FAFSA and Study Abroad: How Federal Aid Works Overseas

This is incredibly useful. I had no idea the COA adjustment was something you had to request -- I assumed my financial aid office would just figure it out. Going in tomorrow morning to submit my budget worksheet for my spring semester in Berlin. Thank you for spelling this out.

Former study abroad advisor here. The biggest issue I saw every semester was students who applied to programs before checking with their financial aid office. By the time they realized the program was not approved, they had already paid a non-refundable deposit. Please, please check approval status FIRST.

Applied for Gilman last year as a Pell recipient and got $5,000 for my semester in South Korea. The application took me about two weekends to write. If you get Pell and you are going abroad, there is zero reason not to apply. The essay is the hard part but the payoff is real.

I work in my university's financial aid office and I can confirm -- the disbursement timeline is the number one issue we deal with for study abroad students. Start the conversation at least six months out. We cannot speed up federal processing just because your program deposit is due early.

Quick note for international students at US schools: FAFSA is only for US citizens and eligible non-citizens. If you are on an F-1 visa, you do not qualify for federal aid. Your funding options for study abroad are limited to institutional scholarships and private loans. Different situation entirely.

The Parent PLUS Loan information is something my mom and I were completely confused about. We did not realize the COA adjustment could increase the loan ceiling. Just emailed our financial aid counselor with the program invoice. Fingers crossed.

Did my semester in Tokyo last year and the COA adjustment was critical. Tokyo is expensive and my regular COA would have left a $6,000 gap. The adjustment brought it within reach. One thing to add: some programs include a mandatory health insurance fee that counts toward COA -- make sure you include that in your budget worksheet.

Currently in Dublin using my federal aid through a consortium agreement. The process was exactly as described here. My home school processed everything and wired the tuition to Trinity College directly. Took about three weeks longer than my normal disbursement but it worked. Just plan for that delay.