We are very pleased to write that Title VIII scholarships are now available to graduate students participating in the American Councils Russian Language and Area Studies Program (RLASP) and our Eurasia Regional Language Program (ERLP) this summer and fall. Title VIII funding can be used for students seeking generous funding for academic year study overseas; recently, it has served as a particularly valuable resource for students who have had other funding sources cut that they were hoping to use for long-term language study abroad.
We recently received confirmation that scholarship funds should be fully distributed in keeping with our existing grants. Title VIII awards may cover as much as 80 percent of total costs for students who hold a BA at the time of their participation in our summer and fall-semester programs.
RLASP provides 20 hours per week of intensive Russian-language instruction, weekly cultural activities, extended travel, comprehensive overseas health insurance, language partners, housing with closely vetted host families, and ongoing support and 24-hour emergency assistance from onsite staff. The summer and semester programs are located in Almaty, Kazakhstan; Tallinn, Estonia; and Yerevan, Armenia. For more information, please visit: https://www.studyabroad.americancouncils.org/rlasp
ERLP provides the same program components and intensive instruction in Ukrainian, Romanian (Chisinau); Persian, Tajik, Dari, Uzbek, Pashto (Dushanbe); Georgian (Tbilisi); Armenian (Yerevan); and Kazakh (Almaty). For more information, please visit: https://www.studyabroad.americancouncils.org/erlp
Semester and summer academic credit (graduate and undergraduate) for both programs is provided by Bryn Mawr College. Summer programs are eight weeks long; semester programs are 15 weeks long.
Please inform your students that Title VIII funding is now available to all applicants who have completed a BA prior to the start of their program.
In addition to Title VIII funding, American Councils has launched several initiatives to increase scholarship support for our students in these challenging times. These include a new President’s Scholarship for Travel, which provides roundtrip airfare from participants’ home cities to their overseas sites, and increased funding for our Opportunity Scholarship and Dan E. Davidson Fellowship.
Recognizing that finances are the single greatest barrier to study abroad participation, we are committed to working with each of our applicants to help ensure they have the resources necessary to join the program of their choice.
I hope you will encourage your students to take advantage of this important financial support for intensive overseas language study. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me directly.
American Councils staff are also available to talk with students in more detail about these programs. If you would like to schedule a brief virtual classroom visit, please click here. If your students would like to book an individual advising appointment, please use this tool.
