The Office of International Education will begin charging Marquette tuition for all Marquette-affiliated study abroad programs beginning in Summer 2010. These changes will increase some program tuition costs, including at St. Mary’s College in London and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

St. Mary’s and Macquarie are Marquette-affiliated programs. Students previously paid the tuition rate of the destination school for these programs, which meant that many students’ financial aid and nearly all institutional aid could not be applied to studies overseas.

Sophomore Dan Herr is studying abroad at Macquarie University in Sydney. He is among the last group of students from Marquette who will be paying less for their education in Australia than they would at Marquette.

According to Herr, his tuition at Macquarie is approximately $8,000 less than his tuition at Marquette.

“School costs will be much less,” said Herr, a student in the College of Business Administration. “But with the cost of living and travel and stuff it will end up being about the same anyway.”

According to OIE’s Web site, the new financial aid model will allow students to use Marquette financial aid for all university affiliated programs. The affiliated programs’ tuition will now be paid through Marquette, meaning all Marquette and federal financial aid will apply to students who spend a semester abroad. The Marquette-affiliated programs also ensure credits will transfer for students who study in these locations.

“For the first time, Marquette students will be able to take their federal and institutional financial aid to a limited number of programs,” said Terence Miller, director of the Office of International Education. “This is a very exciting development for Marquette University.”

In addition to Marquette-affiliated programs, there are currently four other options for students who want to study abroad. Marquette-sponsored programs, exchange programs and faculty-led programs already had policies that ensured both federal and scholarship aid would apply while students were overseas. Non-Marquette programs, however, still allow neither federal nor Marquette financial aid to be applied to tuition expenses – yet they may now be cheaper alternatives.

Mary Creegan is a sophomore in the College of Education who is interested in studying abroad through a non-Marquette program.

“The Marquette price for South Africa is a bit much,” said Creegan. “Besides that I think it’d be really cool to go completely out of my comfort zone and go where no other MU students are.”

For those students who wish to remain with fellow Marquette students, the reform in pricing could make studying abroad more plausible.

Jen LaLoggia is a senior in the College of Communication who has studied abroad in Florence and Rome through Marquette-affiliated programs.

“I guess it’s not good that tuition is going up in general,” she said. “But at least now no matter what it will be the same as it is if you’re here.”

Miller said other colleges have seen increased student interest in study abroad programs since deciding to charge home tuition to students overseas and hopes Marquette will see a similar pattern emerge.

“It really is a positive thing for the university,” Miller said.

OIE also added nine programs for students interested in studying abroad. The five new semester and academic programs will run in Australia, France, Ireland, Italy and Mexico. In addition, there are four new summer programs in London and Prague, France, Morocco and Palestine.