On Tuesday, Sept. 16, Trinity made several changes to its fall and spring study abroad programs. With ongoing economic issues and federal cuts affecting higher education institutions, Trinity and their Center for International Engagement (CIE) office said that these issues are affecting the amount of students able to study abroad. CIE received a statement from Trinity that explained the new issues.
“Trinity University is committed to providing meaningful study abroad opportunities for our students, but we are facing several challenges for the coming spring. The costs of study abroad programs have increased, and we experienced an unusually high number of applicants this fall,” the statement read.
“While we are prioritizing students whose participation is tied to graduation requirements, unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate every student who requested to study abroad this spring. We know how important these opportunities are, and we are actively exploring ways to ensure we can accommodate future requests.”
Katsuo Nishikawa, director of the Center for International Engagement, has a history of leading the programs in Japan, Italy and other locations. He expressed discontentment regarding these funding cuts.
“It’s very scary times with all these changes happening,” Nishikawa said. “We’re trying to make the best out of a not-so-good situation.”
In spite of these changes, Nishikawa remains optimistic that these current problems are temporary, only going as far as early 2027, and that students will still have opportunities coming up next year.
“We think this should just be a one-off thing,” Nishikawa said, “and we are starting a new budget process that will help us avoid these issues.”
He noted that there are still a number of funded programs available in the spring after final exams, such as the programs based in Iceland, Italy and a new program in the Yucatán Peninsula. In addition, CIE faculty member Elseke Membreño-Zenteno, associate for the Mexico, the Americas and Spain (MAS) program, echoed feelings of disappointment but only views it as a minor issue to be overcome.
“It’s very unfortunate. It’s kind of a good problem to have because it means a lot of people want to go abroad, which we want,” Membreño-Zenteno said. “We want to make sure that every student has the opportunity for at least one internship or undergraduate experience. I see it as a bump in the road, which there always is.”
For now, the Trinity community will have to deal with funding cuts and a stricter limit on how many people can study abroad. While soon-to-graduate students now get a higher priority to go abroad before their college years are up, the rest of the student body will have to wait for the next space.
