As most of you know, your average college student can’t survive without good old government school loans, and that means the dreaded FAFSA. That horrid form you have to fill out every year just to prove what you already know, you’re broke. 😛
For those of you studying abroad, you probably are aware that you can get federal loans to cover these classes if your school transfers them in or is in charge of the program. Usually, this means you have to study via a US college’s program, either through your own university or as a visiting student at another college. I have studied abroad several times, but only once through my own college. All my law school classes abroad have been through programs offered by other US law schools who agreed to take me in.
But did you know that the FAFSA doesn’t just cover US schools? Sometimes, your college is unwilling to transfer in credits. Or you want to take more classes than is allowed for transfer purposes. Or a program just isn’t offered through a US school in that country or area you wanted for that specialization you’ve been dying to research.
For those situations, you might want to turn to the FAFSA School Code List available here. You probably haven’t looked at this since your first semester when you had them send the forms to your college, but try taking a look at the bottom of the list. That’s right, the FAFSA program may cover a program you’re interested in at a foreign school. The list starts on page 147 of the form, and it includes numerous school in all sorts of countries. So if you’ve always been interested in studying in Australia, but no US college offers a program at that university/city, check out this list. If it’s on the list, it is covered by FAFSA and you can apply for US government school loans to cover that program of study the same as you would any US program. This is how many US students are affording to get their entire degrees abroad. Technically, you can have an entire undergraduate or graduate degree covered with school loans in these schools via the FAFSA program, the same as if you studied in the US. Or even just a summer program. It’s worth looking into! Also remember, if it isn’t on this list then FAFSA won’t cover it. So unless it’s on this list or you’re traveling there via a US college, you may have to pay out-of-pocket.
Student Ramblings 