Study Abroad and Away

• Federal, State and Davidson College need-based aid: As in any year, your eligibility for need-based aid is determined based on the FAFSA and/or CSS Profile. Once your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) has been calculated, and a financial aid offer issued, need-based aid that's not needed to pay the cost of Davidson's tuition may be transferred toward the cost of an off-campus study program. If your program—including the cost of Davidson’s “home tuition”—is more expensive than Davidson’s on-campus cost, you will be responsible for paying the difference. However, if your program cost is less than or equal to Davidson’s on-campus cost, your EFC would remain the same as if you were on campus. Because the EFC remains constant, if your program cost is less than Davidson’s on-campus cost, your aid will be reduced.
• Federal or Private Loans: Regardless of whether or not you receive other aid, you may have eligibility to use federal and/or private loans for your off-campus study program during the academic year.
• Federal Work Study: Students will not be eligible to participate in the work study program when studying off campus, so no work study award will be included in an aid offer for a semester off campus.  Davidson will not increase other aid to make up for this loss.

Below are details about some of our scholarship programs. If you have questions about a scholarship not listed, please contact Brandee Norwood at financialaidoffice@davidson.edu.

• Belk, Charles, Duke, and Terry Scholars: Students receiving these non-need-based awards will continue to have their "home tuition" covered by their scholarships.  Other, non-tuition costs (i.e., housing, food, transportation, books/supplies, personal expenses) will be covered to whatever extent they would have been covered on campus, up to the total of Davidson's usual (on-campus) allowances for those same expenses. No refunds will be issued based solely on off-campus costs being less than on-campus allowances, and off-campus costs greater than on-campus allowances will be the student's responsibility. For more information, contact scholarships@davidson.edu.
• Bonner Scholars: If they are able to continue to meet Bonner program requirements, Bonner Scholars may continue to receive their stipends while studying off campus. To learn more, contact Christina Eggenberger at cheggenberger@davidson.edu.
• QuestBridge Match Scholars: QuestBridge Match Scholars will continue to have their "home tuition" covered by their scholarships. Other, non-tuition costs (i.e., housing, food, transportation, books/supplies, personal expenses) will be covered up to the total of Davidson's usual (on-campus) allowances for those same expenses. No refunds will be issued based solely on off-campus costs being less than on-campus allowances, and off-campus costs greater than on-campus allowances will be the student's responsibility. Scholars should contact financialaidoffice@davidson.edu if they have questions.
• Posse Scholars: Posse Scholars will continue to have their “home tuition” paid when studying off campus. Other, non-tuition costs (i.e., housing, food, transportation, books/supplies, personal expenses) will be covered to whatever extent they would have been covered on campus, up to the total of Davidson's usual (on-campus) allowances for those same expenses. No refunds will be issued based solely on off-campus costs being less than on-campus allowances, and off-campus costs greater than on-campus allowances will be the student's responsibility. Please contact financialaidoffice@davidson.edu with questions.

To assist students as they finalize their travel plans, the Financial Aid Office works to expedite financial aid offers for all students studying off campus. However, we can only prepare an aid offer if a student’s financial aid application is complete. Students should check Banner Self Service to verify that all required items have been submitted. 

Students who have completed their applications by the returning-students' priority filing date should receive their offers by April 1. Later applications will continue to be processed on a rolling basis. Students will receive an e-mail notification when their aid offers have been prepared.

While we do aim to prioritize financial aid offers for students studying off-campus, we are not able to provide aid estimates. To do so simply delays preparation of all official aid offers, including those for students who are studying away. The best a student can do is to ensure they have submitted an early or on-time application, so we can review materials as quickly and as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you can assume that if your family and financial situation is similar to last year's, your baseline family contribution—prior to factoring in any additional costs for your program—is likely to be similar as well.

Once students arrive at their host program and the add/drop period ends (if applicable), the host program will verify their enrollment with Education Abroad. 

Starting with the 2024-2025 academic year, due to changes in North Carolina aid programs, we no longer require students to arrange for this verification themselves. 

If your aid exceeds the charge for Davidson's tuition, you may request a refund from your tuition account through Banner Self Service. You may then use the credit refund to pay for your non-tuition-related expenses, including those billed by your program. Funds may take 7-10 business days to disburse.

Davidson will pay tuition charges to the off-campus program you choose. You are responsible for paying all other charges (e.g., housing, meals, transportation, personal expenses, etc.). If you receive financial aid that exceeds the cost of Davidson's tuition, you will likely receive a refund from your tuition account once aid is disbursed. Any refund should be used first to pay any non-tuition costs billed by your program. You may then use any remaining funds—along with your family contribution, if any—to cover your non-billed, out-of-pocket costs.

In cases where financial aid exceeds the cost of Davidson's tuition, such that some portion of the offered financial aid will be used by the student to pay their non-tuition costs, a student may request to defer/delay the required payment to their program until after their credit refund is released. Contact your program to learn the details of their deferment process, as approaches can vary. If they need us to certify your level of financial aid, we will do so based on the most recent aid offer available, even if it is not for the year you plan to study away.

Please be aware: 

• You yourself must initiate any request for a deferment by contacting your program directly.
• Deferments are not granted automatically, and the option is available only when a credit refund is anticipated.
• Credit refunds are not generally issued until after your program has begun.
• Once the refund is issued, you must pay your program immediately for any non-tuition costs for which they have billed you.   

Davidson’s outside resource policy remains largely the same for students who are participating in off-campus study programs. Students will generally receive direct benefit of up to $5,000 from outside resources in any year in which such external funds are received. Outside resources first reduce any Student Employment award, then the Expected Family Contribution, before Davidson aid would be reduced.  If your off-campus study costs are greater than costs on campus, and if you have outside resources totaling more than $5,000, any "excess" resource may be applied toward the greater-than-usual costs for your program.  It is still the case, though, that any funds that cannot be expended in the manner outlined above would reduce Davidson College aid, and all sources of aid together may not exceed a student's total cost of attendance.

If you are a current Davidson student and require assistance in paying passport applications fees, either for a first-time passport or to renew a passport that is expiring, you may submit an application to the Porter Passport Fund. Thanks to the generous support of Mary Margaret Porter '98, this fund provides grants to help cover the fees associated with passport applications.  The fund is managed by the Office of Education Abroad & Away.  Please contact an OEAA advisor with any questions, or email edabroad@davidson.edu. If a student is not granted support from the OEAA, they may request to have the cost of a passport added to their financial aid Cost of Attendance, to be covered by other forms of assistance.

The Financial Aid Office is happy to add the cost of any required visa(s) to a student's Cost of Attendance for their semester or year off campus. By doing that we can allow the additional cost to be covered by either institutional aid (if the overall cost of your program is less than a semester on campus) or outside scholarships and/or loans (if the overall cost of the program is greater than a semester on campus).

As a general rule, Davidson does not provide financial aid advances. Students should first contact their program provider to see if the deposit may be deferred or waived. If not, or if covering the cost of airfare is problematic, please contact Donna Baysinger in the Controller's Office at dobaysinger@davidson.edu.