Studying off campus for a semester can be immensely rewarding and life-changing. But it can also be a challenging process that requires patience and mentoring — and will impact the family, as well. If your student is interested in studying off campus, there are some important conversations that families should have. There are also ways that families can help their students decide what program to apply for and how to prepare for the experience.
The long winter break is an ideal time for a family to discuss their student’s off-campus study plans. Here is helpful information to consider, based in part on class year.
Students must apply for permission to study off campus on an approved program up to a full year in advance of participation, and must apply for a Colgate semester-long study group even earlier — during November of the previous year — so careful planning is essential.
Most Colgate students plan to study off campus during their junior year; therefore, the majority undergo the application process during the sophomore year. Students may in some cases be eligible to study off campus as sophomores, but that means they must apply for permission to study off campus during their first year (November or February). Seniors can study off campus as long as they go in the fall; otherwise, they face a delay in graduating.
First-Year Students
Review the options and requirements together
The first year, when students begin to identify their academic interests, is a good time to consider how a semester of off-campus study would complement their goals.
Students at Colgate have many options for studying off campus — in more than 50 countries, with more than 125 international programs to choose from, as well as several programs within the United States. Colgate professionals will serve as important resources for your student in exploring their options and making plans, from their academic adviser to staff members in the off-campus study and registrar’s offices. There will be multiple opportunities to learn about programs from us as the experts and from students who have already participated.
You can help your student prepare for those conversations by going to the Off-Campus study web page together to explore programs and countries of interest, as well as learn about important planning and timeline considerations.
- Suggest they outline their goals for off-campus study, to include academic, personal, and practical goals. Identifying their goals can help students stay on track in their research and planning, as well as during challenging times abroad.
- Ask them about their academic goals and make sure they take note of the Grade Point Average requirements for admission to programs of interest. Most require a 3.0 Grade Point Average or higher. (Students must also be in good standing with the University from a conduct standpoint, so be sure they are aware of this.)
- Talk about their personal and practical goals, which ideally would fall under the following categories:
- Improve language skills
- Live like a local
- Meet and make friends with someone in a new place
- Develop independence — see what you are capable of
Encourage your student to talk with a range of people to get academic, logistical, and personal advice as part of their exploration. They could make a list of people on campus who know them, such as their academic adviser, administrative dean, FSEM adviser, as well as their coach (if they have one). An online folder and, closer to departure, a journal or notebook would be great ways to keep track of what they are learning.
All Colgate students studying abroad in a non-English–language setting are required to take one of their courses in the local language. Especially in locations with less-commonly taught languages, these courses tend to focus on conversational language, especially the ability to speak phrases necessary to living in that location. Use of the local language can lead to greater intercultural interactions and self-sufficiency; people in that culture are often delighted when students attempt to communicate in their language.
Studying abroad for a semester in an immersion language program (taking courses and using the language in every aspect of daily life while abroad) develops skills that can carry over into career opportunities.
External Sources of Funding
The Office of Off-Campus Study recommends that students learn about opportunities for funding abroad when participating in language immersion programs. We also suggest that students make appointments with the Office of Fellowships and Scholarships to see if they are eligible as they plan to study abroad. Our two offices hold joint meetings for students to learn about deadlines to apply for these programs before they study abroad or after they return. These sessions routinely provide returned study abroad students with opportunities for postgraduate study or to teach English abroad while being able to live in another country. Returned study abroad students often gain valuable experience for applying to be a Peace Corps volunteer — especially following study in developing nations.
Students studying Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, or Russian have a range of external scholarship options including the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to apply to through the federal government. There may be benefits to being awarded some of these scholarships for future study, employment with the federal government or other future funding. Students studying French, German, Italian, or Spanish also have numerous opportunities to receive federal dollars. Any additional funds students receive must be reported to the financial aid office if the students already receive aid.
Some of these scholarships (Boren, Gilman, CLS, Fulbright) are very prestigious and can provide opportunities again in the future for recipients. Again, early planning is key.
For information about whether your student is qualified for external funding, please see the External Source of Funding section of the Costs and Aid for Off-Campus Study page.
Determine and discuss any perceived barriers
As your student considers specific programs of interest, be sure to discuss whether your student and/or family has any restrictions. Finances, your student’s health or mental health needs; independence and life skills; distance; language; and any family issues are all important factors. The following information will help guide you in those considerations.
Colgate charges regular tuition for all off-campus, semester-long programs (Colgate study groups and non-Colgate approved programs). Colgate charges housing and other fees separately (in addition to tuition), at the individual program cost.
Financial aid is available for all programs approved for credit. Students who qualify for financial aid can also receive additional aid if the program costs exceed a normal semester at Colgate. This additional aid practice is in effect for one semester and one extended study program.
How will your student maintain their health while away? For any pre-existing medical and/or mental health conditions, review the Self-Guided Healthcare Action Plan found on the Off-Campus Study Health Insurance and Emergencies page. The plan is designed for students to share with their healthcare provider(s) in preparation to continue treatment, and to create an action plan should symptoms worsen.
Health Insurance for Overseas Study
All students on Colgate University-sponsored programs are covered by CISI insurance, which costs roughly $200 per semester and is expressly for U.S.-based degree students to obtain medical and mental healthcare outside the United States, including routine visits. There is no deductible, and students can work with CISI in advance of departure to arrange to continue treatment with English-speaking providers used by other U.S. students once they arrive abroad. Students may need to pay up front and be reimbursed, but within the CISI network, payment is arranged directly by CISI.
Approved Program providers normally include international travel and health insurance. In cases when the organization does not provide insurance coverage, Colgate adds CISI insurance charges to match the standards of coverage (medical and security) that all its other students have.
For those going abroad, challenges are frequent. Students must adapt to another culture, often to another method of learning and success, sometimes to a different language, and also to a new set of rules. Other higher education systems assess student learning with a single final exam with an emphasis on independent study outside classroom hours. Students should prepare themselves for this model and for the study of a topic to have fewer assessments (tests, quizzes, etc.) over the course of a semester.
This requires students to step out of their comfort zones. Talk with them about how they can navigate that environment without the support they normally can expect with faculty mentoring at Colgate. Making appointments to speak with individual professors can assist with this process of adapting to a new way toward academic success.
Work on Life Skills
Life skills become particularly important during off-campus semesters; living independently and managing healthcare in a new setting can be stressful. Students should know how to:
- Shop for themselves
- Cook a few meals
- Create and follow a budget
- Manage their own healthcare, including making physician or psychologist appointments
- Navigate public transportation and other travel logistics.
Winter and summer breaks are a great time for families to help their students learn and practice their skill development. Building these skills creates structure and helps students maintain their confidence when confronting change and challenge in daily life abroad.
Many students will live in housing without a meal plan — work with them on mastering three or four different meals and figuring out a food budget. Go together to buy food and prepare it on that budget.
Gather physician and other practitioner names and contact information. Obtain the chemical (not just brand) name of each medication. Know triggers that worsen symptoms and ways to restore health.
If you live in an area close to public transportation and your student hasn’t ever used a bus or train, make it a family outing. Buy a guidebook to the country they will be living in (Rough Guide or Lonely Planet, e.g.). If your student plans to study in a big city, examine maps of the area online to discover local attractions around them. Watch a film that focuses on the values and culture in that country.
Agree on a reasonable communication plan.
Maintaining frequent contact (with peers or family back home) can cause additional stress to students, and expectations for communicating across time zones can interfere with students’ ability to set up a structured schedule in their new location. We recommend that you plan to limit speaking to once a week. If the student needs support from home, this can be amended.
Be Cognizant of the Location and Distance
Family Visits
As your student considers studying off campus, it’s natural to want to plan a family visit to experience the location with them. As you plan, we respectfully advise you to wait until the end of the semester before visiting your student. Why? The beginning of a program requires them to focus on adaptation. Learning how to navigate a new location, language, or academic style takes a lot of concentration and energy. The first several weeks are critical for your student to build independence, learn about self-reliance, and establish relationships with other students.
Independent Travel
Please note: study abroad is not an opportunity for students to frequently travel independently, which would disrupt their academic program and add to the student’s stress. Make sure that academics and cultural exploration come first and that tourism comes second.
Sophomores
Be Mindful of Deadlines: the Academic Credits and Application Process
Students must first receive approval from Colgate to earn credit abroad toward their degree through an off-campus study semester.
Students receive residential credit for Colgate-run, faculty-led programs. They receive transfer credit for Approved Programs.
Non-Colgate Approved Programs are determined for approval toward a Colgate degree by relevant academic departments. There are offerings for most of the 56 majors.
Application deadlines for Colgate-led groups during an academic year take place in early November of the previous academic year.
For example, the deadline for 2022–23 groups was November 3, 2021.
There are 107 non-Colgate–administered programs approved by individual academic departments for credit toward the degree. For Colgate clearance to study off campus on an Approved Program in 2022–23, the deadline to apply for Colgate approval is February 2, 2022.
Once students are approved to apply to a non-Colgate approved program, they can begin to apply to the specific program of their choice.
Note that deadlines and requirements differ from program to program. All information about the different types of programs, along with full instructions, is available on the Off-Campus Study website.
Costs To Prepare For
As noted in the University Catalog, Colgate charges full tuition for all programs and pays the costs on students’ behalf. In addition, students will be charged the cost of housing charged by the individual program. Please take this into account when planning as a family. Cost estimates for the current academic year for each program are available at Costs and Aid for Off-Campus Study.
Juniors
Preparation is Key
To ensure that students going on Colgate-led study groups are ready for the experience, the Office of Off-Campus Study, along with the faculty director, operates four to five formal pre-departure sessions about the location. We also work with students to promote sensible behavior in new locations and to learn personal safety skills.
Students on non-Colgate programs receive pre-departure information provided by the organization sponsoring the program. All students taking approved programs are also invited to a pre-departure session (repeated four different times) together with previous student participants.
The following are actions the students can or must take themselves.
Valid and current passport; visa/immigration applications to foreign governments (which are provided after students are admitted). Note that to be valid, a student’s passport expiry date must be at least six months past their scheduled return from an international off-campus study semester.
Prior to departure, medical, psychological, vision, and dental visits are important. Students with pre-existing conditions should speak to their healthcare practitioners to discuss their plans and ways to maintain their health in the event that a pre-existing condition worsens while they are away.
Transitioning to life in another city or country can be challenging, from adapting to apartment living or other different housing arrangements and meeting people from another culture, to learning to respect different beliefs and values as we respect our own.
Disengaging from social media is a key strategy. Dependence upon social media for connections to home can delay a student’s successful transition to another culture and make them unhappy.
It’s also a good idea for your student to learn about the country prior to departure, and to practice the life skills mentioned in the section above for first-year students.
Seniors
Colgate students can study off campus during their senior year, too. For example, the Bethesda Biomedical Research Study Group is almost entirely composed of senior students due to the required science background necessary for admission. Our office recommends that students choose a fall semester program so as not to miss the traditions that they enjoy so much in their final semester, and because a spring program may cause a delay in graduating.
Students interested in studying off campus their senior year must meet with their academic advisers and determine graduation requirements in order to meet the application timing requirements and to receive transcripts in time for graduation. Senior study off campus requires students to apply in their junior year; for a Colgate study group in November, or February for approved programs.
For seniors wishing to attend an Extended Study program (a three-week extension to the location studied in an on-campus course in May/June following their last semester), financial aid can be applied to these programs. Please note that seniors would need to delay graduation until August following the academic program. More information below under “Extended Study.”
Key Considerations For All
Semester Balancing Policy
This policy is in place to balance participation in off-campus study programs between the semesters in an academic year. This is necessary in order to maintain the integrity of the on-campus academic programs, housing, and student activities. Students are being advised about this during the fall advising sessions and in individual sessions with our professional staff. Please see the full policy outlined on the Off-Campus Study Policies page.
Housing
Colgate’s policy does not permit independent housing on off-campus study programs and Colgate programs will not offer this option.
Some program providers on our approved program list may offer independent housing to students, but Colgate will not support this option. Colgate’s academic departments and the off-campus study faculty committee select programs for academic, cultural, linguistic, and safety reasons. In addition, we know that when approved program participants live in program-arranged housing, they will be in a better position to make new friends, to have specialized activities offered, to have access to secure housing, and to become a part of a new community when living in program-sponsored housing. This helps students adapt to a new culture and a new location in housing managed by an approved organization.
COVID-19
During last year, Colgate sent just over 350 students to study off campus. Most students were based in Europe, but we are really happy that this year, we have seen several host countries/continents re-opening.
The pandemic is still with us, but we want you to know that there are still some areas of the world that continue to have COVID-19 policies on the ground that differ from United States policies surrounding mask wearing, self-isolation practices, and testing requirements. Some students found on-site practices more lenient, but others noted that sudden changes to border-crossing policies and testing protocols sometimes impacted their travel plans and finances. We are addressing these aspects with individual study groups and the approved programs are working directly with your students to keep them informed.
Some of the approved programs require students to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters in order to participate. Some do not consider vaccination waivers for religious or medical reasons. Check with our office if this is a concern.
The biggest impact has been the range of location options available due to border or institutional closures. The following locations for this academic year have just re-opened for fall 2022 for the first time since spring 2020: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Africa. Mainland China remains closed to our programs due to COVID-19. Overall, we are very happy to see greater opportunities for students returning across the globe.
Extended Study
Extended study programs — three-week field extensions of an on-campus course — take place in January following the fall semester or May after the spring semester ends. Students can be qualified to participate beginning as first-year students (May only), right through the senior year. Seniors taking part in an extended study in May would need to delay graduation until August following receipt of the grades from this experience. This permits all students, including graduating seniors, to participate and to continue to receive financial aid if eligible. Seniors must wait until August to obtain their diploma if participating in the spring extended study programs.
Understand Re-adjustment to Home
For students returning from a fall semester off campus, their transition home after a challenging semester might be difficult.
Students often feel a sense of accomplishment for adapting to another culture. While abroad, they have often had to make adjustments to daily habits. They likely will have developed new perspectives, and may have made changes to their dietary habits, accent, and/or appearance. So, returning home following an intensive language or cultural immersion semester can often feel more foreign to students than anticipated. We call this reverse culture shock. Encourage them to explain what is different and how they see the world following this experience. Remember that we give students several weeks to adjust to an abroad environment. Give your student time to reconnect and become accustomed to life at home.
If your student has just returned, ask them to consider attending our off-campus Re-entry program in early February to “unpack” their experiences, learn how to apply them to their future careers, and discover ways to engage with future international opportunities.
Wherever your student is in the process, don’t worry about trying to master all of this information — after all, it’s theirs to learn from. By knowing these key points, you’ll be able to help guide them through it.
Joanna Holvey Bowles is director of the Office of Off-Campus Study
More on Off-Campus Study
13 Podcast: What Makes Colgate's Off-Campus Study Programs Different?
Joanna Holvey-Bowles and Martin Wong, associate dean of the faculty for global and local initiatives discuss Colgate’s off-campus study offerings; why it is important to learn outside of your comfort zone, and how the pandemic impacted the University’s long-standing programs abroad.