According to the Institute of International Education’s 2025 Open Doors Report, in the 2023-2024 academic year, there were 298,180 undergraduate students who studied abroad. Of that number, 12.2% were Hispanic or Latinx.
Fund for Education Abroad is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was founded in 2010 with the mission of expanding access to the life-changing experience of study abroad. Since our founding, FEA has awarded over $4.9 million to over 1,400 undergraduate students pursuing study abroad experiences, with an emphasis on supporting students who face barriers to participation in study abroad. To date, 85% of FEA Scholars are people of color, 80% are first-generation college students, and 35% are current or former community college students. All of the awarded scholars have financial need, and many would not be able to make their study abroad programs possible without the aid of scholarships like FEA. In our most recent application cycle, which was for students who are studying abroad in the Spring 2026 semester, 24% of awarded FEA Scholars are Hispanic or Latinx – double the percentage represented in the national survey of study abroad students.
While the numbers are important metric by which to gauge our work, the human stories behind them are perhaps more powerful.
Paola Campos studied abroad in South Korea as an FEA Scholar in Spring 2024. Paola is a first-generation student originally from Mexico, who in 2024 was a Mathematics major with aspirations to pursue a graduate program in applied statistics or data science. Prior to leaving for South Korea, Paola said, “We don’t have a lot of offerings in [statistics or data science] courses at my home university, so having the opportunity to enroll in those courses while abroad will make me a more competitive applicant and will allow me to learn new skills that I wouldn’t have been able to learn otherwise.”
In addition to providing funding, FEA also provides a blogging platform for our awarded scholars to share about their experiences abroad on our website. Paola documented her journey at Yonsei University through her blog, regaling us with tales of adapting to a more lecture-heavy teaching style, getting to know the campus cat, and developing a sense of belonging that was dependent not on her environment, but on her own self-confidence.
By the end of her experience, Paola had this to say: “Studying and living in South Korea was a once in a lifetime experience that will continue to shape my academic and personal trajectory for many years to come. From an academic standpoint, I enrolled in courses that were challenging and helped me grow into a more resilient student, capable of pushing through feelings of doubt and discomfort. From a professional standpoint, I learned key technical and interpersonal skills that will help me in numerous work environments. Most importantly, studying abroad was a transformative experience in terms of personal growth, as it allowed me to redefine and reaffirm many of my values and beliefs.”
Since returning to the United States, FEA has remained a part of Paola’s journey. Every year, FEA hosts a gala to celebrate our scholars and raise funds for future scholarships. In November of 2024, Paola was one of seven FEA alumni who joined us for the evening at the Danish Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, DC and shared about her experience in South Korea with over 200 attendees.
In 2026, Paola has achieved the goal she set prior to studying abroad and is now enrolled in an Applied Mathematics graduate program at UC Davis.
Paola is just one of the nearly 1,500 students FEA has supported over the past sixteen years, many of whom are Hispanic or Latinx. While we are primarily known for our scholarships, we strive to provide more than just funding to our scholars, before, during, and after their study abroad experiences.
In addition to the blogging platform and opportunities to attend FEA events, scholars also gain access to our ever-growing alumni network, through informal groups on social media as well as a more structured Peer Mentorship program that pairs outgoing students with returned alumni who share similar interests and/or identities. FEA alumni are also invited to join our Board of Trustees, to ensure that the students we serve have a voice in determining the future of our work.
As FEA enters our sixteenth year of existence, we are more committed than ever to our mission of increasing access to study abroad for students with financial need. As a fully philanthropic organization, we source our funding from independent donors and organizations that believe in the power of study abroad, such as our Access Partners. Access Partner organizations, which are study abroad program providers and host institutions who support our work, are crucial to FEA’s mission, and our Access Advisory Board serves as an important touchstone for industry leaders to share best practices and collaborate on projects that serve the wider field of international education. Our philanthropic model has proven crucial over the past year, as we do not receive federal grant funding and thus have not been financially impacted by the cuts that have affected many similar scholarship opportunities, such as the Gilman Program. You can help us to continue sustaining our work by making a donation.
With a team of only two full-time staff members, the support of our Access Advisory Board, our Board of Trustees, and our bi-annual crew of application reviewers is crucial to keeping our operations going strong. We welcome any working professionals with an interest in higher education, study abroad, or scholarships to apply to review with us in future cycles. Advisors can find resources to help students apply on our Advisor Resourcespage. Our current open cycle is for students intending to study abroad in Summer or Fall of 2026, or for the full 2026-2027 academic year, and has a strict deadline of February 4, 2026, at 12pm (noon) Eastern Time. Current undergraduate students with plans to study abroad in 2027 are invited to check our eligibility requirements and cycle dates.
About the author
Joelle Leinbach is the Program Manager at Fund for Education Abroad. She studied abroad in Germany and Russia with the help of scholarship programs and is dedicated to the pursuit of making study abroad more accessible.
