Last week, several Saint Louis University students realized that FACHEX scholarships no longer apply to any study abroad programs except SLU Madrid. The FACHEX program is a tuition remission program for undergraduates who are dependent children of full-time faculty at a Jesuit university.

For many of SLU’s FACHEX scholars who were prepared to study abroad next semester, this meant that their scholarship would not cover their tuition abroad.

“Last year, I talked to the study abroad office, and they assured me that my FACHEX scholarship would apply to the Rome program. Then, when I e-mailed them over fall break to confirm the scholarship, they told me it wouldn’t apply to Rome,” said junior Andrew Millard.

The University’s decision to disallow FACHEX to cover non-SLU study abroad programs stems from the expenses the University incurs by sending tuition funds to another university.

In an e-mail that Vice President of Enrollment and Academic Services John Baworowsky sent to a student affected by the FACHEX policy change, he stated, “Last spring, we conducted a cost analysis of our study abroad programs. We found that our policy of allowing students to use their scholarships for non-SLU programs was costing the institution a great deal of money. The funds to cover these costs come from other students’ tuition.”

The University does not think it fair to subsidize study abroad programs for FACHEX students who already receive an approximate 90 percent discount off SLU tuition. The FACHEX scholars affected by this policy change do not seem as angered by the change as they are by the University’s approach toward the policy change.

“No effort was made to communicate to the students that were affected by the policy change. No one informed my parents or me in any letter or e-mail. If [the University] had communicated this change earlier, I could have made arrangements and tried to find the money elsewhere and through study abroad scholarships,” said sophomore Elizabeth Coz.

Other students face the same frustration, as they now look for alternatives for their spring semester.

“I had to initiate the communication, and I uncovered [the policy change] myself,” said Millard. “I already got out of my housing contract because I was planning on going abroad, and now I have to figure out where I am going to live and my schedule for next semester. It’s just disheartening.”

Although the students are disappointed, the University has attempted to help at least one student by offering partial tuition.

“I was planning on studying abroad in Brussels next semester, and I was told this was possible as a freshman, and I found out last week that it is not. The program costs $14,000, which I cannot cover with such short notice. [The University] did offer me about $5,000 to go to Brussels by admitting to their mistake of not telling us beforehand, but that leaves me with about $10,000 unaccounted for,” said Coz.

The University does encourage students to study in Madrid, however, since that program is on a SLU campus and tuition is therefore transferable.

Other Jesuit universities have policies similar to that of SLU.

For example, Creighton University’s FACHEX Web site describes the scholarship as “not-transferable,” and the Loyola University-Chicago will apply FACHEX scholarships only to its own campus in Rome.

The suggestion to grandfather the policy change and allow those students who already applied and made arrangements to continue has been denied because the financial cost to the University would be too great. This choice has left many of the affected students saddened.

“I haven’t received anything from anyone, be it Biondi or Ismael in the study abroad office. I was listening to Biondi’s homily on Sunday, and he spoke about the Jesuit mission and growing, and he even mentioned how study abroad programs contribute to that,” said Millard. “I just laughed.”