One of the hardest decisions about studying abroad can be choosing where to go.
Yet for students at an increasing number of universities across the United States, that choice is a luxury, as barriers to spending a semester abroad, like increased fees or minimum GPAs, have been cropping up at an alarming rate.
So what's the reason for the stringent requirements? Officials say that many schools are employing them to avoid losing tuition dollars as more and more students nationwide study abroad.
Between the 1994 and 2004 school years, the number of American students formally studying abroad grew by 151 percent, according to the Institute of International Education, an independent organization that runs study abroad programs.
When students study abroad, the tuition that would have otherwise gone to their home schools is often rerouted to the foreign schools at which the students are studying.
And a resulting financial crunch is pushing schools to make the process more difficult by adding extra fees or requiring certain GPAs of applicants.
Boston University, for example, recently decided to charge students who study abroad a $500 administrative fee after seeing the percentage of students who study abroad increase by 68 percent over the past eight years.
And both Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minn., and Smith College in Northampton, Mass., for example, have set a minimum GPA of 3.0 for students to study abroad. At Macalester, the new restriction kept 16 students out of 197 from going abroad -- an unprecedented number to be turned away because of GPA.
Officials at Penn say they have not seen similar issues arise here recently -- mainly because Penn put restrictions in place more than 10 years ago.
In 1994, Penn implemented a full-tuition policy, which requires students to pay normal tuition when going abroad. Penn then covers the cost of programs overseas. Prior to that, students who went abroad were required to take a leave of absence and receive transfer credit from their foreign schools.
Geoffrey Gee, Penn's director of international programs, said schools like BU and Penn that require students abroad to pay regular tuition aren't feeling the same pressure as schools like Macalester.
Stanford and Georgetown universities also use Penn's system.
"We provide Stanford credit, not transfer credit, so that requires a student to pay the same tuition" when studying abroad, Stanford Overseas Seminars Program Manager Anja Seitz said.
Though universities do still lose some money when students study abroad, Gee said, the amount is negligible for Penn.
Moreover, University administrators stress Penn's devotion to the academic benefits of studying in foreign countries.
"Financially, we might be better off if all students stayed on campus," Vice President of Budget and Management Analysis Bonnie Gibson said. "But that isn't the right academic decision."
Study abroad limit - As more students choose to study abroad, schools look to regain lost tuition dollars - Macalester and Smith colleges have imposed minimum GPAs for study abroad - Penn anticipated the trend 10 years ago by charging full tuition for students abroad
