For Parents of Study Abroad Students

John Carroll University takes the safety of our students very seriously.

• We prepare students before they depart at an orientation session where we discuss personal safety and common-sense measures.
• Our partner institutions overseas also provide an orientation at the beginning of each program that have the expertise to cover local safety issues.
• Our office works closely with the University’s risk management staff to make sure that all reasonable precautions are taken on behalf of our students, faculty and staff.
• We ensure that all of our students have insurance which covers them not only for illness or injury, but also for emergency and medical evacuation back to the United States.
• We monitor conditions in all of the places where our students are studying or likely to travel to.
• We monitor the U.S. Department of State for any travel warnings.
• All students, staff, and faculty on university programs are registered with the U.S. Department of State’s Safe Travelers Enrollment Program (STEP), so they can be located quickly in case of emergency.
• We work with our partner institutions overseas very closely, and we can trust them to take excellent care of our students, just as we care for the international students who come to John Carroll University to study.

Modern technology, cell phones, and the internet have made staying in contact even easier in recent years. Most students have cellular phones or other wireless devices that they can use to stay in contact. The staff of the Center for Global Education can be reached in an emergency 24 hours a day. It is extremely unlikely that a terror attack will directly affect our students or programs abroad, but we are prepared and can respond quickly and effectively if it occurs.

• The “What Parents Need To Know About Study Abroad” website also offers large amount of helpful information about the study abroad process.
• Chronicle of Higher Education: Studying Abroad is Safer than Studying at Home in the United States

Thank you for visiting this website. It is important that you are informed about the opportunities, procedures, and costs involved with studying in a foreign country. It is great that you are taking an active interest in your child’s plans to study abroad. Please explore the extensive information that is provided throughout our web site.

The benefits of studying abroad are numerous. Of course students may increase their knowledge of a foreign language, learn about the culture and history of another place, and experience wonderful things that are not possible domestically. Students who study abroad will also undergo tremendous personal growth, be better able to handle ambiguity and adversity, become more self-confident, learn to look at their own native culture from a new perspective, and improve critical thinking and problem solving skills.

We work very hard in the Center for Global Education to help students find a program that best fits their goals with regard to academics, social aspects, financial concerns, and personal comfort level. We aim to inform students about the options, and the pros and cons of each program. Ultimately the choice of whether to study abroad and where to study abroad should be the student’s choice, and the effort must be made by the student themselves. Please encourage your child to interact with our office directly.

Many parents are concerned about the costs of studying abroad. Granted, travelling to another country is not cheap. There are two important points about studying abroad through John Carroll University:

1. Students will not fall behind academically while studying abroad. They will work with their academic advisors to choose courses—for their major or core requirements—that will help them graduate on time. Studying abroad is not a vacation, and does not mean that a student will need more than four years to graduate.
2. Students do not need to go into debt to study abroad. There are additional scholarships available to students specifically for studying abroad, which students are only eligible for because they study abroad. We work very hard to help students find additional scholarships to make studying abroad more affordable.

We suggest you help prepare yourself for the study abroad experience by visiting the following website and reading though the various modules.

• What’s up with culture
• Special instructions specifically for parents

We work very hard in the Center for Global Education to provide opportunities to study abroad that are of value academically, affordable, and safe. If you have any questions that are not answered on our web site, please feel free to contact us directly by phone at 216.397.4320 or by email at global@jcu.edu.

Below is a set of well thought-out pointers, which will help you understand some of the ways you can support your son or daughter before, during, and after their study abroad experience.

Prior to Your Son or Daughter’s Departure

• Familiarize yourself with the philosophy of the program on which they are about to embark.
• Talk about their goals and expectations in studying abroad.
• Talk about any fears or apprehensions they may have.
• Ensure them that they have your support.
• While offering limited assistance, encourage them to take responsibility for pre-departure logistics and paperwork.
• Help organize their finances while abroad.
• Make sure that they have adequate health insurance coverage.
• Confirm as soon as possible that their passport is valid and extends at least six months beyond the end of the program.
• Check in periodically with them to confirm that they are gathering the necessary paperwork to secure a visa, if required.
• Investigate the possibility of securing a power of attorney on their behalf so that the processing of documents in their absence will be easy.

When Your Son or Daughter is Abroad

• Encourage independence and self-reliance.
• Do not accompany them to the host country at the start of the program.
• Understand that all students will experience culture shock and that this may have a significant impact on what they are communicating to you about the experience.
• Allow them the time and space to develop a support network abroad rather than relying totally on the one back home.
• Avoid too frequent email or phone communication, which can interfere both with language learning and with integration into the host culture.
• Avoid visiting while the academic program is in session.

When Your Son or Daughter Returns Home

• Recognize that they have had a life-changing experience and that, while you may have remained more or less the same, they are probably not the same person they were before going abroad.
• Let them share the experience with you as much as they want.
• Understand that they may experience re-entry culture shock and that this can be even more intense than the original culture shock on arrival abroad.