Using Your Financial Aid to Study Abroad Tacoma WA

If you've been wondering how you'll come up with the cash to cover a year of studies in the Middle East, it should help you to know that federal student aid can usually be used to pay for study abroad, as long as the program you attend has been approved for credit by your home school. This may apply to your state aid programs as well, since they often abide by the same rules and regulations as federal aid programs.

Here are some things to know about using state or federal aid for your study abroad:

1.  To use federal grants, work-study, or loans to pay for study abroad, you must be enrolled at least half-time (full-time in some cases) in a degree program. However, using your work-study award abroad may be difficult due to restrictions on where you can work and how your time must be reported.

2.  Your home school must pre-approve earning credits abroad through your chosen program. As long as you have your school's go-ahead, they can award you federal aid even if your program is sponsored by another U.S. school or by a foreign institution.

3.  It's easiest to use federal or state aid if you go on a study-abroad program run by your school. Everything is already academically approved, there is already a process in place for maintaining your enrollment while you're abroad, and earning and transferring credits will be much easier.

Author: Amy Ambler

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