Study Abroad Scholarship vs. Decline in Enrollment

Talia Gutierrez

Comm 3330-4

Assignment #1- Basic News Story

Feb. 4,2010

Kennesaw,Ga.- Kennesaw State University earned the Institute for International Education’s 2011 Andrew Hesikell Award for innovation in international studies.

Thus far, KSU’s Global Learning Scholarship has awarded more than $725,000 to students since 2008, when the scholarship was founded.

More than 1,000 institutions are eligible to compete for this award, yet KSU received 1 out of 12 of the awards.

Although KSU offers these scholarships to its students that attend international educations, it may not even matter if the attendance of students applying does not increase, says Doctor Keith Tudor, professor at Kennesaw State. “Due to the economy, there has been a decline in enrollment over the last 2 years for study abroad trips.” He says, “this is an extraneous variable that hopefully changes very soon.

Money for this scholarship is included in every student’s fees at KSU. Therefore, students are investing money towards this program, yet not taking much action upon it. In 2010, there were 866 students who studied abroad and the number gradually is getting lower.

Kennesaw State, which is now the third largest school in Georgia, offers this scholarship program as part of its broader efforts to expand access and enhance global learning to every student that studies abroad.

“In today's complex interdependent world, it is important to have first-hand experience of other countries and cultures,” said Dan Paracka, education-abroad director for KSU’s Institute for Global Initiatives.  “We believe that every KSU student should study abroad and therefore we are doing our best to make such important educational opportunities more accessible.”

Shannon Roche, student at KSU, agrees with this statement and believes study abroad really helps you understand how different American culture is compared to other cultures. “It helped me see the history of that country and I also made friendships that last a lifetime,” says Roche.

Scholarships increase students access to the education abroad experience, says Paracka. Doctor Tudor says something somewhat different; “Normally the scholarship would help students sign up for education abroad. I just don’t know if it did this year by looking at the low amounts of sign ups.”

Tudor believes that students psychological perspective of the scholarship helps them feel like they are receiving some money back after paying x amount of dollars. “For example, with the scholarship, a trip that costs $3665 would only be 14% off of the remaining balance that the student would have to pay,” says Dr. Tudor.

Right now the scholarship that each student enrolled in a study abroad program receives is at $500. The lesser amount of students enrolled means more amount of money remaining, therefore the amount for each scholarship may increase. Luckily this is a positive aspect of the scholarship for students.