The Community College Access Scholarship (CCAS), led by the Online forum on Education Abroad, aims to minimize barriers to study abroad chances supplying financial support to neighborhood college students to get involved in faculty-led, short-term, term or summer programs.
The Online Forum CEO Melissa Torres said community college student “frequently face insurmountable difficulties to education abroad opportunities”.
“At a time when the career and labor force advantages of education abroad are becoming progressively clear, we are heartened that more students will have the ability to get from the career-defining skills they will establish while abroad,” she stated.
While neighborhood university student make up nearly 40% of America’s undergraduate population, in 2015 they accounted for simply 1.6% of those who studied abroad.
What’s more, a recent study of internationalisation at neighborhood colleges revealed 38% of colleges used study abroad programs. Of the remainder, 42% did not report any initiatives and for 21% it was unverifiable due to minimal or outdated details.
Torres stated she was “grateful” to the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) for its $50,000 commitment to the scholarship, supporting study abroad programs in between June 2026 and Might 2027.
In the scholarship’s first year, approximately 15 students will be selected to get $3,000-$5,000 in funding to put towards program costs, travel, passport and visa costs, to name a few expenses.
Scholarship applicants should demonstrate economic requirement through Pell eligibility, financial assistance documentation or description of monetary scenarios, with the first round of applications opening on Might 1.
AIFS Chairman William Gertz said his education at Sullivan County Neighborhood College in upstate New york city had actually straight influenced his profession and function as international leader of AIFS: “The private attention I received at this little institution was indispensable,” he added.
Torres highlighted recent research studies from the Online forum showing the clear link between education abroad and career success, with service school students who study abroad making, typically, 6% more than their peers in their first post-graduate job.
Meanwhile, 96% of United States services recently reported efficiency would enhance with greater worldwide experience among staff members.
Neighborhood college students too often deal with overwhelming difficulties to education abroad opportunities
Melissa Torres, The Online Forum on Education Abroad
Though demand for study abroad continues to grow, rising costs and financial pressures at United States colleges are putting up increased barriers for lots of trainees.
According to a 2025 study of four-year university student, over three-quarters of respondents said they hoped or prepared to study abroad.
Yet finances stayed the primary issue for 80% of trainees and almost half of those not preparing to study abroad said the expense avoided them from doing so.
And while neighborhood college students are severely underrepresented in research study abroad programs, recent years have seen significant growth in international enrolments at neighborhood colleges.
In 2015’s Open Doors data exposed international enrolments rise by 8% at neighborhood colleges, compared to general worldwide undergraduate levels increasing by 4% and college student numbers coming by 3%.
On the other hand, the internationalisation report by the Community College International Education Research Study Initiative (CCIERI) exposed 82% of neighborhood colleges registered global trainees while 11% did not, with the staying 7% undetermined.