Students on Colby programs (Colby in Salamanca, Dijon, St Petersburg, Washington D.C. and selected affiliated exchange programs) are billed by Colby in the same way as a semester or year on-campus. This covers tuition, room, board, round-trip transportation and a number of organized excursions. A $500 non-refundable deposit is generally due after acceptance into the program and Colby's refund policies will apply. Please keep in mind that if a student decides not to go on a program excursion, there will be no refund of money either to student or to parents. Please also note that programs have specific policies with regard to possible changes of return dates on the group flight. Contact Sue Forbes in the Office of Off-Campus Study if you have questions regarding travel arrangements.
In some cases, when students are cooking for themselves or living in apartments, they will receive a per diem amount from the resident director of the program. On some programs, students eat some of their meals with a host family, and receive a stipend to cover the rest. For programs with fixed end dates, the stipend or per diem lasts until the fixed date. For others in which students have different exam dates, the resident director will set an end date, generally two days after the student's final exam, after which the stipend will be discontinued. While some students may choose to stay in the country at their own expense beyond the end of program date, Colby College cannot be responsible for those who choose to extend their visit.
When a Colby student attends a non-Colby program for a semester/year, program fees will be paid by the student and directly to the program. All students studying on non-Colby programs will also be billed by Colby for a $1,000 credit transfer fee for each semester they are away (excluding certain Colby affiliated programs). The charge will be billed to your home address by Colby’s Office of Financial Services. For students on financial aid, this charge is built into the aid package.
It is particularly important that you pay attention to the refund policy of your program. Some programs have very severe refund policies. Be aware of the refund policy of your program before you send any money for a deposit or payment.
If you are on a non-Colby program, keep in mind that the program will not release your transcript to Colby if you have not paid them in full by the time your program is complete.
Financial aid is portable to both Colby and non-Colby programs as long as your plans have been approved by the Off-Campus Study office. In any of these courses of study, a student's aid is based on the actual cost of the program up to a maximum of Colby's student expense budget.The evaluation of the aid application includes consideration of necessary personal and travel expenses, and currency exchange rates. Staff in the Student Financial Services office work closely with Colby students prior to their departure and while studying away. More details about billing can be obtained from the office of Student Financial Services.
Please keep in mind that Student Financial Services must have the fee information for your program (or at least your expected costs, if exact fees are not yet known) in order to process your financial aid for the academic year in which you are studying abroad. This is true even if you are not leaving until the spring semester.
Please refer to the Student Financial Services website for more information.
For more information please contact:
Off-Campus Study Office
(207) 859-4500
offcamp@colby.edu
Student Financial Services
(207) 859-4132
sfs@colby.edu
