Taking classes, living and traveling abroad—sounds expensive, right? It doesn’t have to be! It’s possible to have your dream adventure abroad and keep the costs affordable. Here are a few ways you can make it happen.
Wadi Rum, Jordan, 2019 | Photo courtesy of Jemil Kassahun
Choose a more affordable program
CU Boulder Education Abroad has a huge portfolio of approved programs—nearly 400 in about 60 different countries. Plenty of these options are affordable, including our affordable programs’ list and exchange programs, which typically offer a more affordable and independent semester abroad.
Not all programs are in big, international cities such as London, Paris or Sydney either, meaning cost of living on some programs can be significantly lower than Boulder! With so many programs available, there’s a program to fit every student’s financial needs.
Use financial aid
That’s right—financial aid applies to Education Abroad semester or full-year programs! Any loans, grants or scholarships you receive from the federal government, the state of Colorado or from CU will automatically apply to your Education Abroad fee the same as it would for your tuition here. If you are a Pell Recipient, some programs even match Pell Grants.
Financial aid can be a huge help in reducing the costs of programs abroad, just as they are in Boulder! Explore Education Abroad’s financial aid page to learn more.
Don’t miss out! Application deadlines for summer and fall 2021 range from Feb. 1 through April 1.
Apply for scholarships
There are many scholarship opportunities for study abroad students. The Education Abroad office offers the need-based Buffs Abroad Scholarship, and encourages all students going abroad on a CU program to apply. There are a lot of other general eligibility scholarships, too, as well as scholarships available for certain majors, certain regions of study, underrepresented students and more.
Check out the Ed Abroad scholarships page to explore scholarships you may be eligible for.
Get started today
Want to learn about more programs in your budget? Our program search has the option to include your budget and search for programs that will work for you financially. The costs for your overall budget (estimates for everything) are on a scale of one to four dollar signs, so be sure to learn more about what each dollar sign means.
If you’re ready to get started, connect with Education Abroad! We continue to operate remotely and advise students from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday–Friday. You can book an appointment online, or if you have just a quick question, email abroad@colorado.edu or live chat during business hours.
We even have a number of CU Boulder students currently abroad this spring! To learn how your experience may be different these days, visit the COVID-19 Information on Education Abroad page.
