Year or Term Abroad

For general information on the Year or Term Abroad, see the Yale College Academic Regulations and the Yale Study Abroad website.

Elig​ibility for financial aid
Determining your financial aid award
Required forms and information
Disbursement of your financial aid
Enrollment s​tatus for loan repayment

Elig​ibility for fina​ncial aid

If Yale Study Abroad has approved your application to study abroad for Yale credit in a Year or Term Abroad program, or if you have been accepted into the Yale-in-London or Balliol Junior Year Abroad Program for Yale English Majors, you are eligible to apply for financial aid. For information about the financial aid application process, see our application information for continuing students.

If you do not qualify for need-based financial aid, or if you want to supplement your financial aid award, you and your family may apply for education loans to help pay for your educational costs abroad. For information about the types of loans available, see Loan Options.

We recommend that you also research merit-based fellowship opportunities for your study abroad on the Yale Fellowships and Funding website and Yale's Student Grants & Fellowships database.

Yale students taking a leave of absence to study abroad are ineligible for financial aid or loans through Student Financial Services.

Determining your financial aid award

For your approved Year or Term abroad, your need for financial aid is calculated in the same way that it is for a year or term at Yale: your Expected Family Contribution is subtracted from your cost of attendance. Your financial aid award is determined as follows:

The Student Share is usually met, in part, with earnings from a term-time job. Because students are often ineligible to work in a foreign country, you may request an education loan to cover your Student Share instead.

Any merit-based scholarships you receive will first reduce your Student Share.

Required forms and information

In addition to completing the forms required for continuing students, you must submit the following to receive financial aid for your Year or Term Abroad:

Note: The Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid will not be able to review your study abroad budgets until after you have submitted your regular Yale Financial Aid requirements for the upcoming academic year.  Please be sure to submit these requirements by May 1. 

Please submit these items by the following deadlines:

Academic year 2024–2025: June 1, 2024
Fall term 2024 only: June 1, 2024
Spring term 2025 only: December 1, 2024

  • December  2024 is the deadline for students to submit their term abroad budget and program invoice to financial aid.

If you have questions about the required forms and information, please e-mail UFA Assistant Director Nicole Rothfuss at nicole.rothfuss@yale.edu.

Note: Students in the Yale-in-London program do not need to submit study-abroad budget information. This program has a standardized budget that the Financial Aid Office uses when calculating participants' financial aid.

Disbursement of your financial aid

Regardless of where you are studying, your financial aid and outside scholarships and loans will be credited to your Yale student account. These funds will be released as follows:

  • If you are billed for your program by a U.S. organization or institution of higher learning, Student Financial Services will authorize a refund check to the program up to your balance due, based on the submitted copy of your bill. Any remaining funds will be released to you.
  • If you are enrolling directly in a college or university abroad and will not be billed by a U.S. organization or institution of higher learning, all aid funds will be released to you to pay your billed expenses. Before any funds are released, you must fill out and sign an SFS form acknowledging your responsibility to use the funds for your educational expenses.

Financial aid funds are released no more than 7 days prior to the beginning of classes each term, even if your program begins before that date. It is your responsibility to pay any deposit required in advance of your study-abroad term. Financial aid funds cannot be released to pay deposits or airfare expenses prior to the regular release date, unless exceptional need exists. If you have such an exceptional case, you must submit a written request for an advance of funds to the attention of Nicole Rothfuss in Undergraduate Financial Aid.

The quickest and most convenient way to receive funds from your Student Account is by direct deposit to your personal checking account with a bank located in the United States. To set up direct deposit to your U.S. bank account, log in to Yale Hub, select the Student Accounts menu, then select Direct Deposit Authorization.

Because some institutions need assurance that you will have aid forthcoming to cover some or all of your costs, you should submit a copy of your current award letter to them. If additional confirmation of your financial need and award is required, please provide Undergraduate Financial Aid with your institution's form.

Please remember that any family contribution you would normally pay to Yale is paid instead to your sponsoring institution. If you usually enroll in the Yale Payment Plan (YPP), we advise you to cancel the plan for your term(s) abroad. If you are still enrolled in YPP, Yale will only refund your actual Yale Plan payments to date. Other financing options such as loans may be good alternatives to YPP. You may also want to contact your sponsoring study abroad institution regarding payment plans they might offer.

If you have been approved by Yale to study abroad for credit in a Year or Term Abroad program, you will continue to be an enrolled Yale student during your term(s) away, and your student loan(s) will automatically remain in a deferment status. However, if you take a leave of absence to study abroad, you will not be considered an enrolled Yale student during your term(s) away, and you will begin any grace period or enter repayment on your loan(s).