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Continued from "How to Finance your Study Abroad Adventure" - Part 2 - by Beth Klemick
Most study abroad programs where your home school will be issuing credit for your abroad experience is eligible for financial aid. Each home school requires something different from a foreign transcript to submitting a term paper. However, sometimes your study abroad office is reluctant to approve a study abroad program that isn't a school-sponsored program for credit for a variety of reasons. In these cases, you would want to choose a program where a US transcript is issued. Usually, the credit transfer approval process for US transcripts will be handled through your registrar's office.
The Higher Education Act permits schools to release Federal Financial Aid for payment towards a study abroad program if the student is receiving credit by their home university. This aid is not predicated on the foreign school or domestic study abroad organization being a Title IV institution. That means you can apply your Pell Grants, as well as, Stafford, PLUS & Perkins loans to study abroad programs offered independent organizations. However, state aid or aid granted by your institution is determined by each university. If your financial aid office is unsure how this process works, refer them to the chapter in IFAP's Student Financial Aid Handbook on Written Agreements (Chapter 7 in the 2003-2004 edition).
Generally, your financial aid office will send a written agreement, sometimes called a consortium agreement, to the study abroad organization to complete and return. This agreement specifies the enrollment period, credits to be received and estimated cost (including round-trip transportation, tuition, books, housing and other living costs).
More to follow...
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