The St. Norbert Study Abroad Office plans to offer $750 travel stipends to students studying abroad

The St. Norbert Study Abroad Office plans to offer $750 travel stipends to students studying abroad during fall of 2011. The stipends will help reimburse the cost of students' airline tickets.In order to be eligible for the stipend, study abroad candidates must write a short essay detailing the impact the additional funding would have on their experience, said Rosemary Sands, director of the study abroad office.Sands proposed the travel stipends as a solution to even the imbalance between the number of students studying abroad in the fall and spring semesters, a ratio that has been increasingly uneven in recent years.

While 36 students went abroad during fall of 2009, 94 students went abroad during spring of 2010.This imbalance creates a problem for campus housing, course offerings, student employment, athletics and other extra-curricular activities, to name a few.During the fall semester, student housing is often full and new course sections have to be created to accommodate students. In the spring,beds empty out,said Sands.Earlier this year, the Study Abroad Office presented a proposal for this stipend program to the President's Council. The Study Abroad Office brought possible solutions to correct the imbalance to the President's Council, and ultimately decided a monetary solution might garner the best results.

The council approved $56,250 to provide up to 75 of these $750 awards.The travel reimbursement stipend will be in place only during fall of 2011 to see if it will swing the balance,said Sands.If the program is successful, the Study Abroad Office may seek funding for additional semesters.Several years ago, the Study Abroad Office applied for and won a grant to provide $39,540 in travel stipends to students studying abroad during the 2006-2007 academic year. More students studied abroad that year than ever before.Sands hopes the new travel stipends will have a similar effect on study abroad numbers next fall. She believes the additional funding may help bridge that gap so every student can study abroad.Students choose to study abroad in the spring over the fall for various reasons. The Executive Summary details the results from a survey sent out by Jeremy Doughty, study abroad advisor: With respect to the factors that influenced students to study abroad in the spring versus the fall, the top five variables were primarily student-driven: major(s), weather, friends, holidays and travel.For students with certain majors, a spring semester abroad experience improves course availability. For other students, escaping winter in Wisconsin, or having the option to travel with friends in the summer influenced their decision to study abroad in the spring.