Study abroad is an integral part of Wofford’s culture, more so than the average college campus. Wofford’s study abroad program is a highly advertised part of the Wofford experience, and the school aims to make the opportunity to go abroad accessible to all students.
On Oct. 9, students were made aware of a policy change to Wofford’s study abroad tuition. In an effort to make studying abroad more accessible to students across the board, Wofford will charge each student abroad their full wofford tuition instead of program specific costs.
The policy change will go into effect in the fall of 2025. Student’s will still receive their full financial aid package, allowing aid to go towards study abroad.
Previous to this, students paid a tuition based upon the program they were studying abroad with, as well as a fee to Wofford itself to cover administrative costs needed to maintain the international programs office.
This change was put into place to allow more students to experience the study abroad program without financial hindrance, as standard tuition for a semester on campus will be charged to each student.
Wofford has also stated that in an attempt to make study abroad further accessible, a $3,000 allowance will be provided to each student abroad to help cover out of pocket expenses experienced when traveling abroad such as airfare or required immunizations.
The policy change had been met with mixed responses from the student body. Some students are upset about the policy change which students were not aware was under debate in the first place.
“[The college] claims that the change is for financial reasons but I know for a fact that [some students] will end up paying more money to the school than [they] would have before with this new policy, and I think a better solution would be for this change to be applied to incoming freshmen rather than everyone,” an anonymous sophomore said.
Chris Gardner, Chief Financial Officer for Wofford, was an integral part of the decision making process for this change, along with representatives from Financial Aid, the Office of International Programs and the Provost.
Gardner believes that this change will align with Wofford’s values as a liberal arts college that emphasizes study abroad for all students.
“Ultimately, we felt that charging Wofford fees for Wofford credit was more in line with best practices for high quality liberal arts colleges like Wofford than our previous policy,” Gardner said.
The departments involved in the decision making process have been assessing the study abroad tuition policy for over a year.
“I don’t think there was any magic to the specific timing of the decision,” Gardner said, “…and as it became increasingly clear that it was time to head in a new direction we wanted to give students as much warning as we reasonably could, in advance of its implementation for the 2025-26 academic year.”
This being said, the change still came as a shock to students who were unaware that the change was being considered. Some feel as though this change will hinder rather than help study abroad efforts for students, despite what the college is aiming for with the policy.
“I believe that this policy change will make study abroad less accessible overall because the college [told] us that going abroad would be less expensive than staying on campus. I’m lucky enough to be able to adjust to this change, albeit uncomfortably, but I know many people anticipated a break from paying full tuition and this change will just lead to more student loans,” an anonymous sophomore said.
The financial burden of study abroad is not lost on representatives from the college, but the ultimate goal of the policy from the perspective of the decision makers is to help remove these barriers.
“From my perspective one of the greatest barriers to access to these transformative experiences is financial. I believe creating clarity around the pricing structure removes barriers to entry for students because it is easier to understand and creates predictability,” Gardner said.
“The cost of your semester is [now] consistent across all study abroad programs and is the same as the cost here on Wofford’s campus. Using a consistent pricing structure for the program allows students to choose the program that best meets their educational goals while being free of any economic incentives involved in that decision,” Gardner said.
While the tuition change has been met with mixed feelings across campus, the college hopes that the policy will end up being a positive change that will ultimately allow more students to experience the opportunities that study abroad has to offer.
“When I was an undergraduate I participated in a study abroad program in Luxembourg and it was certainly the most impactful semester of the four years I spent in college. I am hopeful that this change will allow us to continue to grow and promote these experiences to more and more students,” Gardner said.
