The Financial Aid Office recently alerted students studying abroad during the fall 2022 semester of what scholarships they have received on Tuesday, Nov. 15, just weeks before the end of the semester. Study abroad scholarship notices are typically sent around a month after the February deadline, which would have been nine months earlier.

Although students have now received their scholarship notices, it comes at a time where students abroad have nearly paid off their entire fall semester. 

Some students did not plan to cover their entire semester on their own. Senior professional writing major Danica Fuerst is one of those students. Currently studying abroad in Regensburg, Germany, Fuerst factored in scholarships in her budget, and without them, she has found herself worrying more about money. 

“I really wanted to go on this trip to an Abbey that’s existed for, like, 1,000 years, but I just wasn’t able to go there because I don’t have the money for it,” Fuerst said. “I’ve also felt pretty food insecure—I’ve been skipping meals and eating somewhat unhealthily because I need to stretch my budget as much as possible. My worries about money are definitely taking away from my experiences abroad.”

 Fuerst has had repetitive correspondence since the beginning of summer with the Financial Aid Office. Over the summer, she said the office would tell her they still needed to have a meeting to figure out the scholarships.

The meetings would keep being rescheduled until the middle of August, when the office told Fuerst to enroll in a payment plan.

“They finally admitted that they weren’t making progress, and told me to sign up for a payment plan because they weren’t going to be able to make decisions until September,” Fuerst said. “Keep in mind that there’s a $30 fee to sign up for a payment plan, so this is costing me extra money.”

By the time of Fuerst’s interview with The News, September had passed, and by press time, she would have already paid off her entire fall tuition. 

“I just think this is all ridiculous,” Fuerst said. “The University is aware of how expensive studying abroad is for us students…I think the worst thing is how they keep kicking it down the road rather than being clear with us, so we could plan to have no scholarship money. They kept saying that they’d meet tomorrow, or next week, or in September. Now, they tell some of us to be ready to receive the money after the program is over. I need that money now, while I’m abroad and unable to work.”

Graduate history student Brandon Hamilton has been caught in the same situation while studying abroad in Regensburg, Germany.

Similar to Fuerst, Hamilton said he applied feeling as though he was at least guaranteed to receive something. 

“I planned on using [scholarship] money for some of my expenditures in Germany,” Hamilton said. “Instead, I just received a notification yesterday, Nov. 15, that I was given a scholarship. …Although I appreciate the money, being here has been a lot more difficult because of the lack of funds.”

Without scholarships, Hamilton has relied solely on his own funds and has received some help from his parents. 

The Education Abroad Office was also waiting to hear back from the Financial Aid Office. Being a point of contact for students, Steven Guns, director of Education Abroad, said he has communicated with students about their scholarships.

Guns said students told him and his fellow adviser’s they wished they could have received scholarship notices earlier, so they could have done more financial planning before they departed. 

Although he said nearly 95% of study abroad scholarship applicants receive aid, they should plan as if they may not. 

“We, of course, advertise the fact that 95% of students, luckily, are able to get some sort of award, but we also emphasize that there is no guarantee,” Guns said.  “That also depends on the amount of students that are studying abroad, how much funds we have that year.

Despite students having to pay for their entire semester by now, the scholarships will roll over to next semester. Although she’s now been notified, Fuerst said the delay still distracted her from being able to fully experience studying abroad.

“A good amount of our awards are refundable scholarships, so students have been able to receive an award even if they have a zero balance and in a way to pay themselves back for what they put down for their program already,” Guns said.

Director of the Financial Aid Office, Wendy Cain responded to The News, but failed to address the study abroad scholarship delay. Instead speaking to the nearly eight-month notice delay, Cain outlined the scholarship application and committee reviewing processes.

 Although she’s now been notified, Fuerst said the delay still distracted her from being able to fully experience studying abroad.

“I’ve spent a lot of my time dealing with this when I should be spending it experiencing the culture and everything,” Fuerst said. “I haven’t really been able to do that and kind of worried about things costing too much.”

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