The Study Abroad For Everyone (SAFE) Program

The SAFE Program encourages study abroad by students with very limited family resources and no prior international travel experience.  Study abroad participation levels among such students, often students of color or the first generation at college, tend to be lower nationally and at Bates.  The SAFE program addresses this pattern with three efforts.

• Extra encouragement - Additional outreach efforts to ensure these students recognize that this part of the Bates curriculum is fully available to them. 

• Program and grant identification - Special efforts to work with these students to identify lower cost study abroad programs and Federal and program grants that are targeted to low income students, students of color, and/or the first generation at college.

• Financial support – For a limited number of students, the Barlow Endowment for Study Abroad supplements the College’s already generous financial aid grants.  This extra aid pays (a) the student’s work study obligation if it can not be fulfilled abroad, (b) the cost of the student’s visa and foreign health insurance, if required, and (c) the cost of immunizations required for the study abroad site.  Funds are available to support six to seven students with each student receiving up to $1,200.  Advisors in the Off-Campus Study Office identify students who qualify for this extra support and select them on a rolling basis.  To be eligible, the student must be eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant, apply for outside grants appropriate to their situation, study abroad during the fall semester only, and have no prior international experience.