FINANCIAL AID POLICIES HANDBOOK 2013-2014

Off-Campus Study

Study Abroad Policy Beginning Spring 2012*

New Financial Aid Model Offers Expanded Access and Equity in Study Abroad

The Colorado College is pleased to announce a new pilot program designed to increase opportunities for students with financial aid to study off-campus. A key part of the college's mission is to provide students with a better understanding of world issues, and studying off-campus internationally or domestically is an excellent way to enhance that goal.  Effective Spring 2012, the college has developed a way to provide the same proportion of aid received at CC to all approved off-campus programs. See a list of all of the programs for which financial aid awards may be used (PDF).

In the past, students on financial aid have only been able to keep their college aid if they attended one of the affiliated study abroad programs (primarily ACM and specific CC programs). If students wished to choose from among the eighty other programs approved by the college for credit, they had to give up their CC financial aid for that semester. While some students found the off-campus programs less costly than CC, many on financial aid could not afford them. 

The college adopted a new model for counting students in the budget a year ago, and that model will finally allow us to offer an unusual opportunity for all our students studying abroad. Under the new policy, all students will pay Colorado College the actual program costs for any off-campus study program that is on the college's approved list. For students receiving aid the Colorado College grants and scholarships will follow in the same proportion to the student's current CC grants and scholarships. For example, if Colorado College grants and scholarships provide 50% of a student's cost of attendance at CC, the CC grants and scholarships will continue to provide the same proportion toward the cost of attendance of a lower cost program; but if the program costs more than the college does, then the college will not provide more than it would have to attend CC.

Aid will follow a student on one off-campus study experience. Usually this will be one semester program, however some programs are year-only (like London School of Economics) and aid would follow in this instance for the year-long experience. This is a pilot program which will be evaluated annually for the next four years to determine if the college can afford to sustain the program. Students should consult the details of the policy which will be posted on the study abroad and the financial aid office web pages.

For this model to work, the college must balance the number of students studying off-campus in the Fall semester with the number off-campus in the Spring semester. Thus, the college will set a target each year and accept students into the following semester on a first-come, first-served basis up to that target number total. We anticipate some increase in interest in studying off-campus under the new program, and the target will be set high enough to accommodate such an increase, though all students may not be able to go abroad in their preferred semester.

Students on financial aid who were planning to study abroad in the Fall 2012 semester under the existing policy may wish to reconsider the broader list of available program options if they defer to Spring 2013. Please make an appointment with the Office of Off-Campus Study if you want to discuss your options under the new model.

Our hope is that Colorado College has created an unusual and attractive model by which more of our students will have more opportunities to study off-campus on the approved program that best fits their academic goals, and enhances their education in ways that will be invaluable for living in a more globally interconnected world. 

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