The purpose of this study is to explore the motivations of Spanish Heritage Speakers (SHS) who studied abroad within the University of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) as an undergraduate via survey methods. In the context of study abroad, heritage speakers possess a predisposed cultural competence due to their linguistic and socio-ethnic experiences when compared to their second language learner counterparts. Research on heritage speakers has been largely underdeveloped, therefore, in conjunction with my own experiences, this study intends to determine the motivations SHS have for participating in a study abroad program, the impact study abroad has on their identity and language development, and to what extent studying abroad in a Spanish-speaking country affects their Spanish language proficiency.