VISA Requirements for Study in multiple European countries longer than 90 days

Are these formal study programs run by a university group or something similar? Or are you just piecing something together and calling it study program? A little clarity is needed about your exact plans.

I will be attending an exchange program through my US university at the University of Bonn and then the Center for Modern Languages in Granada, Spain.

Your university program office should be able to answer this question, however don't expect them to intervene in your behalf in case there are issues. Cities like Florence are packed with American students getting credit through colleges like Syracuse University.

You'll need to apply to the country's consulate for a Visa if you'll be in Europe 90 days or more. Issuance of a student visa generally requires verification of enrollment in a foreign institution of learning, a financial statement guaranteeing the student will have access to adequate funds during their stay, and other forms or documents required by the consulate.

Honestly, please work with your study abroad office or advisor. This forum is geared more towards vacations and we can certainly help with things to do and places to see. But we are not experts on student visas and those of us that did study abroad years ago won't have updated information.

In my experience, even if you are studying for a short amount of time you will need a student visa - I needed a student visa for a study abroad in Italy that lasted less than a month. Especially since you are going to be staying in Germany for over 90 days, you will need a student visa. Your school should be able to help you organize this - you will need to fill out all the paperwork, a possible consulate visit, etc. What I believe you would need (although you certainly need to talk to your study abroad advisers and Spanish/German consulates probably) is a student visa for each study abroad you are doing - the German one and then one for your Spain study abroad. No student visa is likely to cover a period over which you are not actually studying (so for example, one for your study period in Germany would cover the time you're in school there, but not before or after). However, to my knowledge/experience (this is not official or legal advice of course) is that you still have your 90 day visa-free tourist days in addition to your student visa. So if you have visas covering your time in Germany and your time in Spain, you should be able to cover that interim period with the 90 allotted days.

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I just thought maybe someone here would know. I'll check with my study abroad office.