most need you enrolled at a US college. Gilman, CLS and Fulbright are State Department programs; Boren belongs to the Department of Defense.

Lane B is the student going abroad for a full degree, often from India, sometimes into the USA. Most of these awards name the countries whose citizens can apply, and you apply through an embassy, a national commission or the university. Read the country list first.

How I checked these scholarships

I read each award's official page on 11 November 2026, plus the German, UK, Canadian and US government pages on visas and money. No number came from a third-party list; several of the lists ranking that day still print amounts and rules the awarding bodies have since changed. Each status uses one of five words:

• Open: taking applications on 11 November 2026.
• Announced: the next round has a date on the official page but had not opened.
• Closed: this round is over, and the next one is undated or far off.
• By country: your home country's office sets the deadline.
• Recurring: the program prints two dates with no year attached.

Left out: essay contests, university awards I did not read, and anything I could not read on its own site. Nuffic now lists the Orange Tulip Scholarship among "Programmes previously managed by Nuffic", and the A*STAR page for SINGA returned "Page Not Found". Australia's visa figures are missing too, because the Department of Home Affairs page would not load.

Scholarships for US students studying abroad

Six study abroad grants and scholarships in lane A. The first to close is CLS, on 17 November.

The Gilman Scholarship pays up to $5,000 if you receive a Pell Grant

Gilman, a State Department program, "provides up to $5,000 in merit-based scholarships to outstanding American undergraduate students with high financial need". The door is the Pell Grant: you must receive one when you apply, or show you will receive one during your term abroad.

Best for

US citizen or national undergraduates at two-year or four-year colleges, on a credit-bearing program or internship abroad.

Amount

Up to $5,000, plus a critical need language supplement of up to $3,000 and a STEM supplement of up to $1,000, as of November 2026.

Next deadline

Opens in mid-January; closes 25 February 2027 at 11:59pm Pacific, for programs starting 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028.

Catch

You can receive it only once, and your destination needs an overall Travel Advisory Level 1 or 2.

The cycle names trip people up. The application Gilman called "Fall 2026" closed on 1 October 2026 and covered programs starting between 1 December 2026 and 31 October 2027. The "Spring 2027" application covers programs from 1 May 2027. Read the start dates, not the label: a spring 2027 semester has already missed Gilman. (A "Spring" application for a fall semester. Confusing, I know.)

Gilman says "Nearly 3,000 scholarships of up to $5,000 will be awarded this academic year", and adds that "Final awards are contingent upon the availability of funds and the health and security situation in a country or location."

As of November 2026, Gilman-McCain pays $5,000 to undergraduate child and spousal dependents of active or activated US military personnel, with 100 awards this academic year. Its winter application opens in mid-November and closes on 5 January 2027, for programs starting 1 February to 31 October 2027. If you qualify for both, you can receive only one.

The Critical Language Scholarship closes on 17 November

On 11 November the CLS homepage banner read "Apply by November 17, 8 PM Eastern". That is the application for the 2027 program, so the deadline is 17 November 2026; the next round would be for summer 2028, and no date for it is published.

• Who can apply: US citizens or nationals, at least 18 by 15 May 2027, enrolled in a US degree program. Graduate students qualify, undergraduates need one full year of study done by summer 2027, and permanent residents cannot apply.
• What it covers: eight weeks that condense "a full academic year of language study", with "tuition, travel, housing, and meals" covered for the overseas program. No service requirement.
• Languages: Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Swahili, overseas or virtually (the virtual institutes take undergraduates only).

Initial notifications come in late January and final status in early March.

Boren pays up to $25,000 and asks for a year of federal service

Best for

US citizens, undergraduate (Boren Scholarships) or graduate (Boren Fellowships), planning a stay in one of Boren's regions.

Most it pays

$25,000 for 25 to 52 weeks and $12,500 for 12 to 24 weeks; undergraduates in STEM majors can also get $8,000 for an 8 to 11 week summer. As of November 2026.

Deadlines

Fellowships 20 January 2027, Scholarships 27 January 2027, for programs starting between June 2027 and 1 March 2028. Your campus may set an earlier date.

Catch

One year of federal service afterwards.

Read the region rule before anything else. Boren funds study in "Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East", and its page is explicit about the rest: "The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand ... are always ineligible for Boren Awards funding." That rules out Italy, Spain, the UK and France, the four destinations that hosted nearly half (45%) of US students abroad for credit in 2023/24, per Open Doors 2025.

There is no minimum language requirement, except French and Spanish for some advanced programs. On 11 November the homepage also carried a banner: "Content removed to align with the President’s Executive Orders and DOW priorities in accordance with DOD Instruction 5400.17." The 2027 deadlines above sat on the same page.

Fulbright's 2027-28 round has closed, and the next opens in spring 2027

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program closed its 2027-28 application on 6 October 2026, and semi-finalists hear by the end of January 2027. The 2028-29 cycle is listed as "Launching Spring 2027", with no deadline printed. You need US citizenship or nationality ("Permanent residents are not eligible") and a bachelor's degree conferred before the grant starts, so seniors can apply. Fulbright counts "Over 1,800 Awards Annually" with more than 140 partner countries, and grant lengths and amounts vary by award.

The Fund for Education Abroad is for first-timers with financial need

FEA is a private nonprofit, and its rules describe one student: the undergraduate who has never studied abroad and needs the money. You qualify if you are:

• 18 or older, and a US citizen, permanent resident or DACA recipient.
• An undergraduate at a US institution, earning credit there, going abroad for at least 14 days.
• New to it, with no study abroad "for any length of time after your high school graduation".
• In financial need on the FAFSA, meaning an SAI below 20,000, Pell eligibility or any student loans this year.

The Winter/Spring 2027 application closed on 16 September 2026. The Summer/Fall 2027 application "will open in December 2026", and FEA's FAQ says that round typically runs from late November or early December to early February. FEA does not fund full degree programs, and the pages I read gave no general award amount; partner-program awards on CET, DIS, FIE, University of Sydney and USAC programs go up to $5,000, as of November 2026. Its own figure on odds is blunt: "In recent cycles, FEA has awarded 3-4% of applicants on average."

Your campus office and your program provider fund their own students

The last source is the closest. Your campus may have Fulbright Program Advisers and a Boren campus representative (Fulbright's campus deadlines are "typically 4-6 weeks earlier than the final October deadline"), so ask your study-abroad office which awards it runs itself. Providers fund students on their own programs: API listed an Early Bird Scholarship of "up to $1,000 for semester and up to $500 for short-term programs" on 11 November 2026. A provider award pays only on that provider's programs.

If you leave in spring 2027, most national deadlines have already passed

The honest answer on study abroad scholarships for spring 2027: the national rounds are mostly over. The exception is Gilman-McCain for military dependents, whose winter application covers programs starting from 1 February 2027. Everyone else should see the study-abroad office and the program provider this week.

Scholarships for international students, by destination

These are the scholarships for international students heading abroad for a full degree, one destination at a time, with statuses as of 11 November 2026. Most are tied to your citizenship, and most run through an embassy, a commission or a university.

DAAD pays €992 a month in Germany, but not tuition

DAAD's "Study Scholarships - Master Studies for All Academic Disciplines" is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. It pays for a whole master's at a state or state-recognized German university, or one year of a master's at your home university, for 10 to 24 months. You can apply if your first degree is done by the time funding begins. What it pays, as of November 2026:

• "Scholarship payments of 992 euros a month" for master's students; DAAD's FAQ gives €1,400 for doctoral candidates and postdocs.
• Insurance payments, and a travel allowance on application.
• A €460 study allowance each year.
• Support for a German course, and in some cases a rent subsidy or family allowance.

Tuition is the gap. "Please note that the DAAD does not cover tuition fees." The 2027 call says "Funding must begin in 2027", usually on 1 October 2027, or earlier if you take a German course first. The deadline depends on your country, so check the database entry for yours.

Fulbright brings master's and PhD students to the USA through your home country's commission

The Fulbright Foreign Student Program is a US government route for scholarships to study in the USA as an international student. It "awards approximately 4,000 grants annually" for master's and doctoral study, and your country's Fulbright commission or US embassy runs the application and sets the deadline. The listed benefits are J-1 visa sponsorship, funding support, a health benefit plan and enrichment activities, with no amount. It recommends a recent TOEFL iBT score of 79-80 or an IELTS overall of 6.5, you must live in the nominating country, and US citizens and dual citizens cannot apply. Clinical fields such as medicine and nursing are excluded.

Chevening and the Commonwealth both closed their 2027-28 rounds in October

Both UK government master's awards in this guide had closed when I read them, and neither page dates the next round.

• Chevening (FCDO): "Study in the UK on a fully-funded scholarship with Chevening." It pays for a one-year master's: tuition fees, economy travel, arrival and departure allowances, your visa application fee, up to £75 for TB testing (as of November 2026) and a monthly stipend whose rate the page does not print. You need two years' work experience after your degree, equal to 2,800 hours, and you commit to "returning to your home country (country of award) for at least two years". There is "no upper age limit".
• Commonwealth Master's Scholarships: for citizens or refugees of eligible low and middle income Commonwealth countries who live there. Full fees, a return airfare and £1,712 a month, or £2,000 in London, as of November 2026 ("rates quoted at current levels"). The 2027/28 round closed at 16:00 BST on 20 October 2026; you need a 2:1, or a 2:2 plus a relevant postgraduate qualification.

Chevening's 2027-28 round opened in August 2026 and closed in October. Its eligible countries sit on country pages I did not read, so check yours there.

Australia Awards closed in April for 2027 study

Australia Awards Scholarships, from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, are for "people from developing countries, particularly those countries located in the Indo-Pacific region", plus listed African countries. For study starting in 2027, the window ran from 1 February to 30 April 2026 for most countries, and no 2028 dates were posted on 11 November. The award generally covers full tuition, a return economy airfare, an establishment allowance, a Contribution to Living Expenses and Overseas Student Health Cover. India is not in the dates table, so check the country list before you plan around it.

Canada's Vanier is gone, and the federal awards left are mostly exchanges

The Vanier page now reads: "We are no longer accepting applications for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships." It points to the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral program (CGRS-D), worth CAN$40,000 a year for 36 months as of November 2026; its agency deadline was 17 October. International students qualify only if they are already registered in a doctoral program at an eligible Canadian institution by the deadline, and "Up to 15% of awards will be available to international applicants."

EduCanada's page of scholarships for international applicants (modified 30 June 2026) features six programs, each a short-term exchange or limited to certain regions or countries. On its Study in Canada Scholarships, "Direct applications from individuals are not accepted." Canadian universities run their own awards, which I did not read, so the university's funding page is where to look next.

Ireland gives 60 scholarships a year, and its 2026 call has closed

The Higher Education Authority says "60 scholarships are awarded each year for one year of full-time study at NFQ levels 9 or 10" under the Government of Ireland International Education Scholarships (GOI-IES): a master's, a postgraduate diploma or a PhD year. Each pays a €10,000 stipend, as of November 2026, and the host institution gives a full fee waiver for that year. You need a domicile outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland and the UK, plus an offer from an eligible Irish institution when you apply. The 2026 call closed at 5pm Irish time on 12 March 2026, and no 2027 call was on the page on 11 November.

The Netherlands renamed its scholarship, and the NL Scholarship is open

The NL Scholarship (formerly the Holland Scholarship) was open for 2027-28 on 11 November 2026. It pays €5,000 in your first year, and the page is plain about the size: "Please note that this is not a full-tuition scholarship." It is for non-EEA students starting a full-time bachelor's or master's at a participating Dutch institution, with no previous Dutch degree. The list of institutions changes every year, and each one posts its own deadline.

Manaaki opens on 1 March 2027, for citizens of listed countries

New Zealand's portal for the 2027 Manaaki tertiary intake "will open on 1 March 2027 and close on 31 March 2027", and it may close early for countries with many applications. Scholars start in Semester 1 of the year after they apply, so 2028 for this round. Eligibility goes by citizenship: the lists I read include Pacific countries such as Kiribati, Niue and Papua New Guinea (Fiji for postgraduate study only) and, in Asia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam. India was not on them, and the pages gave no coverage figure.

France's Eiffel needs a French institution to apply for you

Eiffel's 2027 call is open: "Only applications submitted by French higher education institutions are accepted." You apply to the French program, and only the institution can submit your file to Campus France. Campus France must receive its file by 6 January 2027, so the institution's own deadline comes earlier; ask the program for it. Results come from 12 April 2027.

The 2027 rules set a monthly allowance of €1,200 at master's level and €2,000 at doctoral level, plus international airfare, domestic travel support, insurance, help finding housing and cultural activities. Tuition is a separate bill: "Tuition and fees are not paid by the Eiffel program at either the master’s or the doctoral level." Master's applicants can be up to 29, PhD applicants up to 35.

Singapore's A*STAR funds a PhD in return for three years' work

A*STAR's Graduate Scholarship "funds up to four years of PhD or EngD studies at a Singapore university", and its page prints the deadlines as "15 February and 10 August", with no year. "All are welcome to apply. Non-Singaporeans who are not Singapore Permanent Residents will have a 3-year service commitment in Singapore-based companies." The page gives no amount.

Erasmus Mundus spreads one master's across at least three countries

An Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's is taught by "at least 3 institutions from at least 3 different countries", over one or two years. "Students from all over the world are welcome" with a bachelor's, or in the final year of one. "Most master’s programmes require applications to be submitted between October and January for courses commencing the following academic year", and students apply directly to the institution running the program.

The scholarships "cover your participation costs and contribute to travel, visa, a living allowance", and "Full scholarships are available for the best students." Some programs in the catalogue offer no Erasmus Mundus scholarship at all, and none of the pages I read gives a monthly amount.

The scholarship table, status on 11 November 2026

All 18 awards in one place, lane A first, then lane B. Amounts are in each program's own currency, as printed.

Amounts as printed, as of November 2026. CGRS-D is a Canadian award, so its figure is in Canadian dollars.

What studying abroad costs after the scholarship

An award covers what its page says and nothing more. The rest of the cost of studying abroad is set by the destination's visa rules and the university's fees. Here is what four governments asked a student to pay or show, read on their own pages on 11 November 2026:

• Germany: Make it in Germany says you can prove funds "through a blocked bank account (at least €11,904 in 2026), a scholarship or a declaration of commitment". The German missions' checklist (January 2025) gets there as 12 months of €992. DAAD says "tuition fees are not generally charged in Germany", but non-EU/EEA students at state universities in Baden-Württemberg pay €1,500 a semester, and TUM charges €4,000 to €6,000 a semester for master's programs from winter semester 2024/2025.
• United Kingdom: £558 for a Student visa from outside the UK, and an Immigration Health Surcharge of £776 per year for students (the total depends on your visa length). You must also show £1,171 a month outside London or £1,529 in London, for up to 9 months, held for at least 28 days in a row: £10,539 or £13,761. Course fees for a year, as shown on your CAS, come on top.
• Canada: if you apply on or after 1 September 2026, IRCC asks one person studying outside Quebec to show CAN$23,448 a year, "excluding tuition and transportation costs". Quebec sets its own amounts, and the figures are updated each year.
• United States: a $185 visa application fee and a $350 SEVIS I-901 fee for F students ($220 for J applicants). Tuition varies by university.
• Australia: the Department of Home Affairs sets the visa charge and the financial evidence. Its page could not be read on 11 November 2026, so check it there.

These are visa rules, not budgets, and none of this is financial advice. Your university's international office can tell you which rules apply to you.

Then subtract the award. DAAD's €992 a month is the same monthly figure behind Germany's €11,904 (€11,904 divided by 12), and the same government page lists a scholarship as one way to prove funds; tuition is the line to check. The NL Scholarship's €5,000 is a first-year contribution toward a bill its page says it does not fully cover. That is how to pay for study abroad in practice: price the year from the government page, take off what the award states in writing, and plan for the gap.

How to find more scholarships you actually qualify for

A scholarship finder is only as good as the eligibility list it checks against, so I would start at the source. Five steps, in order; the first four cost nothing.

1. Start on your own campus. In the US that means your study-abroad office and the national awards' campus contacts: Fulbright has campus Program Advisers, and Boren has campus representatives, though it says "You may still apply if your institution does not have one". CLS keeps an advisor directory. Going abroad for a degree? Ask the international office at the university you want.
2. Search the destination's official database. DAAD's database shows the deadline for your country, and the EU's Erasmus Mundus catalogue lists the joint master's programs.
3. Read the target university's funding page. Some awards run through it: Dutch institutions set the NL Scholarship deadlines and French institutions nominate for Eiffel. Canadian universities run awards of their own.
4. Read the eligibility list line by line before you write a word. Citizenship, degree level, years of work and a promise to return home each knock applicants out; Chevening alone asks for two years of work after your degree and two years back home afterwards.
5. Run a matching pass across countries. Gravity's Study Abroad Advisor takes your field, budget, start date and grades, and returns the programs you are eligible for and the scholarships you match. It also works out the full cost of a year against official pages.

For the essays, write to the published criteria. CLS asks whether you show "interest in and awareness of the target language and culture" and how the language is "necessary to achieving" your goals; Boren asks how your study relates to national security and to a federal career. If you use one of the AI writing assistants, keep it to structure and grammar: the essay stays in your own words.

For CLS, Boren or a German course before a DAAD year, an AI tutor for language practice is one way to keep practicing between classes. And for the coursework that carries on while you apply, here are the free AI tools I'd use as a student.

Which should you apply for first?

By situation, official routes first, using the statuses as of 11 November 2026.

US undergraduate on a Pell Grant, going abroad in fall 2027: Gilman's next application opens in mid-January and closes on 25 February 2027. If it is your first time abroad, FEA's Summer/Fall 2027 round opens in December 2026. Add your campus awards on top.

US student who wants a language: CLS by 17 November. Boren by 27 January 2027 if your destination is outside Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and only if a year of federal service suits you. Both send decisions between late January and April; while you wait, my guide on how to find internships has the 2027 dates.

US graduate student: the Boren Fellowship by 20 January 2027 if your destination is outside Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and a year of federal service suits you, CLS (graduate students qualify) by 17 November, and Fulbright's 2028-29 round when it launches in spring 2027.

Full-degree student from a Chevening or Commonwealth country: both closed for 2027-28, so watch for their next rounds. For 2027 entry, four were open on 11 November: DAAD for Germany, the NL Scholarship through your Dutch institution, Erasmus Mundus programs, and Eiffel through your French institution. Check each eligibility list against your passport.

PhD applicant: DAAD's FAQ says doctoral candidates typically receive €1,400 a month, Eiffel's PhD allowance is €2,000 a month (applicants up to 35), as of November 2026, and A*STAR's next printed deadline is 15 February. Canada's CGRS-D closed at its 17 October agency deadline and only helps if you are already registered in a Canadian doctoral program. For the research admin that follows, see my take on AI agents for PhD students.

Coming to the USA for a master's or PhD: Fulbright Foreign Student, through your country's commission or US embassy, on its deadline. Then the visa and SEVIS fees: see the cost section.

FAQ

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