6 Tips & Tricks to Score Travel Scholarships for High School Students

Here’s our take on ways to increase your chances of winning travel scholarships for high school students. You’ve been sitting in Mr. Lambersie’s history class all year, and while you like the content, no amount of Planet Earth reruns or History Channel documentaries are going to make any of the material come alive for you… 

Use high school travel scholarships to fund the adventure of a lifetime!

You need to see the world for itself. You need to walk in the footsteps of ancient leaders, lay your eyes on World Heritage sites, pet a koala, taste the flavors of Italy and Spain and Mexico and China. High school just isn’t cutting it—and while you’re keen to learn, you want to learn in new ways.

That’s where high school travel comes in. Oh? And that little thing called the cost? There are high school travel scholarships for that. Ta-DA! Travel scholarships for high school students are a great avenue towards funding your dream trip abroad. No matter where you have your sights set, if you follow this advice, you’ll surely get that “We’ve Selected Your Application” letter in the mail in no time.

Tips to help you win travel abroad scholarships for high school students

1. Know your goals.

Even before you can sit down and begin to think about where you want to go and how much it’s going to put a dent in your wallet, you need to have a rough outline of your goals for travel abroad. This might sound a little over the top, but trust us—doing the hard work of setting intentions and determining your motivations now is going to help a LOT further down the process. It’ll give you something thoughtful to point to when you have difficult conversations with your parents, are writing that next cover letter for other travel abroad scholarships, oh—and when you’re actually abroad, distracted by adventure, but want to buckle down and make the most of the experience.

2. Create a rough outline and budget.

Have a basic budget in mind before you willy-nilly apply for awards.

Before you start applying for high school travel scholarships, know an estimated cost of your dream high school trip abroad. There’s no need to apply for $5000 awards if you don’t think that your two-week trip to Japan is going to cost you upwards of half of that. It’ll also help you in determining which piecemeal scholarships to prioritize—you’ll want to put most of your effort into higher-award package scholarships (like $1000+), but have a clear understanding of the value that smaller-potatoes awards can have on your bottom line, too.

3. Make a spreadsheet to track your applications.

Spreadsheets might not be your way of life yet, but there’s no better time to jump on the bandwagon than when you’re being super-organized and upping your chances of winning travel abroad scholarships for high school students! 

In your spreadsheet, you can track the location of the scholarship / where you found it (typically a URL), the details about the prize money, what’s required in your application, AND your deadlines. You can even mark them in order of priority or how quickly you want to submit your materials. Really, the sky’s the limit.

And, because we <3 you (and spreadsheets, as aforementioned), we’ve put together a application tracking template spreadsheet to keep tabs on travel scholarships for high school students. WOOT!

[Make a Copy of Our High School Travel Scholarships Application Tracking Spreadsheet]

4. Have a master document where you answer all of your questions.

Truth be told, a lot of scholarship selection committees are using similar questions to vet potential recipients of their awards. They want to make sure you’re mature enough to handle a high-impact learning environment abroad, that you see the bigger picture of how your decision to travel will influence your future, your goals (a la tip #1), how comfortable you are with pushing your comfort zone, and more. 

#ScholarshipHack: Create a big, fat Google document where you copy and paste ALL of your answers to the applications you’ve submitted. When it comes time to fill out the app for the next opportunity, you’ll already have some groundwork to work up from. 

Alas, this comes with a caveat ↓

5. Don’t over-recycle your application content.

Hola, beautiful world!

While it’s smart to work with old submission answers, don’t fall into the trap of submitting identical answers to multiple applications. Scholarship selection committees can sniff out generic applicants like yours, and your chances of winning will flush faster than you can say “Sorry I copied and pasted.”

One scholarship = one application. The trick is to incorporate award-specific details into your essays that indicate to the selection committees that you took the information about their scholarship seriously. Browse their website and read past winners’ essays, then use what you’ve found to influence your work. Then you’ll really nail your first impression.

6. If they ask for creative submissions, like video travel scholarships, exceed their expectations.

You don’t have to be a pro at iMovie to knock the socks off of application reviewers. Truth be told, if the creative submission—like a photo or video—is “optional,” you really want to treat it as “required.” You’re much less likely to win if you don’t put in 100% effort into fulfilling their desired applicant submission. 

So yes, stage a hilarious photo shoot with your friends. Grab some classmates and have them record you multiple times trying to get your lines straight. It’ll be pretty fun along the way, and when you end up with bomb final product (and maybe even a winner’s check?), you’ll be glad you put in the extra effort.

4 travel scholarships for high school students to apply for now

1. Allianz ScholarTrips

Sarah Fouts from this organization shared, “...We believe that by traveling outside of the US, we all become better global citizens. We’re more open to new ideas and new people, others get to know us beyond the stereotypes, history comes alive, and languages are easier to learn when immersed in them—but we also know these opportunities aren’t inexpensive. Our former CEO wanted to remove some of those barriers, and our current leadership team has increased this commitment by expanding the contest to its national presence, increasing the prize money and number of awards. We want this passion to fuel others adventures and experiences and look forward to hearing the stories from our winners.”

If their 41 high school travel scholarships aren’t something to be stoked about, we’re not sure what is!

• What? Video entry, online scholarship application
• How much? $2,500, $1000, or $500 awards for 41 students
• Deadline: November 9, 2018
• More scholarship info

2. American Foreign Service Association Scholarship

If you have a knack for writing, this scholarship essay contest might be your golden ticket to a meaningful trip abroad. The winner not only receives up to $2,500 to put towards their international program, but they’ll also meet the Secretary of State and get a free excursion with Semester at Sea. 

Most of their travel scholarships for high school seniors require you have a minimum GPA of 2.75 and are the dependent of a Foreign Service employee, but they also have a Merit-Based scholarship for those who don’t fit the above stated bill. Hop to it (essay writing, that is!).

• What? Essay, online application
• How much? Scholarship amounts vary
• Deadline: March 29, 2019
• More scholarship info

3. Congress-Bundestag Scholarship

The only kicker for these federally-funded high school travel scholarships is that interested applicants must have a strong desire to live and study in Germany and nowhere else. According to their website, “The U.S. State Department funded Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX) is for motivated high school students who want to fully immerse themselves in German culture by living with a host family and attending a local high school. No previous language experience is required.” Pretty clear if you ask me. 

If you’re a US citizen who rocks a 3.0 GPA and is aged between 15-18, go grab yourself a big, warm pretzel and get to work on this application! (And take your time, too—this application is competitive AF).

• What? Online application
• How much? Fully funded trip to Germany, baby!
• Deadline: TBD
• More scholarship info

4. Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Study

Similarly to the CBYX scholarship cited above, these federally funded, merit-based travel abroad scholarships for high school students aim to help American youth develop a perspective of a Muslim culture first-hand. “Participants serve as ‘youth ambassadors’ of the United States, promoting mutual understanding by forming lasting relationships with their host families and communities.” Will YOU be one of the 65 students chosen for this incredible exchange opportunity to spend a WHOLE ACADEMIC YEAR abroad in one of 13 cool countries?

• What? Online application
• How much? Fully funded trip Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Macedonia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, Senegal, Thailand, or Turkey
• Deadline: TBD
• More scholarship info

Ace your high school travel scholarships, baby!

Let's do this.

We’re confident that if you follow the advice outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to sitting pretty atop scholarship riches in no time (and maybe could write our next article on travel scholarships for high school students?!). TL;DR—Take each application seriously and really, really think hard about your goals before you take your first step down this path. If all else fails, there’s nothing wrong with pitching a scholarship from the Bank of Wealthier Family Members (just be sure to come to the table with a pre-established pay-back-plan to really seal the deal).

Browse ALL High School Travel Abroad Scholarships

This article was written in conjunction with Allianz ScholarTrips, now accepting applications for high school travel scholarships. Get your application and video in for consideration in their 2018-2019 gifts!