While it may be a tough year for the University with its current tight purse strings, the University’s Study Abroad Program is in full swing on both the students’ end and the end of the coordinators of the respective departments.

N.C. State’s Study Abroad offers programs to expose students to international culture.

Notices have already been put out across departments to inform students about this year’s enrollments.

Students have also started preparing their applications and coordinators are getting busy evaluating the eligibility of the students and the courses they are choosing.

“Students have already started making inquires,” Shannon Carey, public and international affairs coordinator of undergraduate advising, said. “Some freshman students have approached me and are investigating the program and other students have already started making their applications.”

Carey added that when her students graduate, most of them say that the best part of their studies was the time they spent studying abroad.

Similarly, it is a busy time for Stephanie Borrego, assistant director for MBA and MGIM, who coordinates the study abroad semester program for students going to France.

“Many of our students apply for scholarship awards,” Borrego said. “Students live off campus [while abroad] and are expected to be comfortable buying food and dealing with the local people in their language.”

While enrollments for this year will start next month, there is no precise indication from either the University or specific departments if this year’s budget is going to be low.

However, there is an indication that there could be some amount of reduction in funds and fewer scholarships.

Sam Morris, assessment coordinator at the Study Abroad office, said, “We haven’t received any indication from the University about any reduction in the budget, but we estimate the amount of funding could be less in the range of $14,000-$15,000.”

This will mean fewer scholarships than a year ago.

Last year, the program had a budget of $171,000 with 145 students being awarded partial scholarships.

A bulk of the contribution comes from the University, which gives approximately $80,000 for the event.

Study Abroad has diverse departments participating, ranging from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Are all students lucky enough to get scholarships though?

Some get scholarships and others go on their own expense.

“We don’t offer complete scholarships,” Morris said. “They are only partial scholarships and only 30 percent of students last year were awarded partial scholarships.”

However, students are so excited to be a part of the program that they choose to participate even without any scholarships.

Henryk Orlik, a senior in international studies, decided to pay for all of his expenses himself when he studied abroad in the summer of 2007.

“I got a loan of $4500 to spend four to six weeks in Vienna at the Internationales Kulturinstitut,” Orlik said.

He added that it was a very different experience being in a German school and that it was not the same as learning the language here.

And according to Orlik, the number of museums, churches and the tours covered would have been a lot more expensive if he had gone by himself.

Some students even have more unusual experiences which they will never forget.

Katie Rehder attended Pontificia Universidad de Catolica in Valparaiso, Chile from March to July 2008.

“My experience was unlike anything I have experienced in my life,” Rehder said. “I was immersed in a new culture, I lived with people I didn’t know and I met many new great friends.”

She lived her daily life like a resident in Chile and relied on public transportation, which was a new thing for her.

Rehder lived with a host family as she studied economics, Latin American poetry, urban history of Valparaiso and Chilean culture and conversation with other foreign exchange students.

So what was the most interesting part of her stay?

“The students of the university went on strike in opposition of the bus fare increase for students while I was there,” Rehder said. “The students also ‘took over’ some of the buildings of the school and our classrooms kept getting moved.”

She added that it was interesting to see how students express their opinions there — very unlike here.

“They don’t really have any other way for their voices to be heard and instead have to take an extreme action, like striking or taking over the buildings,” Rehder said.