WKU News

WKU students who believe that it may be too expensive to include an international component in their college career should think twice. Between the Office of Study Abroad and Global Learning, the Student Government Association, the Honors College, and various other offices and scholarship sources, over $200,000 in funding has been made available to students studying abroad during the upcoming winter and spring terms. It has never been easier for WKU students to broaden their horizons through international study.

The Office of Study Abroad and Global Learning, one of the strongest proponents for international education on campus, awarded students over $90,000 through its World Topper Scholarship fund. Of the 225 World Topper Scholarship recipients, 56% are participating in WKU faculty-led programs, 8% in other short-term programs, 6% in WKU exchange programs, and 29% in semester programs through study abroad providers.

Of all the available scholarships, Honors College Junior Cody Hutchins received the largest single award: the C.Y. Tung Scholarship, worth $20,000 toward his Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Voyage. Five WKU students successfully applied for the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship, which awarded a combined total of $22,000 to recipients Allyson Beasecker, Haley Edwards, Haley Hilbert, Christina Paige, and Makka Wheeler.

Other WKU students who have received competitive scholarships from external sources include Daniel Wilhoyte, the winner of a DAAD Scholarship worth $3,100, Rachael Walters, who received a KIIS Scholarship of $750, and Katlyn Vincent, Abigail Egbers, and Abigail Boyd, who were awarded a collective $700 from CCSA. Michael McKay, who is participating in an exchange program in Canada next semester, received a FIPSE Grant of $5,000 through the Gordon Ford College of Business.

Other offices that awarded scholarships to students studying abroad this winter and spring are SGA, awarding $14,000 to 47 students, the Modern Languages Department, awarding $3,500 to 8 students, and the Honors College, awarding $17,800 to 72 students. The WKU Sisterhood and the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences will award an estimated total of $19,000 to 38 student who plan to complete the last month of their student teaching abroad this spring.  

The Office of Study Abroad and Global Learning would like to remind students that study abroad is often much more affordable than one might initially think and encourages all students to consider an education abroad experience. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.wku.edu/studyabroad/ or contact our office at study.abroad@wku.edu or 270-745-5334.