Costs and Financial Aid

Costs and Financial Aid

Financial Aid and Other Scholarships

Bowdoin aid. If you are eligible for financial aid, you will need to send your program provider an Off-Campus Study Budget form to complete. The form is available from the Student Aid personal web portal. (If you are filing for financial aid for the first time, you should request a form directly from the Student Aid Office.) The budget is needed to allow the SAO to calculate aid, including loans, for off-campus study. Please note that the cost of attendance at English-speaking universities is based on the cost of direct enrollment, not the cost of enrollment through a third-party provider (with the exception of the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town, in which direct enrollment is more complicated). Normally, you should send the budget to the program provider as soon as you have heard that you have been admitted; if, however, you are applying to the program close to the deadline for return of the budget form, it can save time to include the form with your program application.

You are permitted to use your financial-aid award on any program for which you have been approved by the College, either in this country or abroad. If your program costs more than Bowdoin, your aid award will not be increased; if you will be studying abroad (not in the U.S.), however, you and your parents may be eligible for additional federal Stafford or FPLUS loans to make up the difference. You must apply for all federal aid, including Stafford and FPLUS loans, through Bowdoin.

Bowdoin does not provide aid to or reduce the summer earnings expectation of students attending summer programs.

Application fees, incidental expenses for passports, visas, immunizations, etc., and additional vacation-period expenses are not covered by financial-aid awards.

Bowdoin has some limited loan funds to help extremely needy students with program or university deposits. Ordinarily, however, you should plan for such advance payments when you apply to your off-campus study program or university. Such deposits or early payments range from about $300 to $2,000 and may be required at the time of admission. Check carefully to determine whether deposits are refundable or not. Late withdrawal can also make you liable to charges for housing, travel and other costs already incurred.

Awards are announced around 1 July for students away for the fall or full year, and around 2 January for students away for the spring. Awards cannot be confirmed earlier, or disbursed earlier than scheduled. You and your family will have to make your own arrangements if there is a conflict.

When Student Aid has notified you of your aid award, you should return to the Bursar's Office the Off-Campus Study Disbursement Worksheet that you will find on the Bursar's Office website. Distribution of funds begins around 15 September for the fall semester and around 15 February for the spring, and accounts are reviewed monthly thereafter for any new sources posted.

If you will be away for the full year, half of your aid award will be available for use each semester. When costs differ substantially between semesters, the aid will be prorated in relation to the cost each semester.

If you are enrolling directly in a foreign university, your aid can be sent by wire transfer to the university if you provide the following on the Disbursement Worksheet: (1) name of bank to receive funds; (2) bank sort code number; (3) bank account to be credited (account holder’s name, address, and account number); (4) IBAN no.; and (5) your Program ID or account number, if known.

Stafford and FPLUS loans are disbursed to Bowdoin by federal law half each semester. Most loans arrive at Bowdoin via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). There is no check to be endorsed. Be sure to include these types of loans when completing the Disbursement Worksheet.

Grant or scholarship funds are not available directly to you unless you have prepaid the program; provide a receipt with the Disbursement Worksheet.

For further information on the disbursement process, go to the Bursar's Office website.

External aid. You are strongly advised to look into the possibilities of winning an external award, whether or not you are a recipient of Bowdoin aid, especially as applicants' success rate is often reasonably high. The OCS office will send out information periodically; if you see something that you are interested in, please let us know; in some cases we need to endorse the application. You can use the IIE Passport website for more extensive scholarship searches, although the principal sources are listed below.

Sources of merit- and need-based aid include the National Security Education Program, Rotary Foundation (very early application deadline), Gilman International Scholarship (eligibility restricted to recipients of Pell Grants), Freeman-Asia Awards,and the US-Japan Bridging Scholarships.

Some programs, especially the large providers (Arcadia CEA, IES, IFSA-Butler, SIT, etc.), offer financial aid of their own. The aid can be need-based, merit-based, or aimed at attracting under-represented groups; some programs or universities offer inducements for full-year enrollment. Apply early, as some awards are made on a rolling basis. You can usually submit an aid application along with your application for admission.

The Taryn King Memorial Scholarship was established by the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University (IFSA-Butler) in memory of Bowdoin student Taryn King, who fell ill and died suddenly in January 2006 while participating in the IFSA-Butler program at the National University of Ireland, Galway. A Taryn King Memorial scholarship of $2000 is awarded each year to a Bowdoin College student who is approved by Bowdoin to study abroad through IFSA-Butler. The successful applicant is selected at Bowdoin. Eligibility is based on financial need. Among students who demonstrate eligibility, preference is given to students studying in Ireland (Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland), but students participating in other IFSA-Butler programs are encouraged to apply. Please inquire at the OCS office if interested.