<p>In the interests of being just plain too lazy to figure it out myself, has anyone on here come up with the “punch line” as far as actual costs for an OOS Presidential Scholar to attend this summer program? I remember discussion about it but am not having luck in finding it… point me to a thread?
Thanks!
RTR</p>
<p>This link should be of some assistance.</p>
<p>[Capstone</a> International Academic Program Oxford- Honors/English/History](<a href=“http://international.ua.edu/programs/newsite/oxford-honorsenglishhistory/]Capstone”>http://international.ua.edu/programs/newsite/oxford-honorsenglishhistory/)</p>
<p>Are you talking about getting charged OOS rates for the credits? I think the cost includes tuition costs. However, if it doesn’t, you could probably “push” the credits onto the fall semester. Son did that last summer. Bama charged his summer credits towards his 20 credit fall limit.</p>
<p>@mom…does that work for regular Summer School? We are going this summer but our scholarship doesn’t pay for summer.</p>
<p>My D is going on the Oxford trip this summer & is beyond excited 
I had her contact the scholarship office & they said if she wanted to use scholarship funds she would have to use one of her 8 semesters and that she couldn’t register for the 2 classes either in the Spring or Fall even if she had extra credits left for those semesters. However, she is able to apply the $2000 NMF study abroad stipend to the trip. </p>
<p>The cost of the trip includes the cost of the credits. Even though we are OOS, the credits for the trip are at instate rates.</p>
<p>So RobD - how much does it cost beyond the $2,000 NMF stipend?</p>
<p>The “pushing” of summer school credits to fall is not an official policy that I know of, but can be done with special arrangement. For it to be approved, the same course must be taught in the fall, most likely by the same professor/instructor.</p>
<p>Pinot: The “total cost” of the program is $7450 not including airfare (which is $1425) plus personal expenses.</p>
<p>the link to the program info at the Capstone Study Abroad page is: [Capstone</a> International Academic Program Oxford- Honors/English/History](<a href=“http://international.ua.edu/programs/newsite/oxford-honorsenglishhistory/]Capstone”>http://international.ua.edu/programs/newsite/oxford-honorsenglishhistory/)</p>
<p>RobD, I was wondering how your D liked the Oxford summer trip? This is something that my D really wants to do.<br>
Did she do it the summer before her sophomore year or later?
Does anyone know if they Oxford summer trip is offered every summer? I am assuming it counts for the IHP requirement of 2 summers overseas?</p>
<p>D loved the Oxford summer program. She did it last summer which was the summer between her 1st & 2nd year. It does count towards her IHP requirement (which reminds me that she needs to double check what the current requirement is.) </p>
<p>It is offered every summer. There are course changes from year to year although the British Literature class seems to be a constant (taught by Dr. Halli) as well as the Arts in Oxford (taught by Mrs. Allen Jones, Dr. Halli’s wife.) I love the additional courses they have this coming summer; there’s one on British Pop Music and another on British Detective Fiction that D2 would be all over. This years info is available at: [Programs</a> > Brochure > The University of Alabama](<a href=“Education Abroad – International | The University of Alabama”>Education Abroad – International | The University of Alabama)</p>
<p>I think there’s at least one person who posts on here whose student is planning on going this year.</p>
<p>RobD is correct. My D is going this year and is extremely excited! She will have just finished her sophomore year. We have heard such wonderful things about the program.</p>
<p>It always looked like an interesting program to her, but she worried she would need something more specific to her majors (finance and math). She was so happy when she realized she could take a fine arts class and an upper level lit class, both of which she still needed.</p>
<p>What a waste of time and money. Really, don’t go - it’s a con.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Why the heck do you say that? I doubt you did the program, so how would you know? Bama has been doing this program for many decades and it’s very popular. I doubt it would be if it were a waste.</p>
<p>I’m sorry but it is, everyone with any experience of British universities will tell you the same. Summer university programmes don’t exist in the UK, it’s an alien concept which some universities have taken advantage of as a way to make money.</p>
<p>The students on summer programmes are not affiliated in any way with the host university. Oxford is basically closed in the summer - no students, no professors, nobody except a few cash strapped PhD students who are paid to babysit students when they’re not eating, sleeping or taking ‘cultural excursions’. The classes you take are pre-packaged and bear no resemblance to real Oxford classes, indeed they’re often taught by American profs from your home university who have flown over for the summer.</p>
<p>Oxford is paid to let international students sleep in their empty dorm rooms and let the kids use some of their libraries, that’s it. You might as well pay for a holiday in Britain - that’s all it is, the pretence of it being anything otherwise is laughable.</p>
<p>If kids want to go to England, soak up another country’s culture, and take classes taught by their own school’s professors that apply to their own degree programs, how is that a waste? No one is assuming they’re getting an Oxford education.</p>
<p>If you have money to throw away then sure, go for it - but $7,500 is rather a lot for a summer vacation for just one person don’t you think? I just looked at the itinerary and I am slightly applauded, nothing they list is at all expensive - you could do all of that and much, much more for half the price they quote (including airfare).</p>
<p>No kidding it’s not taught by Oxford professors. The classes are taught by UA professors for UA credit. No one is saying otherwise. But my D got to spend a month studying the authors of Oxford in their stories place of setting. Including daily walks pointing out where Carroll got inspiration for scenes in Alice in Wonderland, etc. And the opportunity to take a British history class and visit Dover while studying ww2. </p>
<p>There are Oxford summer programs that make it seem as if you would be studying with oxford professors with classmates who attend Oxford on a regular basis. This program never states that. The only other students that she mingled with outside of fellow UA a@o participants were a bunch of students from georgia tech.</p>
<p>The two classes my d took involved a good deal of work: both reading and writing papers. Getting a 15 page paper written when you’re in class all morning with trips in the afternoon and weekend isn’t a cakewalk. There was a lot more involved than what’s mentioned in the brochure: 2 regular length syllabus’ worth of work</p>
<p>Dionysus may be looking at the cost from the point of view of a European accustomed to much more highly state subsidized education. While $7500 may seem high to a European for two course credits plus room and board, it isn’t particularly expensive from an American point of view. For an American university student-- particularly a student paying out of state tuition --the cost of the Alabama at Oxford program is within the ballpark of the price of taking a similar course load at an American university where the student is in residence on campus. Indeed many Americans accustomed to $50,000+ annual tuition, room and board bills would find $7500 down right cheap as a way to earn a quarter of a year’s credit. It all boils down to perspective.</p>
<p>Anyone familiar with the Alabama at Oxford program knows that most students would be disappointed if they were assigned to take their lit course from a random Oxford don instead of Dean Halli – one of the all time great teachers at Alabama in recent memory-- whose classes can now only be taken during the Oxford program. The draw of this course is getting to take British lit from Dean Halli using Oxford as his classroom.</p>
<p>Should anyone feel that the Oxford program is not affordable (this was the case with my son), Alabama does offer lots of opportunities to study abroad from its Alabama Action Abroad programs in Central/South America to spending a semester abroad. My best suggestion is that your student seek out scholarship monies to offset some of the costs. My son, who spent four weeks last summer in Belgium (with planned side trips to Paris and London on weekends) applied and landed additional monies to cover many of his costs.</p>