Fewer students in Class of 2012 studying abroad

Recent studies by the Office of International Study (OIS) show that significantly fewer juniors went abroad this semester.  This year's numbers are especially dramatic after last year's record-breaking number of students who chose to go abroad. While this year's percentage of students studying abroad is comparable to those of the past ten years, each falling within 41-44 percent of the junior class going abroad, it is certainly a huge drop from the 52 percent of the Class of 2011 juniors who went abroad in the last academic year.

So what explains this decrease in the percent of juniors studying abroad?  There is no clear evidence that financial reasons kept the Class of 2012 back this semester.  

"If money is holding back students, they don't usually say it." Jennifer Thomas-Stark, director of international studies, said.  "Rather, common reasons students withdraw their decision to study abroad are a change in major, a family issue, a medical issue, or the new availability of a course the student was interested in, which is being held during her term abroad."

"I want to thesis and I feel that I couldn't do it if I studied abroad," Claire Merrill '12 said. "I also have traveled with my family and had the study abroad experience this summer when I traveled to Salamanca."

Instead of going abroad during the academic year, Merrill traveled this past summer to Spain and feels she has more reasons to study at Wellesley an additional semester  than go abroad. "There are so many classes [here] that I want to take and many of the 300-level classes aren't offered every year," Merril said.  

Yet if the financial crisis is partly the culprit, there must be some explanation for why last year's numbers hit a record high in College history.  Thomas-Starck explained that students who decided on studying abroad last year had made their plans and their decision to go abroad before the financial crisis had really hit families.

With the application process currently in full swing and students already setting their heart on destinations, families were more likely to bend over backwards to meet the financial needs of a term abroad. In contrast, parents have been more hesitant and reluctant to send their kids away this year.  And students met this hesitation prior to considering their options to study abroad.

The real problem that comes with lower numbers lies in Wellesley College campus housing. A number of students started their applications to go abroad but then decided not to go.  This meant that a larger number of juniors remained on campus than anticipated, which translated to more students who needed housing than estimated.  This is just another explanation for the unprecedented housing shortage at Wellesley College this year.

The OIS is also involved in a peer group of 25 comparable collegiate institutions in the New England area. Amongst these colleges, one-third of them have a lower percentage of juniors studying abroad thus far, one-third have a larger percentage, and one-third have about the same. Colleges that have also seen a drop in study abroad numbers include Mount Holyoke, Connecticut College and Bowdoin.

Yet, according to Thomas-Starck, there is a problem with taking these numbers too seriously. "Wellesley is a very small institution to trend. When 30 students represent 10 percent, a lot of the reasons for less juniors going abroad could lie in a group of friends canceling their plans and staying on campus together," she said.  "[It is also] too early in the year to really tell because we don't have an accurate picture of spring numbers, because the application deadline [to study abroad for the spring semester] is November first."

There is a possibility that the juniors going abroad in the spring will average out the low number of students currently studying abroad this fall.  But chances are low that they will get close to the 52 percent of students studying abroad last semester.

To put things into perspective, the College's numbers only account for enrollment to study abroad for one or two semesters of the academic year.  This means any students who go abroad for summer school, internships, community service, or Wintersession are not included in the OIS's statistics. "My guess is, with internships and community service abroad numbers added, the numbers would be much higher," Thomas-Stark said.

Additionally, there has been a noticeable rise in summer school applications for programs abroad and Wintersession programs always fill quickly. These numbers have stayed pretty constant in the past ten years, certainly without an influence by the economic crisis. A student might prefer to study abroad for a shorter period of time for various reasons such as staying on campus for job or internship recruiting or, if she needs to fulfill her course requirements, as is often the case for double majors, or premed students.  

In the past ten years alone, there has certainly been a shift as compared to previous decades. This amounts largely to the cultural expectation and norm for students to study abroad at some point in their undergraduate experience. In fact, a few years ago the college conducted a survey in which 88 percent of first-years stated that they wished to study abroad at some point in their college career.

So students are certainly still taking advantage of study abroad opportunities, but there are many more ways to go about obtaining international experience now, compared to ten years ago. In the 2000-01 academic school year, 121 of 246 students going abroad went for the full year. Now, semester and year-long abroad options have fewer enrollments compared to summer or winter terms—this is a national trend.

Wellesley's study abroad policy requires students to pay their tuition no matter where they decide to go abroad, rather than paying the relative cost of their specific program.  This means that a student who studies abroad in a developing country like India or Africa pays the same as one who studies in a wealthy country like Tokyo or London.