Faculty Handbook

Accepting students into your program

After submitting their completed application, students are charged a $100 application fee. (They sign a statement acknowledging their understanding that by submitting an application they are obligated to pay the $100 application fee.) OSA does not collect or accept payment. All students, including non-MSU students, will receive an electronic bill from the MSU Student Accounts Office for the application fee that is applied to the cost of the program and is non-refundable once a student accepts admission into the program.

Box Scores

In order to monitor the number of applications received for your program, you should access the OSA Box Scores. These Box Scores reflect the number of applications entered into the OSA database; however, please be aware that it may take up to two weeks to receive judicial records to make the files complete and ready for faculty review. Therefore, you should use the box scores as a gauge and not as an exact number of applications ready for review.

To access the Box Scores visit and scroll down to “Boxscores online.”

You will need to enter the following user name and password:

User name: osainfo
Password: info@osa

Acceptance procedure

Once a student has applied to your program, the Office of Study Abroad will print an academic student report. Review student reports carefully to verify that the student is in "good academic standing" (i.e., GPA of 2.00 or better and no evidence of current or pending "academic probation”). All students must have a GPA of 2.00 or higher at the time of application; however, this does not guarantee admission. Please check the student report to determine whether any applicant may have a borderline GPA (barely above a 2.00). If this is the case and there is an additional semester of grades to be reported before departure of the program, notify OSA and we will print a student report for you after those semester grades have been recorded. The sponsoring department/college may establish additional eligibility criteria that should be stated in your information sheet and Web site. Please contact the OSA Program Coordinator for your program if you have concerns or feel that a student has not or will not meet the minimum GPA requirement.

If you establish additional eligibility criteria, communicate this clearly in all program-related publicity (e.g., information sheet, program Web site, and information meetings).

Acceptance is a two-step process based on:

• A faculty review of the application and academic student report. This step is completed by you and any other faculty members responsible for the program. At the end of each semester OSA receives a list of recessed students. You will be notified if any of your students are on this list.
• A faculty review of the Judicial Affairs Office records. OSA generates weekly lists of applicants with specific judicial records. Judicial records address behavioral issues, not academic misconduct. OSA will inform you, usually within ten days of receiving an application, as to whether the applicant has a record. OSA will suggest action steps, and you will be asked to review the record and inform OSA of your admissions decision. Guidance from the provost’s office indicates you cannot deny admissions merely because there is a judicial report. You are expected to carefully review the record to determine whether the violation is sufficiently grievous to deny admission.

Once accepted, students will be sent an acceptance packet that consists of a Study Abroad Student Handbook and three forms. One of the forms is a Student Health/Emergency Treatment Authorization that once submitted, is reviewed by a health care professional in the MSU Travel Clinic. For those who have significant health conditions that might complicate travel or those traveling to areas where preventative medications should be considered, students are advised to make an appointment at the MSU Travel Clinic or with their personal physician well before travel. Approximately three weeks prior to the program’s departure, you will be informed of students in your group who have particular health care needs. General health information relevant to the country to be visited will also be included. The actual health forms will not be included. In some cases, MSU Travel Clinic staff may require that the student see a physician to review a health issue before participating in the program. If the student refuses to see a physician or sign a waiver, he/she will not be allowed to participate in the program. If none of your students have health issues of concern for your program, you will still receive this general information. Not all students come to the travel clinic, and occasionally, students are not forthcoming about their personal health care situation, so the travel clinic can only let you know about the health forms they have reviewed. If you intend to leave several weeks before the official departure date, contact the MSU Travel Clinic so they can send you this information prior to your departure.

In some cases, interviews will be required before final acceptance is made. Interviews of semester program applicants are strongly recommended.

Review process

Please come into the Office of Study Abroad to review files. If you wish to set up a time in advance to come in, that is acceptable but not necessary. Since the office is open 8 AM to 5 PM (except in the summer and during semester breaks when the office is closed from noon to 1PM), someone will always be available to collect files for your review. Although it is preferable, it is not necessary to work with the clerical or administrative staff member who coordinates your program. Anyone can assist you. Do NOT request that an OSA staff member fax or send photocopied files to you.

When you come in to review files, check with the receptionist to determine whether any non-MSU students have applied to your program. She may have some files for such students who have not yet been issued a PID and PAN (and therefore have not been entered into our database).

You may request a program participant list (electronic or paper) from OSA at any time throughout the application process.

Review applicant files early and regularly to determine which students to accept into the program. All materials refer to the fact that applications will be reviewed on a “rolling admissions basis – that is, applications are accepted and students are evaluated and admitted throughout the academic year.” Please review your applications in a timely manner and do not wait until the deadline to review all applications at one time. Rolling admissions does not indicate first come, first served.

If you review an application but are unable to make a decision regarding that student, please let either the OSA coordinator or assistant know of this student, the reason that no action can be taken, and your time estimation of when you may be able to make a final decision. We often receive calls from students and are unable to determine whether their file has been overlooked, or reviewed and put “on hold”.

If you are expecting additional application items (such as resumes, housing forms, statements of interest, etc) and they are missing from the student file, please inform an OSA staff member and we will notify the applicant that his/her application is incomplete.

An applicant’s participation may be denied or their participation approval may be revoked if their conduct before departure raises doubts as to their suitability for program participation. Participation may be denied based on prior disciplinary or criminal action.

Do not consider "wait listing" students until your enrollments have exceeded your projected number by at least 10%. Past experience shows that programs generally have about 10% fewer participants than the earlier, higher enrollments. The exception to this suggestion would be for programs that have a precise number of spots available (i.e. due to limited housing, transportation seats, etc.); for these programs only accept the exact number of students possible.

OSA will not waitlist or close any programs that do not have finalized budgets. This is because we will not have the targeted enrollment number and sufficient details to take action.

Rank order students on any waiting list. This will enable OSA to quickly notify these students in case of withdrawals. If you do not rank order and time is critical when openings become available, OSA will rank participants based on the date their application was submitted. OSA will assume you wish to replace withdrawn students with wait-listed students unless you otherwise inform the office. It is acceptable to rank order the waitlist by gender for housing purposes but not merely to obtain a gender balance.

Late applicants

All students are encouraged to apply as early as possible. Unless you have open spots on your program, do NOT encourage students to apply after the application deadline. The receipt of late applications leads to increased mistakes and potential liability. Additional consequences of accepting late applications are:

• Insufficient time for students to purchase an inexpensive airline ticket; receive immunizations; have Course Approval Request Forms completed for special courses; obtain PIDs and PANs (non-MSU students); enroll and register for courses; obtain a passport, visa, hostel cards, ISIC, Eurail, etc.; apply for scholarships; apply and receive financial aid; attend orientation and receive materials; pay program fee and tuition prior to departure.
• Insufficient time for faculty to review applications; conduct interviews; and orient students to bring them “up to speed” with other participants.
• Insufficient time for Office of Study Abroad to process the application (particularly judicial clearance and health form review); provide already-distributed materials including orientation packets, contact addresses, host family assignments, etc.; correct any changes related to housing, billing, purchase and payment of on-site activities, etc.

If your student housing has been reserved based on your budgeted enrollment, do NOT accept additional students until it is confirmed that additional housing is available.

Admitting students

Notify OSA of acceptance status by signing and dating the Faculty Approval List that will be given to you when you review the student files. DO NOT call OSA to give verbal approval: students must be approved in writing. Once the file, judicial record, and academic student records have been reviewed and the Faculty Approval List has been signed, OSA will send official acceptance packets to the students. Since acceptance is a multiple step process, do NOT notify students of acceptance.

If you receive inquiries or wish to learn more about the student financial obligations related to admissions, transfer or withdrawal, see for the Decision Form, Student Health Authorization Form, and the Statement of Responsibility students are required to complete.

Maintain regular contact with students you have accepted into the program. This ongoing communication is vital to keep students engaged and excited about participating in your program and will ultimately reduce the number of students who cancel just prior to departure. Encourage all accepted students to begin planning by reading the relevant sections of the Study Abroad Student Handbook, purchasing their passports, and scheduling an appointment with a travel clinic.

If you learn that a student wishes to withdraw, inform them that they must notify OSA in writing. They are required to complete a Decision Form (available on the Web) or notify the Office of Study Abroad, in writing by letter or form (e-mail is not acceptable), that they no longer intend to participate.

The Office of Study Abroad will not accept verbal cancellations from the student or faculty leaders; withdrawal must be in writing.

OSA often deals with angry students who are held financially responsible for bills because they tell us “I told my faculty leader I was withdrawing” but neglected to inform OSA.

Even though you may have several students on your waitlist who could possibly replace a withdrawing student, do not make financial promises. If none of the waitlisted students can participate, the withdrawing student will be financially responsible according to the cancellation policy.

If you should have insufficient enrollment at the time of the application deadline, DO NOT cancel your program. The Office of Study Abroad will contact you to discuss strategies and options. Programs are only cancelled after consultation between OSA, the sponsoring college(s), and faculty leaders.