Travel Handbook

Paying for your program

Field experience courses require an additional fee on top of the normal cost of tuition to cover travel-related expenses, which may include flights, hotels, ground transportation, activities, etc., depending on your specific course. The trip fee is specific to the program and will be published on the program's web page before applications open.

All Media School students who are accepted into an X478 field experience course will automatically receive a scholarship from The Media School to partially offset the financial burden of traveling. The amount of the Media School scholarship will vary by trip.

The Media School will advise you on an estimated amount of in-country spending, which is the amount of money most students spend on expenses like food and souvenirs in that country. You can expect to pay for most lunches and dinners, unless told otherwise. The amount of in-country spending will vary based on program design, relative costliness of your destination, your personal spending habits and the duration of your trip.

Bursar billing

Upon acceptance to the course, you will be given seven to 10 days to submit preliminary paperwork, including authorization for The Media School to charge a non-refundable deposit to your bursar account. The deposit varies by course, with most international trips requiring a $500 deposit and most domestic trips requiring a $200 deposit. This initial payment secures your space in the course. If you fail to your paperwork by the deadline given to you by the student services program coordinator, your spot may be offered to another student.

The remainder of your program fee will be charged to your bursar account at the beginning of the semester in which you are traveling. The Media School scholarship will be applied to your bursar account at the same time.

Withdrawals and refunds

If you decide to withdraw from the program, it is your responsibility to email a formal statement to the student services program coordinator, outlining the reason for your withdrawal.

Your participation agreement form will describe clearly the payment amounts and billing timeline, and will also establish deadlines for refunds in the event of withdrawal. Generally, you will have two withdrawal deadlines:

• Withdrawal before deadline 1: loss of deposit
• Withdrawal between deadline 1 and deadline 2: loss of net fee (course fee minus scholarships)
• Withdrawal after deadline 2: loss of all fees and cancellation of scholarships

The date of your withdrawal from the program is determined by the date of notification by email to the student services program coordinator. It is your responsibility to pay attention to these deadlines. For this reason, it is a good idea to keep a copy of your participation agreement email receipt.

Scholarships

We encourage you to seek scholarships to offset your travel costs.