FAQs
Academic Credit/Recognition
CREDIT: Students may earn academic credit in the form of internship or directed independent study. Per university policy, students mustregister through FSU International Program’s Independent Internship office. See http://international.fsu.edu/Types/Internships/Others/Independent.aspx
for the forms.
Students may earn 6 hours of internship credit per semester through
the international relations (INR) program. See
http://www.coss.fsu.edu/inaprog/students/internships.html for more
information. Students may also earn credit through the modern
languages department at FSU. Students should work with individual
faculty members to arrange for DIS credit.
If you earn at least 6 hours of academic credit in a semester, you are
eligible to receive financial aid from your normal sources (e.g. Pell
Grant, Student Loans, Bright Futures). If you are only earning 6
hours, then your financial aid will be reduced from a full time
student amount to reflect your “part-time status.”
For students who wish to do an independent Global Scholars project of
1-3 semesters: If a student is not enrolled in FSU for two
consecutive semesters (including summer term) then he or she must
reapply to university. To avoid this, a student may register for
internship or DIS hours while overseas, or they may enroll in a zero
credit experience recognition course. This can be done through the
University Recognition Program
(http://www.career.fsu.edu/ceo/urpform.cfm). If a student is only
enrolled in this zero credit course, the university will charge the
student 1 tuition hour.
FINANCIAL AID:
Scholarships: Partial scholarships are available for FSU students, and these will be decided based on the student’s application. Our independent projects partner, Omprakash, also has some partial scholarships for students. FSU also has volunteering and research scholarships that students may apply to these Global Scholar experiences.
For other awards, go to our.fsu.edu/awards or the Center for Leadership and Civic Education’s Moellership: http://thecenter.fsu.edu/involved/programs/serviceship.html.
Despite these scholarships, it is important that students contribute to some of the costs of their Global Scholars experience. Research suggests that when students fundraise for their experience, they often feel more invested in the experience and are less likely to leave their experience early because they do not want to disrespect the donors who helped them head overseas. Writing to family, friends, and community members, as well as charities and foundations, is an effective approach to raising funds for your experience. In fact, students can often fully fund for their volunteering experience through donations.
Students may also earn enough academic credit for their experience (a minimum of 6 hours per semester) to make them eligible to use their financial aid (Federal student loans and grants) or Bright Futures scholarship money. The amount of a student’s financial aid is awarded based on the amount of credit hours taken per semester, so a part-time load (6 hours) will result in less financial aid for that semester.
Students may use funding from URCAA, MRCE, Public Service Research Fellowship, Disasters and Community Research Fellowship, Moellership, or other university awards to fund Global Scholar Projects.
COSTS:
For summer immersion programs, the student pays the Volunteer Sending Organization a program fee to cover the cost of work placement, accommodation, food, airport pickup and drop-off, travel and medical insurance, in-country induction with a staff member upon arrival, support and 24 hour back-up from the organization’s local US staff, per-departure support, visa support, and possible language training and excursions. Review each immersion program page details of each program.
Independent projects arranged through Omprkash can be significantly less expensive than the pre-arranged small group summer projects. However, these independent projects take more initiative, and may have less on the ground administrative support and structure. Many of these partners have agreed to provide a volunteer housing and food for a small cost for up to a year.
In addition, if students are earning credit, they must pay the normal FSU per credit hour cost for their registration at FSU (currently $175 per credit hour for undergraduates plus a technology fee) and a $100 dollar registration fee with FSU International Program Independent Internship program.
Largely due to the reduced cost of living in developing countries, Global Scholars programs can be less expensive than traditional study abroad. The experience will—more than most of the other experiences in your life—dramatically influence you for the better. Spending a few thousand dollars now (or even taking a loan out to do this), will pay dividends throughout your life as you gain greater perspective of yourself and the world around you. Employers and graduate schools will likely be impressed with your Global Scholars experience, so it may also help you get a better job in the future.
RECOGNITION:
In addition to becoming part of the new Global Scholars network of program alumni, participation in Global Scholars can be used to fulfill some requirements of the Global Pathways Certificate (http://global.fsu.edu/students/certificate/certificate.htm) or Garnet and Gold Scholars Society (http://garnetandgoldscholar.fsu.edu/). A Global Scholars program could help you complete the international, internship, service, or international sections of program. The same experience can be counted for up to two areas of Garnet and Gold Scholars Society.
Students may also gain internship recognition through the University Recognition Program http://www.career.fsu.edu/ceo/urpform.cfm
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE PLAN:
All students participating in a Global Scholars project (and not earning academic credit as part of their experience) must complete—before departure—a Student International Experience Plan (SIEP) found here: http://global.fsu.edu/policy/index.htm
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