The University has reversed its Jan. 16 decision to make merit-based scholarships nontransferable for students studying abroad, according to an e-mail sent yesterday to first-year and sophomore students, as well as to students on the study abroad listserv, from 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 an interview with the Jusitce. "That wasn't part of the decision today 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 yesterday 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 yesterday.

"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."

But Gray and Alex Melman '11, a member of the Advisory Committee to Study Abroad, said they felt the University should have reversed the decision sooner, with the Feb. 15 preliminary application deadline only four days away.

"The decision needed to be made sooner," Gray said. "Timing is of the essence. There's a lot that needs to go in and everything needs to happen very quickly. The deadline is soon. People need to have as much time as they can to get the information that they need and make their decision."

"I think they definitely should have announced it much earlier," Melman said. "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 said.

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.

"The committee is trying to maintain the portability of financial aid," Godsoe said. "If I had to say there is a clear consensus among committee members, it's to maintain the portability of financial aid," she explained.

"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," Godsoe wrote in a Jan. 30 e-mail to students announcing the creation of the committee.

"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. Melman said he expects that somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of students who apply will be rejected from the Brandeis study abroad program. "Right now [the committee is] trying to figure out a fair way to make those decisions because unfortunately we just don't have enough money to send everyone abroad," he said.

According to the minutes from the ACSA's Feb. 2 meeting, Godsoe said that only two or three students are generally rejected from the study abroad program per year. Van Der Meid explained at the meeting that this low number is "because of intensive advising prior to the application process."

Melman said he expects the new study abroad selection process to 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. I think a selection committee will be the most fair way, and I think that's what we're going to do," he said.

However, these changes will not affect students studying abroad in the fall of 2009. "We won't be changing selection criteria for fall or full-year students," Van Der Meid said. "For most students who are planning to apply for fall and full-year, most students are almost completely done with applications for what they need to do for Brandeis. It's too late to be changing the selection criteria for them," he said.

When asked whether any decisions about possible policy changes would be announced before the Feb. 15 preapplication deadline, Godsoe said that the committee is "meeting again this week. I would expect that we would meet again after break. We're just going forward."

"We're going to have at least two more meetings," Melman said, "So we'll probably have a decision by the end of February."

"I am overjoyed [about the reversal]," said Laura Hand '11, who is on 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.