Even though your student may be thousands of miles and many time zones away, there are many things you can do to provide support from afar.  Your student will be sent a General Pre-Departure Information Packet and a Site-Specific Pre-Departure Information Packet.  We encourage students to consider sharing these packets with family members, since they contain information that may be useful to you.

We believe studying abroad is an important element of university education that will serve students well throughout their lives.  We also believe students are representing their families, FSU, and their country. It is important to all of us that our students represent us well. Thus, we emphasize to all of our students responsible decision making, fiscally sound budgeting and good communication skills.

Responsible Decision-making
Your student will be faced with many decisions while abroad.  Though we expect every student to act appropriately, we encourage you to discuss responsible decision-making with your student before departure.  On occasion, students who are otherwise extremely responsible take uncharacteristically dangerous risks and make unusually poor choices while they are abroad, in part because they feel anonymous.

In many cases, the consequences for poor decisions while abroad are much greater than for similar decisions when made in the United States.   Violations of the FSU Student Code of Conduct or other rules and regulations of the international program, will result in judicial proceedings for which there are sanctions up to and including expulsion from the program/university.  It is also important to note that the legal, penal, EMS and medical systems in other countries are often quite different than in the US.

In most countries, the legal drinking age is 18, so underage drinking is not a legal or judicial matter on our programs.  However, it is not uncommon for excessive alcohol use to be a factor in other judicial and legal issues, as well as medical emergencies while abroad.  

Finances
Studying abroad is clearly a significant financial commitment.  Our students run the gamut – some completely self-fund through savings, scholarships and/or loans, some have total support from family members, and most have a combination of the two.  There is a great deal of information on our Money Matters pages, ranging from financial aid to budgeting and banking.  We encourage you and your student to peruse that section of our website.

Communication
In today’s ‘connected’ world, most students so not have any trouble staying in touch with family members while they are abroad.  Most of our programs provide students with internet access, so email, social networking and instant messenger methods of communication are prevalent.  However, it is important to note that the internet access may not be 24/7.  Programs have varying levels of access, depending on the location, physical facilities and nature of the program.  Students participating in a semester-long program often purchase a ‘pay as you go’ cell phone or SIM card once they arrive in country.  Details specific to each program are available in the Site-Specific Pre-Departure Packet.

Most importantly, determine and discuss your method(s) of communicating, how often you expect to be in touch, and what you both should do in case of emergency.  If you have not been able to reach your student and you urgently need to reach her/him because of an emergency, please follow the protocols on our Contact Us page.