Honors College Study Abroad Planning Award

Further Incentives

Students who also apply for one of the opportunities below will also receive additional funding from the Honors College. Students must coordinate scholarship submission and receive advising and essay review before submission through The UTSA Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. Students must apply to one of the following:

• The Benjamin Gilman Scholarship for Study Abroad (up to $1000)
• The Gilman McCain Scholarship for Study Abroad (up to $1000)
• Boren Scholarship (summer, semester and full-year language programs; up to $1000)
• Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Scholarship (opens mid-December each year; up to $500)
• Fund for Education Abroad Scholarship (up to $500)

You don’t need to win one of these awards to receive extra scholarship funds from the Honors College. Simply apply.  We have designed the Honors scholarship essay questions to be very similar to these other awards. We highly encourage students to apply to the Gilman Scholarship. Students can apply to Gilman up to one year in advance of their program and can apply up to two times to the award if they submit early (Apply in October for Spring, Summer, and Fall programs; Apply in March for Summer, Fall and Spring programs of the following year).

Picking a Program

In order to apply for the scholarship and further incentives, you need to have picked a program. Its ok if you are applying to the study abroad itself program later. Students are encouraged to use this opportunity to diversify their course of study beyond your major. You are not required to study abroad in the field of your major. Study abroad would be a fantastic opportunity to add a minor in languages or explore new fields in humanities and social sciences to complement science and business degrees. In your application, you will be writing about your program choice and how it will help you grow.

Listed below are some programs across disciplines that we think will be super impactful to build your resume, however, if you want to pick your own program, you are still be eligible to apply. Featured programs include research, internship, and service opportunities:

Short-term Programs

• Honors College Study Abroad Program - Japan
• Honors College Costa Rica Program already has scholarships applied, but students are encouraged to apply to International Education Fund and Gilman, which can pay for tuition, remaining program fee, and other travel expenses.

Semester Programs

• All UTSA Exchange Programs(Locations include Chile, Germany, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom)
• EuroScholars Program
• University Studies Abroad Consortion(Locations worldwide with reasonable prices)

Summer Programs

• Abroad UTSA - Direct Enroll: Language and Culture in La Rioja, Spain – Summer
• University of Liverpool Summer Research Program, Exchange
• ISA – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands – Multidisciplinary Studies with Fieldwork:
• ISA – Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia – Summer Study with optional research independent study
• ISA Service-Learning Locations
• ISA Internship sites
• CIEE Summer Global Internships(Barcelona, Lisbon, Dublin, Rome, Prague, Cape Town, Singapore, and others locations). Note all CIEE programs have discounts for Hispanic Serving Institutions and for Pell Grant recipients:
• CIEE Summer Community Public Health in Buenos Aires, Argentina
• CIEE Summer Community Public Health in Gaborone, Botswana
• CIEE Summer Comparative Health Studies – London and Amsterdam
• CIEE Summer Tropical Ecology Plus Conservation in Monteverde, Costa Rica
• Spanish for Healthcare Professionals, Instituto Franklin - Alcala de Henares, Spain
• UTSA Archaeological Field School in Belize
• Security and Society in the Information Age w/ Internship at Terrorism Research Center: Warsaw, Poland
• Amideast: Social Innovation Abroad in Tunisia
• FIE Conflict and Struggle for Peace: Explorations in Ireland and the Middle East
• Arcadia STEM Summer Research Program, University College Dublin, Ireland
• IFSA Tech Accelerator Program in Prague, Czechia

Eligibility

• Students must be a member in the Honors College.
• Final scholarship amounts cannot exceed the overall cost of attendance + travel.
• Students must be in an academic study abroad, internship, service learning, or research program. Program must be credit bearing, either by transfer or course offered by UTSA.* Independent travel outside of a structured program that is not for academic credit is not eligible.
• Scholarship awardees must comply with all requirements, regulations, and policies established by UTSA Education Abroad.
• Students can be in any year, from their first year to the year they graduate. Students cannot accept the award to travel after graduation. 
• Must have 2.5 GPA, as required by UTSA Education Abroad, or higher, depending on program.
• Students must apply to the UTSA International Education Fund ( https://global.utsa.edu/education-abroad/student-directory/Study-Abroad-Funding/Study-Abroad-Funding.html), which provides additional funding. 
• Upon acceptance to the study abroad program, students must submit all required paperwork to the Study Abroad Office, including the Study Abroad Financial Aid Request form.
• Student must attend the program to have the scholarship disburse or attend similar program in the case of cancellation.

• This award cannot be applied to students from the Top Scholar Program, which already provides study abroad enrichment funding. Students in the Terry Scholar Program and Texas Leadership Scholars are eligible to apply, but must work with Honors College Special Programs to disclose any awards received.

*Course Credit: Students who need to earn university credit for Internship, Service Learning, or other programs that do not issue credit may discuss with their Academic Advisor if their major will allow for internships to count for academic credit. 

Application Process

In order to apply for the Honors College Study Abroad Scholarship, students must have picked a study abroad program. The student does not need to have applied yet to the program.

Students must submit:

• Scholarship Hub application
• A statement of purpose (1-2 pages). In your essay, be specific in describing your reasons for studying abroad as it pertains to your specific study abroad program. Our application question is directly taken from the Gilman Scholarship for study abroad. Further advice on writing your essay can be found here:
  • How to write a study abroad statement of grant purpose
• Budget information about your program.

Please address the questions below in essay form, in no particular order:

• Describe your program: what will you be doing on the program? What classes will you take? What activities will you do? How is the country you are traveling to related to your program topic?
• How will studying or interning abroad help you achieve your future academic or professional goals?
• Why did you select your specific program and host country? What is it about the host country that makes it the right place to travel to? Does the host country relate to your future academic or professional goals? 
• How are you academically or professionally prepared to be a successful scholar abroad? What examples of knowledge, skills, and experiences will you draw on to meet the challenges of going abroad?

The Honors Study Abroad Scholarship Application has two cycles of selection. 

• In the fall it opens in mid-August and has a September 30 deadline. This cycle is for programs running in Spring, Summer and Fall of the following year.
• In the spring it opens in mid-December and closes on February 15. This cycle is for programs running in Summer, Fall and Spring ofthe following year. 
• Note that further incentive programs may have different deadlines.

For questions, please visit the Experiential Learning Lab or contact and academic counselor. For assistance with external scholarship applications (Ex. Gilman Scholarship), please contact Andrew.Chapman2@utsa.edu.