Congratulations!
Your student has decided to do Study Abroad! You will more than likely have many questions about the process that your student may not be able to answer, so here is your inside guide to the New Jersey State Consortium for International Studies. The most important resource is your student, however. If you do not get all of the answers that you would like, you should next contact the Study Abroad coordinator at your student’s home school.
About NJSCIS
NJSCIS is an organization of eight New Jersey State colleges and universities. NJSIC has a number of exchange relationships and direct Study Abroad sites, and we also utilize third party providers: College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS), Cultural Experiences Abroad (CEA), and International Studies Abroad (ISA).
Application Acceptance Timeline
Please be aware that once your student’s home school processes the application, it is then sent to the NJSCIS main office, where it is processed and sent to the host university or organization abroad. This process may take a few weeks. Your student should get confirmation of acceptance within 4 to 6 weeks later. Almost every student who is accepted by their home school is accepted by their host school, but sometimes foreign schools are a bit slower in their response time. Most programs will send any confirmation directly to the student’s home address, so please be watching for it. Some CCIS schools use US liaisons, so please check with your student to see if you should be watching for a packet from a US school. This packet will include very important information, and there may be deadlines, so please make sure that your student receives the packet as soon as possible after it arrives.
At this time, if your student does not yet have a passport, then he or she should apply for one, and if required, begin looking for information on visa requirements at www.travel.state.gov, the US State Department website.
Application Follow-up
In most cases, once your student is accepted, there will be any number of steps that they must take. Many institutions require a housing deposit to be paid directly to their housing office, while others may require insurance purchases, an additional list of desired courses, additional health insurance or vaccination confirmation, etc., so please ask your student to show you a copy of their acceptance packet if you want to know what they should be doing next.
Money and Billing – All students should have submitted an administration fee of $350 to NJSCIS upon application. Additionally, CEA students paid a $75 application fee, ISA students paid a $200 application fee (which is also a deposit on their program cost) and CCIS programs have different requirements for deposits. Please contact the US sponsoring institution if you have additional questions.
NJSCIS billing will begin during the second week of December for the spring semester, during the second week of May for the summer session, and during the second week of July for the fall semester. Your student will be billed either for tuition, tuition and room, or tuition, room, and board. Here is the basic breakdown of billing procedures:
NJSCIS Programs: Tuition only.
CCIS programs: Tuition for most programs; some include room as well, some room and board; health insurance with some programs, etc. Specifics can be found on the website at ccisabroad.org.
CEA programs: Tuition, room, board with some programs, health insurance, excursions.
ISA programs: Tuition, room, board with some programs, health insurance, excursions.
Tax Information - Please note that NJSCIS does not issue 1098-T forms as these are issued only by colleges and universities. According to the IRS, you can demonstrate that you paid tuition for a Study Abroad program through NJSCIS by recording it on the 1098-T form that accompanies your tax return. For additional information, please refer to the IRS link:
http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1098et/ar02.html
Health Insurance – All students are required to have health insurance that covers medical care abroad, medical evacuation, and repatriation of remains. If a student is going to Australia, they must also purchase the Australian Overseas Health Cover (which may be included in their program price) as well as the NJSCIS recommended Health Insurance.
Parent Resources for Study Abroad
http://www.studyabroad.com/guides/parentsguide/
http://www.studentsabroad.com/adviceforparents.html