The University reversed its Jan. 16 decision to make merit-based scholarships nontransferable for students studying abroad, according to a Feb. 10 e-mail sent to first-year and sophomore students, as well as to students on the study abroad listserv, by Assistant Dean of Academic Services and Director of Study Abroad J. Scott Van Der Meid and Dean of Student Financial Services Peter Giumette.According to the e-mail, "After careful review and deliberation, the decision has been made to make merit aid portable for study abroad for sophomores and first year students."

"It's my understanding that we would not restrict incoming students either," Giumette said in a Feb. 10 interview with the Justice. "That wasn't part of the [Feb. 10] decision simply because we aren't speaking to that population."

The merit aid scholarship policy change was initially made in order to address the study abroad program's $800,000 budget gap from "what we have spent this year for study abroad in operating the program versus what we have for next year," Van Der Meid explained in an interview with the Justice.

Giumette told the Justice in a Jan. 22 interview that Student Union President Jason Gray '10 made senior administrators aware of the fact that merit scholar letters for the Justice Brandeis Scholarship, Dean's Award and Presidential Scholarship clearly stated that these three scholarships could be applied toward study abroad programs.

"Senior administration felt that that the letters represented a promise we would honor," Giumette told the Justice Feb. 10.

"It's fair to say that the administration agreed that it was not something they wanted to do to recruit someone on campus under one premise and then remove their ability to study abroad," Gray said.

"I'm really glad the decision was overturned," Gray added. "I think it's a necessary reversal. I think it's a strong action."

"I am overjoyed [about the reversal]," said Laura Hand '11, a recipient of a Presidential Scholarship. "I really appreciated that they said that they recognized that they made a promise in our merit scholarship letters and that they are fulfilling their agreement in the contract," she said.

"I think they definitely should have announced it much earlier," said Alex Melman '11, a member of the Advisory Committee to Study Abroad, who, along with Gray, was concerned about the approaching Feb. 15 preliminary application deadline. "The first time I heard that it was going to be reversed was several weeks ago. . I don't know why they had to take so long," he added.

ACSA, composed of staff, faculty and students, is currently discussing other options to fill the $800,000 budget gap in the study abroad program now that merit scholarships can be applied toward study abroad. ACSA was created at the end of January to "decide how to close the budget gap should merit aid again become portable," according to the minutes from the committee's Feb. 2 meeting.

The possible alternative policy changes that the committee is discussing include: "Raise [grade-point average] requirements [beyond the recent increase to 3.0 outlined in the Jan. 16 e-mail] for students wishing to study abroad; limit the number and type of programs; limit [the] number of students who participate by making the application process more selective," according to the ACSA myBrandeis Web site.

"None of these choices is the kind that we want to make, but potentially painful choices will be necessary to ensure the program remains within budget," Dean of Academic Services Kim Godsoe wrote in a Jan. 30 e-mail to students announcing the creation of the committee.

However, these changes will not affect students studying abroad in the fall or for the full year of 2009. "It's too late to be changing the selection criteria for them," Van Der Meid said.

Hanna Rosenthal-Fuller '09, a member of ACSA, said the committee met for a third time Feb. 11 and discussed "ways to increase [application] selectivity to make up the $800,000 that needs to be eliminated from the study abroad budget." She explained that the minutes from this meeting have not yet been posted on the committee's Web site because they are still being reviewed and declined to comment on any specific ideas that were discussed before the minutes were approved by all committee members.

Rosenthal-Fuller said that no definitive decisions have been reached yet. Melman said that he expects a decision to be made by the end of February.

"What I see happening is a more rigorous selection process for study abroad so that not everyone who applies to study abroad through Brandeis will be accepted," Melman said Feb. 10. Melman then said that he expects that somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of students who apply will be rejected from the Brandeis study abroad program.

According to the minutes from ACSA's Feb. 2 meeting, Godsoe said that only two or three students are generally rejected from the study abroad program per year.

Melman said he expects the new study abroad selection process will be similar to the college application process in that a selection committee will review each applicant's "academic record, their readiness to study abroad, how important it is to their major, their background and [their] preparation for the program. I don't think there can be one litmus test for who studies abroad and who doesn't," he said.



-Editor's note: An earlier version of this story was posted on the Justice Web site Feb. 11