A program run by the college or specifically endorsed by them should have little risk for credit issues. But, the student has to be sure any required classes not offered by the program are already taken or can be, after return. And, that taking that, once back, doesn’t mean you can’t fit some other requirement into the schedule.
You say that, but that’s not what happens. For example, in the UK, a score of 70% is excellent. In the US, it’s probably a fail. Study abroad student gets 70% on a UK test. There is no guarantee that this score will be “translated” in any way. Many US program co-ordinators simply do not understand that other countries use different grading systems. Check and check again (or ignore me completely and send me a PM complaining when it all goes terribly wrong),
Our private school included a generous social budget. Outings and a side trip were included. Of course, we were paying for it, but nice for the students on financial aid so they can have the same experiences as the others. I saw on another thread that one private college’s social budget was 40 euros per semeseter so it obviously varies by school.
Student picked the destination knowing that all classes would transfer credit.
Some colleges run their own study abroad programs so you live in a foreign country and attend classes with your regular classmates. That doesn’t appeal to me, but to each his own.
Cupcake, I am referring to a program the home college already knows and has worked with many times. I agree an unknown program has risks.
Yes, at my D’s school they have to go to a program that is already approved or jump through a lot of hopes to get one approved. They have to show their plan for graduation and get classes approved for credit upon returning. They do make sure that their graduation isn’t going to be at risk.
Pell recipients can apply for a Gilman scholarship to be used toward a study abroad program.
Watch out for course sequences- a kid who is away one semester junior year may not be able to complete the right courses in the right order to graduate on time. Watch out for internship/career development deadlines- a kid who is overseas will not be interviewing on campus for the kind of jobs will lead to fulltime offers at the end of the summer before senior year. Watch out for “self help” requirements- your kid is not likely to get a work permit to be able to get a job overseas, and if you are all stretching to pay tuition, you may not have the flexibility to “fund” the book/lab fees/incidentals that your kids term time job is funding. Watch out for program dates- I know a lot of kids who end up at home the summer they come home from a semester abroad because by the time they get home, most US college kids have been done with school for a month and there are no employment opportunities for the balance of the summer.
The actual program costs and how much of your financial aid package will cover study abroad is the easy part (i.e. easy to get answers). These concerns are the things that tend to trip people up. That “free” study abroad is not always free if it means an extra semester to graduate, missing out on summer job opportunities, not being able to interview on campus during the recruiting “season”, etc.
Yep, which is why, while junior year is the traditional study-abroad year, I’m more a fan of going abroad sophomore year if grad school right after undergrad isn’t the goal.
My son’s college automatically graded his study abroad semester at whatever his sophmore year GPA was. This hurt him because his grades from his NZ university were some of his best ones during his entire four years. His study abroad friends from the US only had a pass/fail option from their schools. Needless to say those kids didn’t try very hard and skipped plenty of classes.
He still sees some of his study abroad friends and they have hiked in CA and CO, and will hike up Mt. Washington next week.
Cornell does not factor study abroad grades into GPA. As long as it is a passing grade the student can get credit, as long as it’s approved by the study abroad office.
@blossom, my younger daughter did a study abroad program that lasted almost until Christmas of her junior year, and she still did summer job applications in the spring and found a summer internship (at which she earned more money than either me or her dad was making). She also completed a double major, which at her school required two senior projects. She’s very motivated.
Both of my daughters studied abroad for a semester junior year. In both cases we paid our standard tuition and fees to our college and that was transferred to the study abroad programs. We did not have financial aid so that was not an issue for us. I am sure that there was a study abroad fee of some sort. Neither study abroad programs (both in Europe) included meals so you need to plan for that. In both cases you need to go through study abroad orientation planning sophomore year and there is a good deal of specific paperwork deadlines and approvals. You need to meet with study abroad advisors to make sure you are selecting the correct programs to apply to and in both cases you could only attend approved programs which is essential so that your credits count. You need to meet with your departmental advisor and if planning to take any coursework that is needed for your major as a requirement get that approval to do so. In younger d’s case she was a double major at her university, one of which was music and she had to get approval for the first class in a two-year music history sequence as well as a performance requirement for vocal training. As she had private voice classes as part of her university undergraduate that transferred over to her study abroad. The only issue she had when she returned the following semester was placement with her continuing voice teacher and that was dependent on that voice teacher’s own schedule as a doctoral student. With older daughter she was a double major in studio art/art history and wanted only to study art in Italy. The Italy program required you to have a full year of Italian and so she needed to begin that sequence first semester sophomore year. Both programs required a language class while studying abroad.
When younger d studied abroad the dollar was quite weak against the euro so that was not especially helpful. Wherever you consider studying abroad you do have to factor in the cost of transportation getting there and back to the U.S if that is an issue at all.
I cannot believe how easy it has been to send our daughter abroad for a year of study, plus a summer research fellowship. We pay her school directly, as if she were there, and they send the money for both the fellowship and the study abroad program to the appropriate entity. We didn’t have to pay extra for the fellowship (actually, they paid our D a stipend to cover food, housing, and travel expenses), so the whole study abroad experience has been completely transparent to us.
We do not receive financial aid, but learned that for those who do, the aid follows them to any study abroad program they choose. One of D’s friends, who says she has a half-ride, did a research program in Morocco this summer that was completely covered. I wish every school made it so easy, because study abroad is such a great opportunity.