<p>I am an undergraduate sophomore student and a member of the Lineberger Fellows program at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. In the LF program, we are planning a cultural trip to Ireland next Spring Break (2014). Unfortunately, the trip will be quite expensive (~$3000 a person). Being a college student who commutes and requires financial aid to cover tuition fees, I simply do not have the means to finance my spot in the trip personally.</p>
<p>I was planning on studying abroad in Canada during the upcoming Spring semester, but my mother is undergoing a serious operation (she has lymphoma) in December/January, which will disallow me from going north for the spring to study - for personal and financial reasons. </p>
<p>Experiencing new cultures is extremely important to me. This may be the last opportunity I have to go abroad at all during my undergraduate years.</p>
<p>I would like to ask if anyone knows of any grants that I might be able to apply for? For a cultural experience in Ireland for a week? I would be going with about a dozen other students - it would be educational and enriching.</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>(By the way: I’m not sure if this is the appropriate board for this question, so please move this thread if necessary.)</p>
<p>I don’t know of any grants for short term trips like you mention. My daughter studied abroad the fall term of her Sr. year. But the tuition was covered by her financial aid and she got additional support for airfare etc from a Gilman Scholarship. You have to be Pell eligible to apply. Summer grants are available.</p>
<p>Im assuming there are more than 12 students in your major? So not everyone is going. Start looking for extra funds now to fund a trip later when you are better prepared- even after college- it wont be that long.</p>
<p>$3,000 is pretty high for a week, my daughter didn’t spend that much for her almost six month trip to India & the UK.</p>
While this sounds like a nice program, the fact is that most students don’t get to go abroad at all as undergrads, and foreign travel during a school break, even if part of an academic program, is a luxury. But all is not lost. You’re only a sophomore. If you work 15 hours a week and scrimp and save for a couple of years, you should be able to accumulate enough funds to finance a much more reasonably priced trip abroad–and maybe a longer one–before you graduate.</p>