By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
From the Galapagos Islands to New Zealand, Baylor’s study abroad programs offer various destinations for students — with a price tag. However, the Center for Global Engagement offers financial resources and support for students who are doing summer, semester and winter study abroad trips.
Holly Joyner, associate director of global engagement and marketing, said the study abroad office puts emphasis on helping students get ready for study abroad as soon as possible, including preparing to cover the costs.
“We’re much better about being very upfront with students, making sure they know what costs are before they go,” Joyner said. “It’s very important to us that the students come in early.”
The office offers different program types with varying costs. Students who go on an exchange or affiliate program are charged Baylor tuition and administrative fees. Most summer, semester and winter programs are charged Baylor tuition, a program fee, a study abroad fee and an administrative fee.
The office also has an online database of study abroad scholarships for students to check and see if any apply to them. Joyner said she looks at the database every two weeks to delete or add scholarships as she finds them.
“We actually have a scholarship database on our website, and so students can go there to get resources,” Joyner said. “It’s very similar to if you were going to be starting college, maybe as a freshman, and you’re searching for scholarships. There’s actually a lot of money out there specifically for study abroad. It’s just being able to find it.”
There are also many opportunities within the university to receive financial support. Joyner said the study abroad office offers the Goodrich Scholarship, which is a sliding-scale scholarship, meaning it does not have a set amount.
“It’s all awarded based on the student’s need,” Joyner said. “So as long as a student has some need — that means they filled out in a FAFSA and their FAFSA number wasn’t zero — then they’re eligible to apply for that award. And the amount we give them will go up depending on their location and duration. So if it’s a semester, they’ll get more money, and summer, it might be less money.”
Outside the study abroad office, Joyner said academic units offer departmental scholarships for study abroad.
Joyner said students also have access to a variety of external scholarships. One external scholarship is the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which is aimed at assisting those with higher financial needs.
“The [Gilman] is only for students who are Pell Grant-eligible, which just means that they meet a certain socioeconomic status,” Joyner said. “They’re pretty high need, but they don’t necessarily have to have accepted the Pell Grant from the federal government. We always have a good number of students apply and win that award, which is really exciting.”
Joyner said another big scholarship that is not study abroad-specific but is international travel-specific is the Fulbright. She said her office works with the Office of Engaged Learning to recommend students for Fulbright awards.
Dr. Daniel Benyousky, director of major fellowships and awards, is tasked with working with students to obtain fellowships and awards, including the Fulbright.
“We always tell students we don’t want them to feel like they’re off on some island by themselves, that we’re here to help them,” Benyousky said. “We’ve gone through this process with many students before. It’s not a surprise to us — … Baylor students having such great success.“
To find scholarship opportunities or to learn more about studying abroad in general, visit the study abroad website.