Study Abroad

Study Abroad experiences can prove to be a wonderful enhancement to a student's academic program, global perspective, and cultural appreciation. However, travel issues, safety concerns, language barriers, cultural challenges, unknown environments, academic adjustments, and other components of international study make the experience potentially more stressful and challenging also. With these factors in mind, Milton Hershey School® will support study abroad experiences under the following conditions:

• Only one term of study abroad will be supported;
• Study abroad experience must occur during the third, forth, or fifth year;
• Minimum cumulative GPA needed to study abroad is a 2.50;
• Student is not on Academic or Social Probation/Suspension;
• Transportation (including airfare) costs are not supported;
• Study abroad program must be affiliated with your school so that your financial aid eligibility remains intact;
• The costs of the study abroad experience must be similar to your school's standard tuition, fees, room and board costs;
• All credits attempted must apply towards your degree/graduation requirement;
• Study abroad experience must be a full term length experience (for example, Spring break experiences attached to a full term academic course are not supported);
• Only full-time (12 credits or more) experiences will be supported.

For students whose graduation requirement for their major (for example, International Affairs) includes a study abroad experience, limited exceptions to the one term only and no transportation cost payment policies may be made if students have enough CES funding to warrant such exceptions and meet all other conditions.

Going abroad requires a considerable amount of advanced planning and preparation. Be sure to work with your school's academic, financial aid, and student accounts offices concerning everything from credit approval, passports, financial aid forms, payment deadlines, and more. Please be sure to submit ALL REQUIRED CES PAPERWORK to Transition Services at least TWO MONTHS in advance of any study abroad experience.

Students studying abroad are held responsible to the same level of accountability as others for the timely completion of financial aid, academic, and CES forms. The CES program will NOT make up for gift aid lost due to missed deadlines or other noncompliance issues.