By Chris Estrada
Many students return from studying abroad with life-changing memories. But for many Northeastern students who went abroad in the fall, the experience was marred by feelings of isolation and, students say, a lack of support from the Northeastern study abroad program. Some students said they also returned with the realization that they could have done their trips independently for a much cheaper price.
Pierce Cote, a junior political science major, went to Cairo in the fall semester, studying at the American University of Cairo. He calls his time there an “unparalleled experience,” but during that experience he said he had communication problems with Northeastern.
“I had a lot of problems,” he said. “I ended up in a really bad apartment with no one I could turn to from Northeastern … It was so hard to communicate, because of the different time zones. You could e-mail, but you wanted to call. [Northeastern] wanted everything done during Northeastern work hours, which meant an eight-hour difference for me. I had to get up in the middle of the night in order to sign up for classes.”
Cote’s experience is not unique. Sarah Voskuil, a junior international affairs major who went to Cairo with Cote, agreed with him about the communication trouble.
She said she was thinking about staying for another semester in Egypt and e-mailed Dawn Anderson, associate director of international programs, about what courses she needed to take. Voskuil said it took Anderson a month to get back to her and by that time, she had registered for classes and applied for Northeastern housing.
“You feel like they drop you,” she said. “They’re helpful before you leave and then they drop you in the country, and they never talk to you again. So many of the other schools had coordinators in Egypt … For Northeastern, it was just the three of us.”
The students also discovered they could have done the Cairo trip by themselves or with another school, saving thousands of dollars instead of going through Northeastern’s program.
“If I went to [American University of Cairo] by myself, it would have been $5,000 for this semester,” Cote said. “But because I went through the study abroad office, it cost more. Northeastern paid for the airplane ticket, but only up to about $1,200. If I had done the tuition and airplane ticket myself, that’s about $6,000 to $6,500.”
Janet Kenny, a middler history major, had similar problems in another location. She spent last fall in Dublin at the Institute of Public Administration, taking classes and doing an internship in the Irish Parliament. She said she had communication gaffes with Northeastern that forced her to schedule expensive phone calls from Ireland about her housing problems and e-mail advisors who only “slightly understood” her issues in their replies.
“Other Northeastern students in my program as well tried to work out problems with the Dublin program … They had several problems,” she said.
Kenny found out she could have gone to Ireland for less as well.
“It was clear talking to other students from different universities in my program that they were also paying either the cost of their university’s tuition or if they applied separately, the cost of the [Ireland] program, which was several thousand dollars less than Northeastern’s tuition,” Kenny said.
Luisa Pena, a junior international affairs and political science major and the third member of the Cairo group, said she thinks the problems students face are the growing pains of an office increasingly in demand.
“I think the problem is that the Study Abroad office is expanding. Everyone’s really interested in studying abroad, which I think is a great thing,” she said. “But I think that they’re not growing to fulfill the needs of students. I think there’s only two people and then there’s a co-op student, so I feel that there should be more assistance,” Pena said.
In a written statement, Anderson agreed the student complaints are largely due to the growth of the international study program, and said some inconveniences are a necessary part of the experience.
“International programs will always face challenges of communication. I think it is the nature of the beast,” Anderson said. “There are language and time zone differences that will inevitably remind students that ‘they’re not in Kansas anymore.'”
Anderson also said Northeastern gives students ample preparation before they leave the country.
“To minimize some of the challenges we try to standardize the process with our pre-departure orientation, binders full of information on housing, registration, financial aid and other Northeastern logistics and contact details,” Anderson said.
Anderson also emphasized that the program is still developing.
“We strive to create the best possible experience for all students,” Anderson said. “Students have usually had a very positive response to the overall study abroad experience. As the student participation increases, staff support will be adjusted accordingly.”
