The Office of Study Abroad has announced that changes to its billing and financial aid policies will take effect in the fall of 2008.
The new policy will bill students for the tuition required by their study abroad program plus an off-campus matriculation fee, currently assessed at 10 percent of Hopkins's tuition. Additionally, revised financial aid guidelines will allow for institutional grants and scholarships to be put towards approved study abroad programs.
An approved study abroad program has been evaluated by the Office of Study Abroad and the Faculty Advisory Committee on Study Abroad to ensure that the coursework matches the Hopkins's curriculum and will meet departmental standards of academic integrity.
The new system "will definitely decrease the costs for many programs," study abroad coordinator Sharon Chesney said. The previous system had students pay full tuitition for Hopkins, and many forms of Hopkins financial aid did not apply to study aboard programs.
Lori Citti, the director of the Office of Study Abroad, believes that the new policy will make studying abroad "simpler and more transparent to students, and ultimately opens up for more opportunities to a wider range of students," particularly those who are engineering and science majors.
Last year, 183 students participated in various study abroad programs, and the fall 2008 semester will have over 100 students abroad. While numbers are increasing steadily, Citti does not predict a much larger pool of students.
This year's most popular destination is Italy, followed by London, France and Spain. The choices of program and popularity are driven by students' majors of study; programs tend to gear more toward majors such as International Studies, Writing Seminars and psychology, or students with language majors or minors.
By having a one-on-one conference with each prospective study abroad student, the Office guides the students to lay the ground work in program selection, credit transfer, financial aid and pre-departure preparation.
Kerri McGovern, a junior Public Health Studies major currently at Copenhagen, Denmark, visited the Office a total of three times and had a pleasant experience working with Citti,.
"She was helpful about the programs I was interested in pursuing. It was a very straightforward process and wasn't very time consuming," she said.
Approaching the fundamental part of the academic curriculum, the planning stage can be exceptionally overwhelming. Sophomore Writing Seminars major Laura Berlinsky-Schine, who will attend program through Syracuse University, found the Office helpful in narrowing down her choices, and that it completed the logistics in a timely manner.
Despite small complications in her application process, Berlinsky-Schine was satisfied overall.
She suggested that future travels call the host programs after submitting the paperwork to ensure all the forms arrive safely.
Stephanie Cogen, a sophomore, chose the Hopkins-affiliated Madrid, Spain program to fulfill her Spanish coursework and found the Office to be accommodating.
"They were really understanding and accommodating about the minor problem I had with transcript," Cogen said.
With a new location and facilities in Levering Hall, a constant stream of students comes into the Office to seek advice and information.
Many students have to book two to three weeks in advance for an appointment to meet with Citti.
"It was nearly impossible to schedule an appointment. I repeatedly called and e-mailed the office and got no response for weeks," said Erica Bauman, a sophomore Writing Seminars major. She will be studying in Florence, Italy in the fall.
"I don't think I have to make appointments as its just quick questions. I would generally ask by e-mail, but Dr. Citti rarely responds to e-mails which can get very frustrating, especially when you don't always have the time to visit the Office," she said.
"Other than suggesting a few programs, they didn't do much for me. I was left on my own to complete the applications and all the proper forms," Bauman said.
Similarly, "the Office didn't really do that much for me other than answering administrative questions," sophomore Kevin Park, an International Studies and history double major said.
"I wish the Office had a list of students going abroad each semester. I was and still am looking for someone to sublet my apartment. It would only require the students to fill out a form with name, contact information, term abroad, and if housing is needed upon return."
Citti explained that the Office is still at its initial stage and that there is "a lot of infrastructure." She encourages students to meet with Chesney, as well as the five student assistants.
As far as the future goes, Citti anticipates a large set of approved programs will be available to students to help ensure proper credit transfer and course fulfillment when they return home.
