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Policies and Procedures
Financial Policies

 

• Students studying on an international, domestic or exchange program will be charged the Skidmore comprehensive fee for their semester or year off campus. (Note: Skidmore's comprehensive fee will differ from the fees of the program providers.) This fee is equal to Skidmore tuition, room at the on campus apartment rate, board if applicable, and mandatory college fees. Students are required to use program arranged room and board where available. Additionally, if provided a housing option, students are encouraged to select a homestay.  Students desiring an alternative to program housing should consult with an OCSE Program Manager. If the program does not include room and/or board, or only partial board, the comprehensive fee will be adjusted accordingly. Students are responsible for paying any refundable deposits and non-included fees directly on-site or to the program provider.
  
  
• All off-campus study participants will be billed by Skidmore’s Bursar for the Skidmore comprehensive fee.
  
  
• Students should be aware that their program provider’s mandatory course enrollment and maximum credit load for the semester may differ from Skidmore’s 15 semester credit requirement. Students should adhere to Skidmore’s 15 credit requirement.  Any student seeking an exception to this policy must contact OCSE’s Senior Associate Director.  Occasionally, there have been instances when students must enroll in additional coursework in order to stay on track for graduation.  All overloads or underloads must be approved by OCSE and the program on site.  Please consult the Senior Associate Director concerning this process.  Lastly, if a student elects to enroll in courses during his/her off-campus program that have not been approved for academic credit and, therefore, are not transferable to Skidmore, he/she will be responsible for payment of said course fees. Students must also obtain OCSE approval prior to enrolling in courses that carry additional fees or have travel components.

• All students studying on an off-campus program will submit a $500.00 non-refundable confirmation fee by the deadline noted on their acceptance email  The $500 confirmation deposit will appear as a credit on the semester invoice. Students studying on an Approved Program are responsible for paying any refundable deposits, most commonly a housing deposit, directly to the program provider.
  
  
• Skidmore will handle payments to the program providers on behalf of students. However some providers will submit invoices directly to students via mail, email or their proprietary online system. Students that receive invoices for expenses which are covered under Skidmore’s comprehensive fee must submit them to OCSE for payment. Do not disregard invoices that you receive, doing so may jeopardize your enrollment in the program.  Additionally, failure to submit the invoices in a timely fashion to OCSE may lead some providers to impose late fees which will be the students’ responsibility.
  
  
• For Skidmore and Approved Programs, Skidmore will cover tuition and mandatory academic fees, room (double occupancy), board if applicable, mandatory medical insurance, and any other mandatory program fees. Students are responsible for airfare, on site transportation if not included in the provider’s program fee, books, accommodation upgrades, board where applicable, voluntary field trips and excursions, refundable deposits, and personal expenses. Students are also responsible for their housing and board when participating in programs that do not include those items. For example some Australia and United Kingdom programs do not include board. However students enrolling in these programs can elect to be placed in residential colleges. These types of accommodations may provide a board plan, as well as other amenities/housing services. Since these types of accommodations include services that do not fall within the comprehensive fee structure, Skidmore will not cover the additional cost associated with residential colleges. Therefore, students must be aware that they will receive an invoice directly from the provider for a supplemental accommodations fee for this type of housing. The Skidmore Comprehensive fee will be adjusted accordingly in these cases.

• Skidmore does not cover the cost of optional study tours/courses unless the student seeks pre-approval from the Director of Off-Campus Study & Exchanges.  Please contact OCSE to learn the process of applying for this exception.

• Students may use financial aid on all Skidmore and International and Domestic Approved Programs. Students receiving financial aid should speak with a Financial Aid representative to review possible aid changes based on increased expenses.
  
  
• Students may not participate in programs offered by the same non-Skidmore program provider for more than two semesters.  For example, a student is not allowed to participate in three semester-long IFSA-Butler programs during her time at Skidmore.  Students who participate in Skidmore programs are not limited to the number of semesters they may participate in any Skidmore program.  Note, Skidmore's First-Year Experience in London is a Skidmore program and does not count toward the number of IES programs a student may pursue.