Growing class sizes leave further spaces for students in programs

The Office of Study Abroad announced that due to budgetary concerns, Tulane will not be able to accommodate the volume of students who want to study abroad next year.Because Tulane’s enrollment has been growing in recent years, OSA does not have the budget to participate in the number of programs needed to accommodate all students who are interested in studying abroad.Study abroad providers, such as the Council on International Educational Exchange and SIT Study Abroad, run Tulane’s study abroad programs. Because of the rising number of students enrolling at Tulane, however, providers are beginning to run out of space in certain locations to accommodate all the students.

As programs begin to fill, we have a harder time placing students,OSA Director Peter Alongia said.We always try to place students in what they want, but that’s not always possible. The amount of students is rising. It makes it hard for students to go on the program they want to go on sometimes.The study abroad providers’ student caps have always been in place but have only become a problem since Tulane’s enrollment started to increase. It’s not something new for SIT to be saying that they only want this many students,said Eric Worth, SIT Study Abroad director of admission.If Tulane is saying we only want, say, 300 students leaving, it may be an internal resource issue.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Intelligent Software
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OSA sent an email sent to students March 31 planning to study abroad in spring 2012 saying that Tulane may need to start capping the number of students who are allowed to go abroad due to limited funds. Alongia, however, said that Tulane is not placing any new caps and that there are not limited funds impeding students’ ability to go abroad. There are larger numbers of interested students than in recent years, and the budget cannot accommodate all of the students.We’re increasing our numbers here at Tulane, and we still have a limited number of providers,Alongia said.OSA stresses that the lack of funds will not prevent students from studying abroad but rather from studying in the exact location they prefer.

Applicants have noticed this lack of resources and have criticized OSA for not being equipped to handle the increase in students.Having more study abroad advisors on staff who are available to serve student needs and address specific questions about programs is one of the top concerns that I hear from students,said Whitney Richards, Academic Advising Center senior academic advisor.The email prompted concern among students hoping to study abroad. The email states that the application due date is May 16, little more than a month from the time the email was sent out.I was just very shocked to get the email,sophomore Suzie Schneider said.It just came out of nowhere. We want to know why we might not be able to do study abroad, why exactly the funds were cut and where the money was going to.

Because certain programs are only open to students studying a certain discipline, some students worry that they will be closed out of the programs they need for their majors.It could be difficult for me because I’m trying to do international development, and they don’t have very many programs,freshman Jessica Callahan said.Alongia, however, said that it is not the location of study that matters but rather the general experience of studying abroad.What we would hope is that students would begin looking at non-traditional places to study,he said.There are wonderful places like Romania and Prague.A clarification email was sent out Wednesday, but for many students, OSA’s intent still does not seem clear.It still seems very vague,Schneider said.The whole thing seems very vague.

Though the wording of the original email created confusion within the student body, its purpose was to remind potential study abroad participants to send in their applications early or on time. Doing so could guarantee that they get placed in the location of their choosing.What we were trying to do was to get students to come into us in a timely manner so we could talk with those students about where they want to go and place them as quickly as we could,” Alongia said.