How to Get a Scholarship to Study Abroad

Consider studying abroad. Then you are already aware of how rapidly living expenses an
d tuition fees can mount up to a sizable budget for your study.
Fortunately, scholarships offer the crucial financial assistance that so many students requi
re.

What is a scholarship?
A scholarship is "an amount of money given by a school, college, university, or other org
anization to pay for the studies of a person with high aptitude but little money," according
to the Cambridge Dictionary.
I'll also mention that certain scholarships are more open-ended, permitting all students to
apply regardless of their financial situation or academic standing.

Find scholarships to study abroad

In this article, you’ll find answers to the following questions:

 What is a scholarship, and how is it different from grants and student loans?
 Who can apply for a scholarship?
 How can you apply for a scholarship?
 How to find study abroad scholarships?
 What types of scholarships are out there?

Differences between scholarships and grants

Both scholarships and grants are types of gift aid, which means students do not need to pay the
money back. But grants are usually need-based, and often go to young people who cannot afford
the costs of their studies. In contrast, most scholarships are awarded based on academic, athletic,
or artistic abilities.

Differences between scholarships and student loans

Unlike scholarships, student loans are a form of financial aid that needs to be paid back,
sometimes with interest. Student loans can be both a blessing and a curse in disguise. In the US,
for example, student loan debt has reached an eye-watering 1.5 trillion USD in 2020.
Who can apply for scholarships?
Anyone who meets the application requirements can apply. Yes, it’s a ‘Captain Obvious’ answer,
but different types of scholarships target different students. Always check if you can apply, if the
scholarship application deadlines are up-to-date, and if the scholarship is open to national
students, international students, or both.

These are some of the most common application requirements for scholarships:

 registration or application form

 letter of motivation or personal essay
 letter of recommendation
 letter of acceptance from an academic institution
 proof of low income, official financial statements
 proof of extraordinary academic or athletic achievement

How can you apply for a scholarship?

Once you’ve found a study abroad scholarship for which you can apply, start preparing your
documents. A typical application process looks like this:

1. Register for the scholarship, usually by completing an online application form.

2. Check your inbox to make sure you’ve received the confirmation email.
3. Write a personal statement or essay. There are enough models on the internet but
remember to be original and impress through your unique experiences and ideas.
4. Get official proof of your academic, athletic, or artistic achievements. Translate the
documents if necessary — it usually is.
5. Or get official proof of your low income or nationality (for region-based scholarships).
Again, a translation might be necessary.
6. Proofread all documents for errors and send them to the scholarship provider.
7. Submit the acceptance letter from the university (or an official document from the
university proving you’ve been accepted). You won’t receive the scholarship without
confirming that you will actually begin studies.
8. Wait for the results. If selected, congratulations, you’re a winner! Go ahead and throw a
party but don’t spend all your scholarship money on it. Just kidding; the university or
college usually receive the money directly to cover your tuition (or a part of it).
How to find study abroad scholarships?
The official websites of your favourite universities are the best place to start searching for a
scholarship. If you don’t find anything relevant, contact a representative via email or chat and
see if they can help.

The next step is to look for financial aid in other places on the internet. But it’s not always easy
to find reliable information and not all websites have up-to-date content. Here are a few
resources that can help you find the right scholarship programme:

 Scholarshipportal.com – our own database where we list over 5,000 scholarship

opportunities
 Scholarships for Development – website providing financial aid programmes especially
focused on students from developing countries
 Official EU scholarship page – list of scholarships available for studies in Europe
 Scholarships.com – database with over 3.5 million scholarships and grants

The official study abroad pages of individual countries also offer information about scholarships:

 official info about scholarships in Austria

 official info about scholarships in Denmark
 official info about scholarships in France
 official info about scholarships in Germany
 official info about scholarships in Sweden
 official info about scholarships in the Netherlands
 official info about scholarships in the UK

What types of scholarships are out there?

The following are the most common types of scholarships you can apply for your studies abroad:

 scholarships for excellent academic results (also called merit scholarships)

 scholarships for research, artistic, or athletic achievements
 scholarships for students with low incomes
 scholarships for under-represented groups (e.g. women, Hispanic and African-American
students, citizens from developing countries)
  scholarships for all international students (e.g. the Studyportals Scholarship: International
Distinction Awards)

Scholarships for excellent academic results

You need to be a top student to apply for this type of scholarships. Universities and colleges are
the most common organisations offering scholarships for academic excellence, but they aren’t
the only ones. To find out if a university offers this type of financial aid, check out the ‘costs and
funding’ page on the official university website.

Scholarships for research, artistic, or athletic achievements

If you’re into research, sports, or arts, then this scholarship category is for you. Athletic
excellence scholarships are especially popular in the US, but you can find them in other countries
as well. To receive financial aid, you need to showcase your skills. This might involve
impressing scouts, showing research skills beyond your age, or creating a work of art that could
easily impress critics.

Scholarships for students with low incomes

This type of scholarships is very similar to grants. The aim is to support students who want to
study but cannot afford to pay the full tuition fees or living costs. Universities and other
organisations make an excellent investment with need-based scholarships because future
graduates often give back to their community and try to help others who face the same struggles.

Scholarships for underrepresented groups

The goal is to support and encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to pursue
education without worrying about costs. Here are a few examples:

 women
 Native Americans
 African-Americans
 Hispanic-Latino
 students from developing countries

Scholarships for all international students

Not all scholarships target this or that group of students. Some private institutions or non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) simply want to contribute to higher education and allow any
international students to apply for their scholarship. These students still have to meet the
requirements, but those are very general and broad, not focused on a specific region, minority, or
ability.

Final take-away about scholarships

The following are the main points you should take from this article:

 Scholarships are a type of gift aid — money you don’t have to pay back. They are very
similar to grants (mostly need-based), but different from student loans (need to be paid
pack, often with interest).
 Depending on their type, scholarships can be open to local students, international
students, all students, students from certain minorities or regions, etc.
 The application process for a scholarship involves registering, writing a personal essay or
letter, translating and sending the official study documents and proof of enrolment, etc.
 You can use various resources to find study abroad scholarships: university websites,
online scholarship databases, official study abroad pages for individual countries, and so
on.
 The most common types of scholarships are academic or merit-based, need-based,
athletic-based, region or minority-based, etc.