Funding programs abroad
Northern Arizona University offers a number of programs which students can take advantage of in order to study abroad. Each year there a variety of faculty led programs, national student exchange programs and provider programs. Each of these programs requires different preparation and funding.
The Faculty led programs at NAU allow faculty members to teach specific NAU courses to a group of NAU students in a different country. This provides students with the opportunity to meet NAU course requirements while abroad for 3 weeks to a month. The International Center for Education informs all NAU faculty about the opportunity to teach abroad. It is then the responsibility of the faculty member to pitch their idea to the director. They propose the topics that they will teach and the country the plan to travel to. The director then goes into detail about what the faculty member needs to do in order to conduct the trip. There is then a set budget for the trip and only a certain number of students can attend.
“We run all our faculty lead programs at cost and what that means is we don’t make money on them but we try hard not to lose money on them,” said advisor Zachary Tobin.
“We have a budget and then we have a set number of students that we need to have go on the program to meet the budget. That covers the housing while you’re in country, transportation in country and the faculty member because they need to be paid for their teaching so we set that cost per student based on that number,” Tobin said.
Although a lot of planning is required from faculty on these programs. There is also a lot of effort put into these programs on the exchange. It is the student’s responsibility to apply for housing and food just the same as it is at NAU. It is also the student’s job to prepare themselves not only physically but also mentally.
“I don’t just view Florence as a tourist town anymore as somewhere I would go on vacation but I view it as an opportunity to expand my horizons, gain new perspectives, and experience things I will never be given the chance to experience ever again in my entire life,” said sophomore at Gonzaga University Marie Nisco.
“So, as of now, I view Florence as an opportunity to grow and experience new things,” Nisco said.
The funding of these abroad experiences depends on the program. For faculty run programs there is a set budget and that is why a certain number of students must go. If the not enough people appear to be interested the trip may fall through. The exchange program allows students attending NAU to continue to pay their tuition with their scholarships and go abroad. The school that is switching with NAU in return will do the same thing. Their student will continue to pay that university. In a sense they cover each other. There is also the provider program in which NAU will support the student who wants to participate in a semester at sea. In this situation the student is responsible for paying his or her own way.
NAU offers a number of different programs so that students can find the perfect fit whether that be a brief summer faculty led program or a semester to a year abroad. The way the programs are funded provide many students that may not be have been able to afford the cost of travelling and studying abroad with the experience of studying in a new country.
