Boston University Study Abroad announced the cancellation of all Fall 2020 programs in an email Wednesday to students registered to attend.
Gareth McFeely, executive director of Study Abroad, said the decision was made to protect students’ health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic. At this time, he said, study abroad is not feasible due to travel restrictions and the potential need to quarantine upon arrival.
“You can’t get there. You can’t get a visa. You can’t get a flight in many cases,” McFeely said. “All of those introduced complexities that I think we just felt were insurmountable to be able to offer good programs for the Fall semester.”
Domestic programs in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, McFeely said, were also canceled because those campuses aren’t properly equipped to handle student life during a pandemic.
“Although our operations in D.C. and Los Angeles are within U.S. borders, we’re not operating full campuses there,” McFeely said, “So, we don’t have access to the same planning resources or resources for Student Health Services.”
Many of BU’s study-abroad programs include an internship component. McFeely said economic challenges would have prevented students from being placed in high-quality internships.
“Right now, with a great many companies furloughing staff and laying staff off, they are not necessarily able to turn to internships as a focus of attention,” McFeely said. “We felt that we wouldn’t be able to guarantee students the caliber of internship that we would like to guarantee them.”
He added that his team is working on plans to resume Study Abroad as an option for the Spring.
“I think we are seeing some quite positive signs about countries starting to reopen their borders,” McFeely said. “We really are working hard to try to ensure that we can offer quality programs in the Spring.”
A decision has not yet been made on if students will receive refunds for Study Abroad application fees, McFeely said. Students who reapply to study abroad in Spring 2021, however, will not have to pay the fee, according to Study Abroad’s email.
Students were advised in the email to cancel travel plans and meet with their academic advisors to plan for the Fall.
BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said additional class sections may be added so that students who had planned to study abroad can meet their degree requirements.
“We have a lot of experience in balancing those out, adding sections, adjusting and being flexible,” Riley said. “So I think that will be helped again by Learn from Anywhere [in] the Fall.”
BU’s Charles River Campus, Riley added, has enough housing for students who will now need it due to trip cancellations.
“In this year,” Riley said, “I anticipate the flexibility of Learning from Anywhere will contribute to our ability to provide housing for those who are requesting it.”
BU Housing has reopened its Housing Portal for students who had planned to study abroad to reserve on-campus housing for the Fall, according to Study Abroad’s email. After applying, students will be assigned available housing spaces.
Riley said the University doesn’t expect a drop in enrollment due to the study abroad suspension.
“I’m thinking back to 2008 and [2009] when the financial markets and the housing crisis happened,” Riley said. “Students still went to school. So I don’t anticipate that that would change, but those are individual and family decisions.”
Katie O’Rourke, a rising junior in the College of Communication, was planning on studying Film and TV in London. She said she wasn’t surprised that her program was suspended.
“Obviously, I was a little disappointed, but I think it was the best decision,” ORourke said. “It’s not a priority for me to go next semester. I could go a different semester.”
O’Rourke said she had already registered for classes and got an apartment on campus because she’d expected Study Abroad would be suspended.
“I’m a little worried for people who didn’t choose classes when on-campus,” she said, “but I chose classes and chose housing so I should be okay.”
Daryna Shnitser, a rising sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences who planned to study in Dresden, Germany, said she also registered for classes and selected her housing before her program was suspended.
“The coordinators for the study abroad program were pretty good about telling us to plan for it to be canceled,” Shnitser said. “They did recommend that we still sign-up for housing and register for all your classes, so I did do that luckily.”
It’s important to remember, Shnitser said, that everyone has to make tough decisions because of COVID-19.
“We kind of have to do our part in keeping everyone safe, keeping ourselves safe,” Shnitser said. “Not going, it sucks, but at the end of the day, that’s what we have to do, and we’re not the only ones making sacrifices.”
