<p>Can somebody please explain to me how study abroad costs work at smith? Do we have to pay the Smith Comprehensive fee AND the study abroad program fees??</p>
<p>No. If your program is on the Smith-approved list or you petition to get it approved, the cost of your study abroad is converted to Smith costs and your financial aid is applied to it(although work study gets converted to loans)</p>
<p>when you say the cost “is converted to Smith costs”, is it still an additional price or does Smith pay it for you with the money you give them for tuition?</p>
<p>I believe it’s pretty much that your study abroad is at Smith cost: you don’t get a refund if it costs less than Smith, you don’t pay more if it costs more than Smith. You have travel & incidental expenses but some of those are factored into FinAid.</p>
<p>With study abroad, you pay Smith your normal tuition and room and board fees (whatever that is with your financial aid package), just like you would for any other semester. Smith then pays your study abroad program costs, and provides you with a food stipend if the program does not include a meal plan. </p>
<p>So you don’t pay anything extra, just what you would normally pay for a semester or year at Smith. That said, if you go to a cheaper study abroad program in say, Mexico, for example, you don’t get any discount for that. You still have to pay the full Smith fees you would for the semester, even though the program in Mexico may cost less than your Smith tuition/room & board. On the flip side, if you’re at a more expensive program in Europe, you won’t be paying any more for that. Often though, students in less expensive programs are provided more perks than students that go to Europe. I know kids in the Mexico program are provided a cell phone for example by the program. Kids in Britain are definitely not.</p>