Spartan Transfer Hub | Education Abroad!

This episode of the Spartan Transfer Hub podcast discusses the opportunities available for transfer students to study abroad. We explore the importance of academic advising, understanding credit limits, various program types, application processes, funding opportunities, and the profound personal growth that can result from studying abroad. The conversation emphasises that studying abroad is accessible to transfer students and encourages them to start planning early!

What is Spartan Transfer Hub ?

Spartan Transfer Hub is a podcast for transfer students at Michigan State University, and beyond, brought to you by the Transfer Student Success Center (TSSC).

Each episode features conversations with MSU staff, faculty, and fellow students, highlighting key resources, programs, tips and individual stories to help you navigate your transfer journey. From academic support to campus involvement, Spartan Transfer Hub connects you to the tools and people that make a difference.

Find us on Impact89fm.org, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more!
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/msutransfersuccess
Website: https://spartantransferhub.transistor.fm

Siddhi: 00:02

You're listening to the Spartan Transfer Hub brought to you by MSU Transfer Student Success Center and Impact eighty nine FM. Here's what we've got for you today. Welcome back to season three of the Spartan Transfer Hub podcast brought to you by Impact eighty nine FM and the MSU Transfer Student Success Center. I'm your host, Siddi Chawbe, a senior studying journalism and communication, and this podcast is all about helping transfer students feel supported, informed, and confident as they navigate life here at MSU. Today, we're talking about something that a lot of transfer students don't realize is still totally possible for them, studying abroad.

Siddhi: 00:41

It can feel confusing with credit limits, timelines, and finances, but the Office of Education Abroad has options designed with transfer students in mind, including opportunities for fall twenty twenty six. I'm joined today by Hope from the Office for Education Abroad. Hope, thank you so much for being here. To start, can you introduce yourself and share your role in supporting students who want to go abroad?

Hope: 01:06

Yeah. So thank you for having me. Yes. My name is Hope Kroll. I am our Student Success Center here in the Office for Education Abroad, is also part of the Center for Global Learning and Innovation.

Hope: 01:19

In my role, I support students primarily in a liaison capacity by providing information to various cross campus units, including the Transfer Student Success Center, about opportunities that are available for students to participate in studying abroad. But also in my role, I work as our data person and our reporter, so I put together our annual reports and am closely involved in some of our research efforts as well.

Siddhi: 01:49

Amazing. Thank you so much for being here. Let's start with the fun icebreaker. If you could instantly teleport to any country right now just for the food, where are you going?

Hope: 01:59

I'm going to go to Mexico because I absolutely love Mexican food and I have been craving birria recently, which is like a slow cooked beef taco type situation that you dip in a really good sauce and it's just absolutely delicious. And so, yes, if I could go somewhere for food alone, I would go to Mexico in a heartbeat.

Siddhi: 02:23

That would also be great considering the weather we have here So in let's get straight into it. Can transfer students study abroad, and what do you want them to know right away?

Hope: 02:35

Yeah. Absolutely. Transfer students absolutely can study abroad. And I would advise any student regardless of when they transferred to the University if they know it's something that is of interest to them to come talk to our staff. We have an advising center here in the International Center where you can connect with a peer advisor or you can also be connected to one of our staff people to talk about options.

Hope: 03:02

Ultimately though, for transfer students, one of the most relevant pieces is academics. So I would say that if you know you're interested, also make sure you are having that conversation with your academic advisor in your college because they will be able to help you understand from a credit standpoint what programs may or may not be super attainable depending on your academic pathway. Awesome. I know that credits are a huge concern, especially for students transferring. How credit limits affect the types of programs that transfer students can choose and which program types tend to work best for them?

Hope: 03:43

Absolutely. So for students who are transferring from community colleges compared to students who are transferring from a four year setting, there are some nuances with respect to the types of programs that may be worth pursuing from a credit standpoint alone. Michigan State does limit the number of credits that students from community colleges can bring in and count towards their undergraduate degrees to 60 credits. So for students who are transferring the maximum 60 credits from a community college, we typically advise them to participate in programs that offer MSU credit directly. So, that might be a faculty directed program where the student is participating in a program with an MSU faculty and other MSU students and they are being taught a MSU course in an abroad setting.

Hope: 04:45

We also offer international internships that offer MSU credit directly, and there are a few other options as well that could potentially offer a pathway for MSU credit. For students who are transferring from a four year institution, the credit limit is a little bit higher, but how it counts towards your degree may be something to consider as well. So you may still be able to transfer additional credits to the university, but it could be very unique to your major or to your college. So I always advise students to, know, once they know they're interested in participating in a program and they have a sense for what they would like to do, to also talk with their academic advisor. And I'm going to be saying that a lot probably in our conversation just because it is very, very important to make sure that as a student you're aware of how your credits are benefiting your degree program and if they are not going to benefit your degree program, we typically want to find something that will hopefully benefit you and keep you on track because education abroad is a high impact practice.

Hope: 06:04

It has been shown in a lot of research to have a really positive impact on students' academic focus and success, as well as their retention and persistence, and graduation rates, which we love to see. So, I would definitely say that regardless of where a student is transferring from, being aware of what program types we offer and the types of credits that are associated with those programs is really foundational to being able to identify a program that is going to meet their needs or interests for studying abroad, but also give them that academic benefit.

Siddhi: 06:43

So I know that there are a few different program styles, like you mentioned. Can you break down what those mean and which ones are usually the best fit for transfer students?

Hope: 06:52

Yeah, so I wish I could prescribe a one size fits all in terms of what would be the best place for transfer students to start, but it really does depend on where you're transferring from and how many credits you're bringing with you to Michigan State. Faculty directed programs and internship programs, for example, are going to offer MSU credit directly, so there isn't the concern of transfer credit limits. And so, are always really safe programs for transfer students to pursue because you're able to earn that MSU credit directly. And sometimes, the thing that is nice about doing a faculty directed program or an internship is that you might be amongst other MSU students or with an MSU faculty member, so you're still deepening the connection that you're making to MSU and to the community here. And that's a really great way of expanding your network and making new friends and getting connected to a faculty member who ultimately is going to be a great help to you as a student in not only getting through the courses that you're taking with them but who may be a great resource to you later on in your academic or professional career.

Hope: 08:09

And then we also have exchange and direct enrollment programs. As it, you know, kind of implies, an exchange program is typically where we send some of our students to an institution abroad and then receive a few students from that institution here at Michigan State. And so exchanges are very dependent on our relationships with partner institutions. So there aren't always an abundance of exchange opportunities, but we actually have a dedicated exchanges coordinator who is very, very knowledgeable and able to support students who are interested in being a part of that type of program. And

Siddhi: 08:49

kind of

Hope: 08:49

a benefit to an exchange is that you're still paying your MSU tuition, but at another institution. And you do transfer those credits back in as exchange transfer credits from the university. But this is a great option for students who are maybe in state and have a really competitive tuition rate here at MSU that would otherwise make maybe studying at the University of Oslo, for example, in Norway, more expensive. And then for direct enrollment programs, as the name kind of implies, you are directly enrolling as a student at another university. So you do pay that university's tuition rate.

Hope: 09:27

This can be a really great option for international students. It can also be a really great option for out of state students. So if you are a transfer and you also identify with either of those populations, this might be a great way where you can actually save a little bit of money on tuition because there might be a university abroad that offers a cheaper rate than you pay here at MSU. And then, the credits that you take for participating in those direct enrollment programs will transfer back over to MSU. And actually, in the process of identifying what program type is going to be best for students and what types of credits are offered with those programs.

Hope: 10:07

If a student were to identify a program that's going to bring back transfer credit, we do have an academic coordinator who actually works with the colleges to support the course approval process, which is where students essentially identify the courses that they'll take abroad and then how that will transfer back and apply to their MSU transcript from a credit standpoint. So we work with your college, we work with the registrar's office, and the partner institution where the student is studying to make sure that everything can transfer back successfully. We also offer different experiences with these programs, with the program types that we have. So, know, students are able to do global community engaged learning or service learning, which is where you go when you do some type of project that is going to support a community. And typically, with Michigan State, we have very long term established relationships, so there's a lot of ethical reciprocity in these types of programs.

Hope: 11:10

And we have a lot of really great programming that offers global community engaged learning. We also have research experiences abroad. Students are able to participate in things like STEM research and beyond. There's a lot of different options.

Siddhi: 11:30

Amazing. Can you mention some of the countries that students might go to?

Hope: 11:35

Yeah, absolutely. So we currently have programs on all seven continents, including Antarctica. We do have a program that goes to Antarctica every other year during winter break, which is a really cool experience for those who take advantage of it. But we also have programs in more than 75 countries around the world. So, we have programs throughout Europe and Asia, Africa, South America, Central And South America.

Hope: 12:06

I mean, you can pretty much go anywhere. Obviously, depending on what's going on in certain regions of the country, we do have very close partnership with our Office for Global Safety, and so sometimes programs that we've historically run to different parts of the world might end up getting, like, kind of backed off on a little bit depending on what's happening or like if there's some kind of conflict. But these are all things that we take very seriously obviously to be able to support student safety but also their engagement in different areas of the world. But you can pretty much go anywhere. You can even go to Canada.

Hope: 12:42

If you're like, you know what? I don't wanna go too far out of Michigan, but I do wanna go abroad. You can go to Canada. When

Siddhi: 12:50

should transfer students start applying if they're interested to go abroad in 2026?

Hope: 12:55

Yes. So here we are having this conversation February 10 and our deadline for fall and academic year programming is coming up quickly on March 1. So I would say for students who are interested in possibly going abroad as early as fall or students who are interested in studying abroad for a full academic year, they need to start applying and getting their ducks in a row right now. And I will say that we do also offer winter break programming and our deadline for winter break is October 15. So there are opportunities for students who might still be interested in participating in a program in the near future to be able to do that and have more time to think about how they would want to participate and what programs they would want to participate in.

Hope: 13:47

So my recommendation is that if you really, really are interested in participating in a program this fall or this winter break or even during the academic year, don't wait. Start your application process now. If you're still researching things, set up an advising appointment with our team, with your academic advisor, create your profile in our program database called Via Global. It will walk you through the different programs that are still accepting applications and you can kind of decide based on the academics and the location and sort of what the experience is offering if that is going to be a good fit for you and get your application in by March 1. So that is for fall and academic year programs, but of course for winter break, which will be kind of after the fall semester and then sometimes also in January, that deadline is going to be October 15.

Siddhi: 14:46

What funding opportunities or scholarships should transfer students know about?

Hope: 14:51

This is a great question. I was a transfer student and money was certainly a barrier for me when I was thinking about the programs that I could or would not be able to afford. I want to just, I guess, first reassure students that there are a ton of funding opportunities kind of at every corner of the university. So what I always advise students, regardless of if they're a transfer student or a first year student, an international student, it really doesn't matter, is don't put all of your eggs in one basket. And what I mean by that is obviously the Office for Education Abroad does offer scholarships.

Hope: 15:29

We even have a dedicated transfer student scholarship which is what it's a one time payment of $750 for a transfer student. And it's very easy to apply for our scholarships as you're in the application process. You literally just check a box yes or no to be considered. Then any scholarship that we are able to consider you for based on other eligibility criteria, you'll be matched up to it and that money will try to be allocated to you accordingly. But what I'm trying to say also is that education abroad alone is not going to be able to provide the degree of funding that a lot of students anticipate needing in order to participate in studying abroad.

Hope: 16:13

So I actually advise students to apply for scholarships that are not just our scholarships, but also to apply for scholarships in their colleges. A lot of the colleges have dedicated education abroad funds and scholarship opportunities as well that have separate application processes, but are very worth applying for because more money when you're talking about programming is a very good thing. Whether it means it's going to help you offset the cost of tuition or the program expenses itself or even just give you a little extra cash in pocket so that you can bring back something cool. But I would say don't count on one office for being able to provide the degree of funding that you may need to pay for a study abroad program because it is an investment and our programs range in terms of price and cost and it really is dependent both on the location you're going to but also the time, the duration, the amount of time you'll be studying abroad for. Because our programs are all credit bearing, you're looking at the tuition that you'll pay for the courses associated with your study abroad.

Hope: 17:28

But then you're also going to have a program fee. And this is typically going to cover a lot of your basic logistics. So housing, transportation in country, maybe some meals. It's going to cover some of the activities that are meant to complement the coursework that you're studying. But then you also have another bucket of expenses to think about, which is out of pocket costs.

Hope: 17:51

A lot of times airfare is not included in the cost of our programs. So, you know, you're gonna have to go out and find a good flight that is going to get you where you need to be on the day that you need to be there. But obviously flights can be really expensive. Passports, visas, all of these different logistics that a student might need to pay for or offset. Apply for as many scholarships as you can.

Hope: 18:16

And actually, MSU has a really cool resource. It's a scholarship database. I believe it's through the library's website. You can find it. Maybe we can like edit that in later.

Hope: 18:28

I can like look it up here in a minute. Yeah, I would say to students apply for as many scholarships as possible because regardless of whether or not you receive financial aid, there are going to be more expenses than you're probably anticipating. And I think a lot of students when they apply for a program and apply for a scholarship with our office, they kind of anticipate that they're going to receive a very large scholarship. But that's not always true, unfortunately, because a lot of the endowments and other funding mechanisms that we can offer these opportunities to students through have parameters and things that we also have to follow that limits how much we are able to give depending on how long the program is or where you're studying abroad, all kinds of things. So, start planning ahead.

Hope: 19:28

Think about all of the costs that are associated with studying abroad and apply for as many scholarships as possible. Not just scholarships from our office, but also scholarships that are offered in your college, scholarships that are offered by the university, scholarships that are offered by some of these endowments that operate independently within the university, but that you could be eligible for by looking them up in that scholarship database we're talking about. So really just be committed to finding many different avenues for funding.

Siddhi: 20:03

So what is the first step that they should take as soon as they listen to this?

Hope: 20:08

Yeah, well, I would say that if you're a transfer student and you know you want to participate education abroad, obviously there's a lot of information that you're hearing today that you're going to need to hear a second or third or maybe even fourth time. Come to our advising center. We're in Room 108 of the International Center. We're right on the 1st Floor. So, you walk in the building, you'll see, you know, the food court.

Hope: 20:37

If you turn immediately to your left, there's a long hallway and that's where our offices are. We offer walk in advising or Zoom advising Monday through Friday between 11AM and 4PM. And you can meet with a peer advisor. If you don't already have an account in our program database to start searching things, that's one of the things that our peer advisors will set you up with so that you can start looking for different program opportunities. And what's nice about our program database is that if you don't necessarily know what type of program you're interested in but you have a general idea of where you would like to go, you can use the filters to be able to kind of identify the countries and see what programs are offered in there and if there's anything that's tremendously relevant to your degree program, gen ed courses, all kinds of things.

Hope: 21:31

So I think the first step is really just tell someone about it. Like tell your friends, tell your academic advisor, tell us. Like just start the conversation and really start planning kind of as soon as the idea comes to mind. So come see us. Come get set up with an account in our program database, schedule a time to talk to your academic advisor and kind of go from there.

Siddhi: 21:59

Awesome! Before we wrap up, what is one reason you think studying abroad can be especially meaningful for transfer students?

Hope: 22:08

Yeah, well, I think something that I see a lot in our data, for example, is students say that the number one reason they want to study abroad is for personal growth or personal development. And something I do hear from students once they're back here on campus is that their biggest takeaway is kind of the connections that they made when they were in country, either with other peers or with members of the community, maybe an instructor at a host university if they're participating in a program where, you know, they're an exchange student or an international student at another university. I think the connections and just the experience itself is one reason why it's really valuable, but I think that it has a really profound impact of either helping students kind of validate the path that they're on with their studies or help them realize more of what they truly are interested in and what they truly want to study or pursue in their lifetime. I think it's an experience that can really expand your worldview and your perspective and hopefully inspire you to think a little bit differently about even the folks around you and your community.

Hope: 23:29

A lot of students don't really realize that they are a part of many different cultures, even here in East Lansing, within Michigan State, within the surrounding community, you know, they are kind of representing and experiencing different aspects of culture here. And I think that it can be really nice to shift that focus and have the experience of being outside of your comfort zone, being in an unfamiliar cultural landscape, and kind of realizing some of the things that are similar, but also a lot of the things that are very different about the ways that folks around the world live and work and, you know, integrate in their communities as well. So I think it's just a very profound experience for a lot of students that helps them to kind of find their place in, you know, in the world. Awesome.

Siddhi: 24:24

Hope, thank you so much for being here.

Hope: 24:26

Thanks for having me.

Siddhi: 24:27

To our transfer Spartans listening, studying abroad isn't just for first year or people with perfect timelines. There are programs built for you, support systems in place, opportunities waiting. If you're even a little bit curious, explore programs through the Office of Education Abroad and start the conversation early for fall twenty twenty six. You can find more episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the Impact89FM website. Until next time, keep showing up, keep growing, and keep making MSU your home.

Siddhi: 24:57

Go green. Go. Thanks for tuning in to the Spartan Transfer Hub brought to you by Impact eighty nine FM and the Transfer Student Success Center. See you next time.