<p>Can anyone recommend a good summer program for a student who would like to practice their spanish-speaking skills?</p>
<p>linnylu: there is a Study Abroad fair next Tuesday that your student may want to attend to get more information. <a href=“https://studyabroad.ua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Announcements.Announcement&Announcement_ID=3010[/url]”>https://studyabroad.ua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Announcements.Announcement&Announcement_ID=3010</a> </p>
<p>I did a quick search on the advanced search tab of the study abroad page, limiting language of instruction to Spanish (you can play around on the page: <a href=“https://studyabroad.ua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10938[/url]”>https://studyabroad.ua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10938</a> )</p>
<p>That program is during May but there are two other Alabama in Spain options that cover Language & Culture; one is just for the month of June while the other is June & July.</p>
<p>That program is during May, but there are two other Alabama in Spain programs that cover Language & Culture; one is just the month of June while the other is June & July.
and found that there is an Alabama in Spain program with a deadline of 2/20 to sign up: <a href=“https://studyabroad.ua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10938[/url]”>https://studyabroad.ua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10938</a></p>
<p>When we met with Dean Halli and D asked if the Presidential scholorship would pay for the Oxford program, he did say there was a way to do it. As I am new to UA, I am not sure if I have this info right but he said something to the effect that students take the 9 or so credits of Oxford, then they take a class during a break(??? is there what others call a J term at UA?) and then they may take another class in the summer. Not sure how that would all work but I suggest if anyone is interested, they should contact Dean Halli directly to get the true story. He did say it did use up one semester of your Presidential.</p>
<p>^^^That Alabama in Spain program is held from May 6-May 19 and costs $2600. There are two other Alabama in Spain options; one is from June 1-July 28 and costs $9000; the other is from June 1-30 and costs $4700. Airfare is extra.</p>
<p>Linnylu…</p>
<p>There are some very good Spanish abroad opportunities, because there are many Spanish speaking countries. </p>
<p>What do you want - summer abroad or semester abroad? Summer abroad trips are often “faculty led”. Dr. Cano used to do one to Spain every summer - don’t know if he still does.</p>
<p>You can look up the study abroad opps on the website.</p>
<p>[UA</a> Study Abroad > The University of Alabama](<a href=“Education Abroad – International | The University of Alabama”>Education Abroad – International | The University of Alabama)</p>
<p>^^^Spring162: yes you can use a semester of your scholarship for the trip, but it didn’t make financial sense to us. D has been taking 15-18 credits per regular semester and to us a using semesters scholarship for 6 credits didn’t seem the best use of resources. IMHO, the fact that D has such a great scholarship made it easy for us to fund her trip. She did apply for other SA scholarships and had saved some additional monies.</p>
<p>Thanks, RobD and Mom2ck. I will have D look at the spanish summer programs. RobD, she won’t be a UA student until the fall. We live in Ohio, so she won’t be able to make the study abroad fair. I wonder if they have 1 in the fall? I think she’d rather do a summer program than a semester program, but I don’t really know for sure. There are so many opportunities!</p>
<p>linnylu: Have your daughter look into the Alabama Action Abroad program, as students are traveling this May for 10-day, community service trips to Costa Rica, Belize and Ecuador. These trips run approximately $1600 to $2100 (with the airfare). My son did the Costa Rica trip twice, and this year, he and another veteran of those trips are working as co-directors of the project. Students receive credit through the Honors College.</p>
<p>Momreads, do they have a chance to speak with those who are fluent in spanish? She is double majoring in spanish and english.</p>
<p>As a parent, I would feel more comfortable with my child attending classes with an Alabama based professor than the hosting university’s professors. I would feel they would have a more vested interest in my child and may take better care of them.</p>
<p>As for cost, I can tell you, the price is not far off. We had to pay close to 6K last summer for son to take a couple of prerequisite science courses that he couldn’t fit in his regular school schedule. Only local uni offering the course was a private college, so the tuition was high. He lived at home, but I spent a good chunk of change feeding him and lots of lost income transporting him to and from campus. I think I’d actually come out ahead if I sent my son abroad. Plus, he’d get to see some place a lot more interesting than a classroom and the back seat of a car.</p>
<p>I do have a question on the $7500 quote. Was that with the 2K discount or without? Son is an NMF, so has that stipend, so trying to budget for that. He’s not quite ready for summer abroad yet, but perhaps next summer. </p>
<p>Also, can this program be done after a student graduates, perhaps the summer after their senior year?</p>
<p>linnylu: In order to participate in the program, students needed four years of high school Spanish or the equivalent at the college level. The Alabama students, while in Costa Rica, taught English to the BriBri tribe’s children, but they had plenty of opportunity to use their Spanish with the children and adults. My son loved his two trips to rural Costa Rica.</p>
<p>Montegut: That $7500 figure is before the NMF stipend of $2000. The student could use that stipend as the downpayment for the trip, something my son chose to do. The student also must pay his airfare.</p>
<p>Oxford…</p>
<p>There are a number of costs not included in the price…</p>
<p>PROGRAM COST $7,450.00 (not including NMF money)</p>
<p>Cost includes</p>
<p>Private accommodation in Worcester College for four weeks, with access to College grounds and athletic facilities.
**Breakfast **in the College Hall (every morning);
**Dinner **in the Hall (Monday through Thursday - not Friday or weekends).
Three special formal meals in College Hall.
Walking tour of Oxford on day of arrival.
Admission to a Royal Shakespeare Company performance in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Group excursion to Canterbury, including accommodation (B&B), dinner, transportation, and entrance to Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and Dover Castle. Students will have a guided tour of the Cathedral.
Group airport transfers to and from Oxford.
Tuition for six hours of courses.
British Rail FlexiPass: includes 8 days of travel, consecutive or non-consecutive. NOTE: Students may need to save days for travel associated with their courses. If students wish to purchase additional days, they may do so independently through the Program’s travel agent. Contact the Director with any questions.
Admission to all cultural and historical sites visited during group excursions.
CISI Insurance</p>
<p>**Costs NOT included</p>
<p>Airfare to and from London, </p>
<p>all lunches, </p>
<p>Friday and weekend dinners,</p>
<p>individual excursions, </p>
<p>personal travel and personal expenses.</p>
<p>Snacks**</p>
<p>Perhaps RobD can provide further info, but** I would think I would have to budget about $10 - 11k **for the whole thing…especially for boys who eat more. lol</p>
<p>
That was a selling point for my DH. D1 started college at 17 so the idea that she was on a somewhat guided study abroad made him much more comfortable with the idea of her being across the pond. I called it study abroad with training wheels 
It is amazing how quickly they can figure out a 4 hour train trip on their own though. We’d all be perfectly comfortable with her going solo now.</p>
<p>Montegut: those figures don’t deduct the $2000 NMF stipend. </p>
<p>As for budget: it depends on the kid I’d have to go back and look at D’s account statement but I’m pretty sure she spent about $1000 out of pocket over the month. This included tickets to the London show The Woman in Black (coming out now in movie form with Daniel Radcliffe,) tickets to the British Open golf tournament, tickets to the midnight premier of Harry Potter, nights at the pub, food & clothing. And British editions of books She picked up a lot of stuff for lunch at the local Tesco, as they had mini fridges in their rooms. She loved Primark and bought a lot of clothes there but they are super cheap. </p>
<p>So I think for us it came in around $9500 - $2000 NMF stipend. And D had money that she had saved from graduation & working that she used for spending money & half of her flight.
Boys may eat more but girls may shop more…</p>
<p>Momreads, my D would absolutely love that program! And Oxford sounds perfect for her too! I am just sooooooo excited for her to go to UA. Everything sounds amazing. We haven’t visited yet, and won’t until April, but from what we’ve read, I think it’s going to be a wonderful experience for her. Hmmmmm, I wonder which one she should do next summer? </p>
<p>Also, when do students sign up for these trips if they want to go the summer of 2013?</p>
<p>*So I think for us it came in around $9500 - $2000 NMF stipend. And D had money that she had saved from graduation & working **that she used for spending money & half of her flight. ***</p>
<p>So, would you say about $11k total (Parent contribution and child contribution - not counting NMF)? I know int’l flights can be expensive.</p>
<p>Not that much for D: $7450 program + $1450 flight ($8900 total) + $1000 spending money. Total $9900. Minus the $2000 NMF stipend and an additional $250 SA scholarship= $7650. She covered spending money and a little less than 1/2 of the flight so parents paid about $6000. </p>
<p>I don’t think you could do it including all expenses for less than $9500 and $11,000 would be the high end. I know there was one weekend that some students went up to Scotland but D and her group stayed local, so there would have been two additional hotel nights & expenses if she’d done that. </p>
<p>I don’t think you could do it including all expenses for less than $9500 and $11,000 would be the high end. I know there was one weekend that some students went up to Scotland but D and her group stayed local, so there would have been two additional hotel nights & expenses if she’d done that.</p>
<p>A heads up on flights to Oxford: D is going this summer, she searched flight costs shortly after finding out she was accepted then inquired if it was OK to schedule on her own. She was told that although they have a travel agent who holds flights for the group, that you are welcome to book on your own, they also let her know the one she found was cheaper. So she did book her own. It was $876 RT w/tax. I would encourage that if you plan to do the same to let the coordinator know in advance.</p>
<p>I would recommend UA’s study abroad programs provided that you know what the program includes and what it doesn’t include. Some colleges would call UA’s programs “island programs” in that students primarily spend time with students from UA and a few students from other universities. It is not direct enrollment in a foreign university, nor complete immersion in the host country’s culture. If your child ever went on a student tour in high school, UA’s programs operate under a similar idea, except that students are getting college credit at the same time. Oddly enough, the IHP 105/155 curriculum cautions against study abroad programs of the type that UA offers.</p>
<p>The issue I ran into is that most all of UA’s study abroad programs do not offer upper-division credit that I need for my degree. I also wanted to directly enroll at a foreign university, both for the experience and that it would made potentially be thousands of dollars cheaper. Unfortunately, my choice of academic program has made study abroad somewhat impractical at this point.</p>
<p>Last summer, I decided to do a domestic study abroad. Culturally speaking, Nevada is very different from Alabama, but at the same time the university I attended was a lot like UA 10 years ago. For less than $2000, I got 3 undergraduate and 3 graduate credits, textbooks, food, 5 weeks of housing in a converted hotel room, airfare, and incidentals. While I didn’t get any stamps in my passport, it was still a great experience living in another part of the country, meeting new people, and getting credit that counts towards my degrees.</p>
<p>^^^That sounds wonderful, Seatide. Good for you for having the independence and initiative to do this.</p>
<p>Son’s engineering major is making it hard to do a study abroad program in his chosen field. He would rather spend the money on a study abroad that would be in his major, not a core curriculum course. I disagree, thinking it would be worth the experience, but I’m not the one giving up my summer to do this. The only engineering study abroad we’ve found is the one in Spain, which son has no interest in. I’m hoping he’ll eventually be adventurous and be open to the Oxford experience, or one of the other UA programs.</p>
<p>linnylu: My son and his fellow co-student leader put together informational flyers in the early fall. So have your daughter look for those – they were posted in the Honors College and foreign language departments. She would go to those meetings and decide if this would be the program for her – my son loved living and sleeping in a “hut” in the Costa Rican jungle. The BriBri children are so cute (we saw lots and lots of photos). It’s an awesome experience. </p>
<p>Registration for the class would take place for the spring semester.</p>