Scholarly Journal-REWRITE #2

Heather Holdorf Scholarly Journal-REWRITE #2


In the journal by Karin Fischer, “Study-Abroad Officials Feel the Dollar’s Plunge,” in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Fischer explains the loss in value of the dollar and the effects it has on students when they are trying to travel abroad.
Instead of traveling to the popular western European Countries, students are almost being forced to chose different places to study. Students have been choosing less popular countries such as Argentina, Chile, China and Hong Kong. The dollar has a much more significant value than it does against the Euro.
The loss of value in the dollar may deter students from Europe, but the rates of students traveling abroad are still on the rise. Fischer states that no matter what happens with our economy, students are still interested in going overseas; that will never change.
Students are also choosing shorter terms for their time abroad to be more cost effective. The long 1 year terms are becoming less popular than the semester terms. It’s becoming much more logical for students to do a shorter terms.
This journal helps my paper because it gives me the logical view of the struggles students face trying to travel abroad. This is something that has held me back as well as many other students I’m sure.



Study-Abroad Officials Feel the Pain of Dollar's Plunge. (cover story)Find More Like This
Authors:
Fischer, Karin
Source:
Chronicle of Higher Education; 12/14/2007, Vol. 54 Issue 16, pA1-A24, 3p, 2c
Abstract:
The article discusses how the falling value of the dollar has effected college and university study abroad programs. Brian J. Whalen of the Forum on Education Abroad states that the deflation of the dollar has forced some colleges to charge students more to travel overseas. It is noted by Geoffrey Bannister of Cultural Experiences Abroad (CEA) that Europe's conversion to the euro has made the value of the dollar more obvious. Truett Cates of Austin College discusses the need to evaluate the costs of study abroad programs as it fluctuates with the value of the dollar so that students can save accordingly. One alternative is for schools to adopt programs to non-traditional countries such as those in South America or Africa.
-Increase in costs could hamper efforts to attract low-income students
As the dollar dips to all-time lows, study-abroad programs are feeling financial pressure, forcing colleges to cut costs, tap reserve funds, or increase charges to students.
In the last year alone, the dollar's value has tumbled 5 percent against the pound, 7 percent against the yen, 10 percent against the euro, and 14 percent against the Canadian dollar. Brian J. Whalen, president of the Forum on Education Abroad, an independent organization of study-abroad providers, estimates that the dollar's performance has forced colleges' study-abroad costs to rise 10 percent to 15 percent over the last several years.
Currency fluctuations, and their effect on study abroad, are nothing new, of course. In the early 1990s, the enrollment of American students in Japanese institutions fell nearly 15 percent thanks largely to unfavorable exchange rates.
Still, the dollar's recent deterioration comes amid efforts to encourage more students to study abroad. Especially worrisome, educators say, is that the dollar has taken one of its sharper slides in Europe, which absorbs some 58 percent of all U.S. students who study abroad, according to the Institute of International Education.
Western Europe's conversion to the euro has made the dollar's crash particularly noticeable. "In the past, we weren't facing a unified bloc like Europe," says Geoffrey Bannister, president and chief academic officer of Cultural Experiences Abroad, or CEA, a for-profit provider of study-abroad programs.
Thus far the dollar's weakness appears to have done little to dampen American students' enthusiasm for studying overseas. But study-abroad officials are concerned that a protracted decline in the dollar, which many expect, could prevent some low-income students from traveling abroad to study and shorten visits.
They say the drop in the dollar may also accelerate trends toward study in nontraditional destinations, where a dollar stretches farther.
Controlling Costs
Study-abroad administrators, however, are grappling with a more-immediate challenge: how to control costs for students already abroad and for those about to depart for January-term or spring-semester trips.
Setting fees has become a guessing game. Since the fall semester began, the value of the euro has increased more than 8.5 percent against the dollar, upending budgets.
"It wasn't that long ago that I was budgeting for a worst-case scenario of $1.45," Catherine C. Marshall, director of education abroad at Ohio University, said of the euro's value late last month. "Yesterday it was $1.48."
At Austin College, a small, liberal-arts institution in Texas, the falling value of the dollar has meant resetting fees for many of its four-week January programs. The price for one of the faculty-led trips, a course in Greece focusing on classical mythology and history, has been adjusted four times since it was first listed in May, from $3,955 to $4,283.
Truett Cates, director of Austin's study-abroad office, says that although just one student has withdrawn from an overseas trip because of the increased expense, he worries about constantly recalculating fees, which many students begin paying 10 months in advance. He says he has asked faculty organizers to look for savings and is exploring paying more of the costs upfront to avoid further drops in value.
"I don't want to nickel-and-dime students," Mr. Cates says.
Other program directors say they are renegotiating arrangements with local providers, cutting back on side excursions, and making contingency plans if costs continue to soar. Eric Lund, director of international and off-campus studies at St. Olaf College, in Minnesota, says he has done away with several lectures he had planned on a trip he will lead this January to South Africa, saving the cost of speakers' fees.
Mr. Lund said St. Olaf officials have been supportive of overseas study, recently increasing his office's budget by $300,000 to support semester-long programs abroad. Elsewhere, study-abroad administrators say they have been able to mitigate recent cost swings with supplemental funds or by dipping into reserves. Dickinson College is diverting about 2 percent of its revenue from study-abroad fees to ensure that it has adequate reserves to cover extra expenses, said Mr. Whalen, who is also associate dean and executive director of the Office of Global Education there.
Overhead Expenses
Campuses with larger study-abroad programs also can hedge against currency shifts by buying euros and pounds on the futures market, locking in guaranteed rates.
Buying currency ahead of time can shield colleges from midyear surprises, but institutions that operate their own centers abroad still are paying more for rent, utilities, and faculty salaries as the dollar falters.
Dartmouth College, for example, pays a daily stipend in euros rather than dollars to faculty directors on its European programs, so they are not penalized by the exchange rate, says Lindsay J. Whaley, associate dean of the faculty for international and interdisciplinary studies.
Some officials are seeking less-expensive ways to structure their programs. Dickinson has added fall-term and academic-year options on its study-abroad program in Cameroon and is considering expanding other single-semester programs to make more efficient use of existing infrastructure. Syracuse University recently opened an overseas center in Beijing but in the future may look to establish more cooperative agreements and exchanges with foreign universities, which have fewer overhead costs, says Daeya M. Malboeuf, an associate director of study abroad at the university.
Experts say that if the dollar continues to stagnate, it could drive more students toward less-pricey short-term study-abroad programs, which have grown in popularity in recent years.
And while no institution said it had plans to pull out of Paris or leave London behind, rising prices could further fuel a growing shift toward studying in less-traditional locations in Africa, Asia, and South America, where exchange rates are more favorable. Mr. Bannister of CEA says the number of students enrolling in his group's program in Buenos Aires this spring is up 52 percent over a year ago, while those going to Prague, which has not yet converted to the euro, has increased by 150 percent.
"Paradoxically, there's a good side to the dollar's decline because it's causing students to look at different destinations," he said.
To date, however, most campus-based administrators say the dollar's tumble appears to have had little influence on students' choices, in part because of college's efforts to lessen the impact and in part because the steepest declines against the euro have occurred so recently.
But study-abroad officials say they worry that sticker shock could deter the very students they are trying to encourage to study overseas -- those from low-income households -- from going abroad. Several institutions say they are working to expand the amount of need-based aid available to students studying abroad. Daytona Beach Community College, for one, is trying to set up a long-term fund to pay for scholarships to study overseas.
John K. Hudzik, vice president for global engagement and strategic projects at Michigan State University, says colleges need to find ways to control costs "or we risk reducing access and squeezing out kids on the lower rungs of the economic ladder."
PHOTO (COLOR): Daniel M. Asquino, president of Mount Wachusett Community College, inspects wood chips used to heat his institution. The wood is from renewable forests and so does not contribute to greenhouse warming, he says.