Study Abroad At Emory

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originally written for Advanced Newswriting and Reporting then republished in The Emory Wheel: Features Section (www.emorywheel.com)

For Emory College senior Shreyas Sreenath, study abroad wasn’t about if he would do it, it was more a question of when. His opportunity came last fall when Sreenath travelled to Kampala, Uganda through one of Emory’s many study abroad programs. While there, Sreenath took classes in a Ugandan university and lived with the people of the Luweero District, researching agrarian development. After three years of studying development in the Emory economics department, Sreenath was finally able to see the real impact of the theories he’d learned in books. He returned from the program fulfilled, having successfully completed his research, with a head full of once-in-a-lifetime memories.

Sreenath’s journey, rewarding as it was, had bitter beginnings. To finance his foreign study, Sreenath applied for the 2009 grant from the Institute for Developing Nations, a merit-based scholarship that required him to write a proposal for research in a developing country. When the results were announced, he received only $2500, half of what he expected.

“They say they cut the funding because it was too much for an undergraduate to get to do research,” Sreenath said, “but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it happened right after the recession hit.”

Sreenath is one of the lucky ones. As Emory students and their family members struggle to deal with national economic issues, fewer students are able to partake in international programs.

This year marks the lowest study abroad enrollment since 2003 and with the Center for International Programs Abroad’s funding for programs being based entirely on student enrollment, University funding for individual programs has decreased. According to Kristi Hubbard, Director of CIPA, funding sources for CIPA’s travel grants and external funding into CIPA has been steadily decreasing since the recession. Hubbard also notes that when students withdraw from CIPA programs, finances are the most common reason. There has also been an increase in the number of students who qualify for financial aid. “In previous years maybe 25 percent of the students were on financial aid and last year it was 32 percent,” Hubbard said.

As the value of the dollar falls abroad, exchange rates have begun to effect international study programs. Hubbard explained, “You’re looking at the euro, you’re looking at the pound so, depending on the exchange rates, things are maybe less possible than they were in the previous years.” The dollars that Emory students have saved to study abroad are no longer worth as much, making it more expensive for students to travel to foreign countries.

These increased costs have led more students to study abroad during the semester rather than the summer. Since students who are doing foreign study programs during the semester would have paid Emory tuition anyway, shifting locations to abroad costs only slightly more. During the summer, however, students have to explain to parents why they’re spending an extra half-semester worth of tuition. “Summer is more of an add-on type thing. If you’re going abroad over the semester you were going to be at Emory anyways but summer is something special,” Hubbard said. It seems that fewer students have been able to convince their parents that summer programs are special enough, with student enrollment these programs dropping 8 percent this year.

Decreased enrollment for summer programs forces CIPA to make budget cuts. One faculty member who has had to make changes to his summer program due to lower student enrollment is Emory political science professor David Davis. For the past five years Davis has run the European Politics summer program. For its first three years, the program based itself in Paris, with 23-25 students. In 2008, the program moved to Berlin and, last year, had only 16 students enrolled.

Fewer students in the European Politics program gives Davis a smaller budget to work with, forcing many changes to the program. Davis said the majority of these have been related to living costs. When the program was in Paris, the dorms for students were doubles and singles. With the move to Berlin, students lived in triples and quads, lowering the price per a student.

Davis has also been forced to shorten the length of his program. In Paris, the program was six weeks and, last year, Davis reduced it to five weeks. “That turned out to be a little bit overwhelming. We’re still trying to squeeze in the same number of class sessions and site visits,” Davis said.

Davis has also had to make adjustments to the travelling portion of the program. The European Politics program features many visits to neighboring nations. When the program was in Paris, Davis had four different site visits: Geneva, Strasbourg, The Hague and Brussels. This year, Davis omitted the Geneva visit.

“It turns out to be more expensive because there’s no cheap airline that flies from Geneva to Berlin, whereas in Paris we could have just taken trains,” Davis explained.

While staying in Berlin may lower costs for the program, Davis worries about the negative impact as students are getting less exposure to different cultures when travelling abroad.

In addition to making financial changes, Davis has been working hard to recruit more students to increase funding into the program. “I’ve been to more classes, handed out flyers, and been reaching out to other universities to see if they can list our program,” Davis said.

As program directors struggle to fill their programs to avoid more budget cuts, CIPA has been working to make these programs affordable for the entire Emory student body.

“The great thing about how we structure study abroad at Emory is that students are, during the semester, able to take their Financial Aid with them,” Hubbard said, “For a semester students pay Emory tuition here which enables them to keep financial aid and other costs are paid directly abroad”.

Emory’s Financial Aid Office also has many other programs that help students bankroll their international excursions. Students who have been taking advantage of work-study opportunities at Emory are qualified to get an average of their pay for two semesters up to a certain cap. The office also works with students to help increase their eligibility for student loans.

CIPA also has Kenya Casey, a study abroad advisor who helps students manage financial issues. One of her suggestions when students come to her with price problems is to change their location. “Let’s say they really want to go to the U.K., but the U.K. is so expensive,” explains Casey. “My recommendation would be, think about going to a non-traditional location such as Africa, Asia, or something in South or Central America where the cost of living is significantly lower. It may cost you more to go there, but once you’re there it’s not going to cost as much.”

Emory junior Andres Arevalo followed this advice last spring. Arevalo travelled to Freiberg, Germany for his study abroad. Since his scholarship to Emory transferred to pay his study abroad tuition, all Arevalo paid in Germany was room and board and miscellaneous expenses.

“I understand how a lot of people would be like ‘you’re spending a lot of money to go to Europe,’ but my parents understood that it was actually going to be cheaper,” Arevalo said. “So, even in the recession, it was better.”

This strategy worked out so well financially for Arevalo that he plans to study abroad again in Fall 2011 in Rio de Janeiro.

Hubbard maintains that even with the effects of the recession, the study abroad program at Emory will continue to be an essential part of the university’s academic programming. Between 40 to 50 percent of Emory undergraduates do something abroad before they graduate either through semester programs, summer programs, or another international experience, she said.

“Here everybody believes in Study Abroad, faculty, everybody. Everybody weaves it into the academic experience,” Hubbard said, “So it’s not this extra-curricular thing, it’s something that is an integral part.”

Even students like Sreenath, whose experiences with study abroad remained slightly tarnished by financial woes, continue to believe in the transcendental power of travel. After his trip to Uganda, Sreenath turned his research from Luweero into a paper that will be published later this year in a development journal. After graduation, Shreyas plans to continue his international odyssey. He hopes to be travelling to Bangladesh to as a candidate for the Fulbright scholarship.