Gap Year Scholarships & Grants to Apply For in 2025

The Cultural Ambassador Summer Program 2025 is your gateway to an immersive cultural adventure in China. Designed exclusively for students from English-speaking countries studying at QS top 200 universities, this program offers a unique two to three-month experience in some of China’s most dynamic cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shenzhen. As a cultural ambassador, you’ll not only teach English and become a big sibling to your host family’s children but also share your own culture, creating a deep and meaningful exchange.

Participants in this program receive an array of benefits. From fully covered return flights to free Mandarin classes and engaging cultural activities, every aspect is designed to ensure a rewarding experience. Additionally, you’ll receive a stipend to cover personal expenses, making it easier to immerse yourself in the vibrant life of your host city.

If you have limited experience of traveling abroad, the Hostelling International World Scholarship Program is likely right up your street. HI award 15 scholarships of $2,000 each every year to help young people from the US travel abroad and experience cross-cultural exchange. To be successful, your planned trip must have an educational or service-learning element.

ARCC is committed to increasing accessibility for our programs and supporting socioeconomic diversity within our community. ARCC’s Voyagers Scholarship provides up to five scholarship opportunities per semester to students who identify within the BIPOC community. These scholarships can range anywhere from $5,000-$8,000, and also includes gear lending and mentorship support throughout the gap year experience. The Voyagers Scholarship can also be combined with ARCC Financial Aid. If you are interested in applying, please reach out to gap@arccprograms.com.

A gap year is something that we hope to make accessible for all students and ARCC works to level the playing field so that all applicants may have a successful opportunity for education, travel, growth, and self-discovery post-high school. We strive to uphold these pillars of our organization through a variety of means. Each year ARCC Gap awards financial aid to support students who would otherwise be unable to cover the full cost of tuition. Additionally, ARCC is committed to increasing accessibility for our programs and supporting socioeconomic diversity within our community. ARCC’s Voyagers Scholarship provides up to five scholarship opportunities per semester to students who identify within the BIPOC community. These scholarships can range anywhere from $5,000-$8,000, and also includes gear lending and mentorship support throughout the gap year experience. The Voyagers Scholarship can also be combined with ARCC Financial Aid

Freeman provides scholarships of up to $7,000 for undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need to study abroad in Asia. For U.S. students only.

Where There Be Dragons offers need-based financial aid to students that demonstrate reasonable financial need and are excited to engage with communities around the world.

Several scholarships are available for those looking to volunteer for a short or long-term period abroad with the non-profit organization United Planet, who work with communities in over 35 countries around the world.

The Verto Education Opportunity Grant ($5,000-$14,000) can reduce tuition by as much as 72%. Funding is awarded based on Expected Family Contribution (determined by the FAFSA). Students must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 to qualify.

The Verto Scholars Award ($5,000) is offered to incoming students based on their high school GPA. Applicants with a GPA of 3.5 or higher will automatically be given a Verto Scholars Award.

Alzar Gap is offering four $3,000 scholarships for four qualified candidates applying to any of our programs. In order to be considered, candidates must submit their full applications by May 1st, 2023, and respond to two prompts about their next steps after Alzar Gap.

Ethical Global Engagement Grants support travel, living, and EdGE tuition expenses for exceptional candidates. The expectation is that recipients join the Widening Circles EdGE learning community and then volunteer or intern (online or in-person) with an Omprakash Partner organization, typically for at least 3 months. These grants target different audiences and offer varying levels of support. All share the purpose of broadening access to learning opportunities within Omprakash programs and throughout the Omprakash network. The range of scholarships includes

EdGE Tuition Scholarship: EdGE Scholarships offer partial or full tuition reductions to Widening Circles EdGE participants.

EdGE Travel Grant: For those committed to volunteer for at least three months with an Omprakash partner, with grants ranging between $500 and $1,500.

Crowdfund Matching Grants: Crowdfund Matching Grants offer up to $1,500 in matching funds for EdGE students who are using the Omprakash Crowdfund platform.

Cow House Studios offer several scholarship opportunities for both our summer program Art on the Farm and our gap year program FieldWorks. All scholarship applicants must submit a portfolio that demonstrates an advanced practice. We assess student portfolios by determining how the realization of completed artworks reflects a young artist’s curiosities, concerns, experience, and research. You can read more about these opportunities and the application process on our website.

The Eva Gunther Foundation offers need-based fellowships to young girls in the San Francisco area who don’t have the financial ability to experience certain programs that pique their interest, such as travel programs or basketball camp.

The Pollination Project gives $1,000 grants to “support passionate, committed people with an early-stage social change vision.” Funding can be applied to travel expenses related to the execution of the project.

Global Citizen Year hopes to offer more scholarships and funding to their students than any other gap year program in the world, and is dedicated to making their experiences affordable. GCY offers 30% of its participants full-tuition scholarships and 80% receive partial scholarships. Merit and need-based scholarships available.

EF Gap Year has awards of up to $5,000 for students in their gap year and semester-long programs. Various scholarships are available for leadership, blogging, videography, and photography. Over $50,000 of funding is available every year.

Every year, travel company Rustic Pathways give away $250,000 to students from across the world. Scholarships are varied and it’s worth checking back in after they’ve been awarded as late-season scholarship redistribution — where uncollected grants are reallocated to new applicants — takes place a few months later. Among their scholarships, the most relevant to prospective volunteers are the following:

Service Scholarships: Available to those who have never participated on a Rustic Pathways program before, this scholarship covers most or all of the program fees for a service-learning project with the company and is available to those who demonstrate financial need.

Gap Year Scholarships: Recognizing academic merit, these scholarships are available to cover some of the fees of a one-semester gap year program with Rustic Pathways.

If you’re looking at one of the four High Mountain Institute programs to Patagonia, consider applying for financial aid. Your application must include tax forms from the last two years and will be awarded based on SSS (school and student services calculator) used by National Association of Independent Schools, which HMI is apart of. In addition to tuition and other travel costs, High Mountain Institute also provides discounted gear rentals to financial aid recipients.

Carpe Diem Education awards $30,000 annually to support diversity and inclusion in its programs. The Access Scholarship provides up to $5,000 for a gap year semester or full-year experience. The Inclusion Scholarship offers up to $2,000 for a gap year semester. The Carpe Mundi Scholarship is for Portland-based students. Grants are mostly need-based, and applications open in January.

MASA Israel Journey is funded by the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency for Israel to encourage young Jewish people (ages 18 – 30) to experience the country. They provide scholarships to students on a need-basis.

For those interested in an Operation Groundswell program, consider applying for financial assistance through the Operation Groundswell Financial Needs Grant. You’ll submit information about yourself, the program you want to go on, and why you need financial assistance, and the OG team will review your information to determine what financial assistance they can provide. Applications are accepted throughout the year, so be sure to apply as soon as you apply for the Operation Groundswell program you choose.