2008 Woodie Awards
New scholarship aids students studying abroad
Sarah Silkwood
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: News
MT Study Abroad office offers a new international education scholarship to help students extend their academic opportunities in different locations.
This new scholarship is designed to help alleviate the cost; however, students must apply and be accepted into a study abroad program and have at least a 2.75 GPA in order to be eligible.
Brandon Fisher, a coordinator at the MT Abroad Office, said that financial issues are the primary reasons why most students at MTSU don't even consider studying abroad.
"Even though it is a valuable experience, it can be expensive," Fisher said. "We're trying to make it available to everyone [by helping] with the finances, any financial aid that a student uses at MTSU can deduct [from] the final price of studying abroad."
The MT Abroad office has worked hard to get faculty members involved so students can be sure the classes they take overseas will transfer to credit at MTSU.
"I think a lot of students have a misconception of how education credit counts over," Fisher said. "You have to be determined if you can make it through the application process, then you can definitely live in a different culture."
On average, 30 to 35 students are sent to another country each semester, and every summer 300 students are sent with the help of MT Abroad.
Ginger Warf, a senior public relations and Spanish major, reminisced on her time in Segovia, Spain.
"I taught my Señora's 10 year-old granddaughter how to salsa dance," Warf said. "We watched their version of 'Dancing with the Stars' every Monday, and one week we took the evening to have our own dance time."
Students applying for the scholarship or study abroad program are required to fill out an application, which consists of a participant profile, a copy of the student's passport, the place requested to study abroad, a language proficiency report, personal essays, academic references and a course request list.
This new scholarship is designed to help alleviate the cost; however, students must apply and be accepted into a study abroad program and have at least a 2.75 GPA in order to be eligible.
Brandon Fisher, a coordinator at the MT Abroad Office, said that financial issues are the primary reasons why most students at MTSU don't even consider studying abroad.
"Even though it is a valuable experience, it can be expensive," Fisher said. "We're trying to make it available to everyone [by helping] with the finances, any financial aid that a student uses at MTSU can deduct [from] the final price of studying abroad."
The MT Abroad office has worked hard to get faculty members involved so students can be sure the classes they take overseas will transfer to credit at MTSU.
"I think a lot of students have a misconception of how education credit counts over," Fisher said. "You have to be determined if you can make it through the application process, then you can definitely live in a different culture."
On average, 30 to 35 students are sent to another country each semester, and every summer 300 students are sent with the help of MT Abroad.
Ginger Warf, a senior public relations and Spanish major, reminisced on her time in Segovia, Spain.
"I taught my Señora's 10 year-old granddaughter how to salsa dance," Warf said. "We watched their version of 'Dancing with the Stars' every Monday, and one week we took the evening to have our own dance time."
Students applying for the scholarship or study abroad program are required to fill out an application, which consists of a participant profile, a copy of the student's passport, the place requested to study abroad, a language proficiency report, personal essays, academic references and a course request list.
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