<p>gphoenix:</p>
<p>As near as I can tell, the current study abroad policy dates back to 1995. Since the online paper doesn’t go back that far, it’s tough to read about the reasoning. However, I think it was done to encourage more kids to study abroad.</p>
<p>Historically, only rich kids have done a semester abroad. Financial aid students had a tougher time of it. In theory, financial aid could be applied for to cover study abroad, but I’m not sure that all of the federal, state, and private scholarships automatically transfer without a lot of red tape. By having payments still go to Swarthmore, absolutely nothing changes when you study abroad. All of your existing financial aid stays in place…exactly as if you taking all your classes in Kohlberg. It’s a great system for students receiving large chunks of financial aid. You don’t even have to come up with the cash for the deposit check – Swarthmore pays it.</p>
<p>The downside? There is none for financial aid students: the family contribution stays the same. Full-fare customers might get stiffed by a few thousand bucks for a semester abroad – unless they happen to pick a program that is as expensive as Swarthmore. There are many programs that fit that bill. Swat in France. Smith in France. Hamilton in Spain. ICCS in Rome. Almost anything in Japan is more than Swarthmore. And so on.</p>
<p>It would be an interesting question to ask Al Bloom or Bob Gross sometime in a forum. If you don’t factor in financial aid or the money they spend sending kids overseas for summer senior thesis research, I think the College probably does make a little money billing study abroad semesters at full pop – but only because so many students go to Europe.</p>