Current Parents FAQs

When your student applied to study abroad in our office, they were given the option to sign a FERPA waiver that would only apply within the confines of our office. Under Federal law, we are prevented from discussing details of your student’s educational records with you unless the student has signed this release with us.

This can include information such as which specific program your student is on, the status of their applications, the courses they are taking while abroad, or the contents of meetings, emails, or phone calls the student has had with their Study Abroad Advisor.

This waiver will only apply within our office and does not extend to the host programs or universities. Depending on local laws, they may be prohibited from speaking directly to you entirely. For example, if you were CC’d on an email by your student, the host institution will remove you from the email and respond only to the student. The OSA FERPA waiver only applies domestically and within our office, and we cannot interfere with the laws of other nations.

If you are listed as the emergency contact, in health and safety emergencies only, Tulane will reach out to you directly.

If you have additional questions about FERPA, please see Tulane’s FERPA Policy.

Every semester we run a Pre-Departure Conference that is mandatory for students. During the conference, they are given general information about their next steps. They can also sign up for identity specific mini-sessions that will go more in depth if they have concerns about how their identity will impact their abroad experience.

We also send a very lengthy acceptance email to all admitted students. When in doubt of how to proceed, students should reference our acceptance letter and you should encourage them to double-check it if they’re lost. If you are concerned with their ability to follow all the steps, they can forward the email to you. We do not publish the letter outwardly.

They can also meet with their Study Abroad Advisor as frequently as they’d like.

No. Our office is open from 8:30 to 5PM Central Time. For after hours emergencies, please call TUPD at 504-865-5911. This will activate our emergency protocol phone tree. All non-emergencies should wait until business hours.

What may feel like a doable hurdle at home may seem much more catastrophic when your student is abroad. If your student was on Tulane’s campus and called you about the issue, would you call TUPD? Encourage your student to reach out to on-site program staff if they are able – on-site staff are able to respond immediately to safety concerns.

If your student is incapacitated and unable to contact on-site staff, please call TUPD to activate our emergency response.

Broken limbs, appendicitis, sexual assault, or any other issue that would require an emergency visit to the hospital, are all examples of after-hours emergency calls we have responded to. If the student is in immediate danger, please give us a call as well.

Your student must enroll in STEP, which is a U.S. State Department program that alerts nearby Embassies and Consulates that there is a U.S. citizen or national in a foreign country. As a parent, you can also enroll in STEP to receive health and safety updates about your student’s host country.

You can also find a plethora of information about their host country on the State Department’s website. They also have focused guides ranging from study abroad students, LGBTQIA+ travelers, and women travelers.

All students are also enrolled automatically in Global Rescue. Global Rescue will personally remove students when catastrophic events occur, such as civil unrest, natural disasters, or extreme medical emergencies.

Students are required to have both domestic and international insurance while abroad. Some programs require specific health insurance programs – whether because they know it works in country, or as a requirement of the student’s visa. Please see our Health and Safety page for more information.

Prior to going, your student should contact their study abroad advisor as soon as possible. Students with Goldman Center accommodations should send a copy of their official accommodations letter to the NTC Office of Study Abroad and their program provider or host university immediately upon acceptance or during the initial application process.

Usually, accommodations can be implemented on site as long as they are reported to the program or host university prior to departure. Even if your student does not plan on using accommodations, they should still send in their letter just in case. If they wait until they are already on-site to ask for approved accommodations to be implemented, it may no longer be possible depending on the program or host country. If they have concerns related to accommodations abroad, they can always make an appointment with an OSA advisor.

Disability is, ultimately, defined differently in different cultures. Each country has its own laws surrounding physical, mental, sensory or intellectual disability. Some places have similar definitions to the United States, and some have very different definitions. The built environment and infrastructure may be very different than the United States; ideas of academic accommodations may be very different. Your student should have this conversation early with their Study Abroad Advisor.

Your student will likely have to meet with their doctor to obtain a refill for multiple months. The medications should not leave their original packaging, and your student should travel with a copy of their prescription. The CDC’s page on traveling with medications is a very thorough starting point.

Some countries have rules that ban importing certain medications. You should check the laws of their host country to see if they are able to import their medication. Some, like birth control, are not as tightly regulated as medication for ADHD or pain management. Failure to comply with the laws of the host country may mean that the medication is seized upon arrival.

Our office does not advise on the legalities of importing medication into different countries beyond reminding students to thoroughly research the laws.

Potentially, but highly dependent. Students should contact their Study Abroad Advisor as soon as possible to explore the option. Please see this resource tree from Mobility International USA and this guide from the U.S. Department of Transportation about the considerations needed when planning to bring a service animal. Some initial things to consider would be:

• Does the animal need additional vaccinations, and will they have to quarantine upon arrival to the host country?
• Is the animal in good health and able to travel?
• Is the country one where service animals are recognized as disability tools?
• Will the animal be able to stay in the required housing accommodations?

It is highly discouraged to bring a non-service animal on study abroad. The student should make domestic arrangements for their companion for when they are abroad. The stress of traveling for the animal is not fair to them and it will also create an additional burden to your student as they acclimate to their host country.

The most common safety complaints are pickpocketing, street harassment, air quality, heat exhaustion, and stomach issues in areas with untreated water.

The vast majority of students do not report any safety concerns, and on-site staff are quick to help the student when they arise. For example, if a phone was pickpocketed, local staff may accompany the student to the police station and help them find a flip phone until they can replace their cell phone.

When comparing crime and safety at home and abroad, it is often scarier when things happen abroad because the student is unfamiliar with their host country and its rules. Walking alone after dark or leaving personal items unattended in a public space for example while potentially dangerous in some cities may be considered a non-issue in others. Numbeo has a useful Quality of Life comparison tool that can measure safety between cities. Here is New Orleans vs. Copenhagen as an example. Numbeo has more in-depth crime analyses of countries and cities as well.

First, know that study abroad is hard on the most mentally tough student out there, and it is normal to struggle during it. Confirm that your student is not going through the stages of culture shock, which can mimic more serious mental health illnesses. Feeling irritable, depressed, sleeping for longer/shorter than normal, wanting to leave, being anxious or disappointed are all very common feelings that overlap between culture shock and more serious mental health issues.

If you identify that it is culture shock, encourage them to make an appointment with their study abroad advisor. All advisors have studied abroad before and know exactly the feelings the student is going through and can help identify strategies for how to get through the worst of it. You can also use the knowledge you now have about culture shock and immersion to help them as well.

If you identify it is a more serious issue, you should encourage your student to seek out professional help from a licensed therapist. Your student should reach out to on-site staff to ask how they can access therapy. Many program providers and host universities have local or remote therapists they can refer students to. If this ask feels insurmountable to your student, they can also contact their study abroad advisor to get the ball rolling. Your student can also contact CAPS to discuss telehealth counseling options.

If the issue has escalated to the point a student must return early from study abroad, they should contact their NTC Academic Advisor, Study Abroad Advisor, and on-site program staff to discuss the steps for a medical withdrawal. The holistic health of students is of Tulane’s utmost concern.

There may be financial penalties for withdrawing early from the program. Non-refundable deposits and fees, and housing costs may still be billed to the student if they withdraw.

Your student has likely been given a copy of this information, and you can ask them for it. Otherwise, starting with the website for your student’s program is the first step. Sometimes, this information isn’t public facing.

Your student should also be the one doing the first step of outreach to onsite staff for day-to-day issues, and you should empower them to feel confident in doing the first leg of outreach. It is also easier for your students to contact their on-site staff in terms of time difference.

Sometimes, due to local laws within the host country, program staff will not be able to talk to you about issues that concern your student.

While the United States has labor unions, they are not as prolific as they can be in other countries. Sometimes, host university staff or faculty may go on strike while your student is there. While this can be frustrating in terms of response times or administrative flow, encourage your student to look at labor action from an observational, academic standpoint as well as a personal growth standpoint – how do they face uncertainty?

OSA is alerted when host universities strike, and we can discuss the frustrating aspects with your student, but we are unable to interfere with their labor goals.

Do not encourage your student to attend any political demonstrations – because they do not know the ins/outs of politics in their host country, they should not participate. Instead, encourage them to find local news sources about demonstrations

It varies! How often do you talk to them now? Expect a similar, or lesser, amount. Like we said before, they will often call you when they are at their low points, which is only natural – you are their source of comfort! What matters more is paying attention to sudden or drastic changes in communication frequency from your norm– are you a daily texter and they’ve gone silent for a week? Or do you not talk that frequently and suddenly they are calling every day? Both can be signs of deeper mental health concerns.

Here’s two of our Peer Advisors’ experiences:

Justin: I talked to them once every couple of weeks. I made a shared photo album so I could put stuff in it so they could see what I was doing. We don’t always talk that much anyway, and with the time difference there was only a little bit of time that it would work, so they’d always try to call me but I didn’t want to pay for the international call! WhatsApp or Facetime Audio would take up less data than video but wouldn’t be an international call, so we used that a lot.

Elena: I talked to my parents a couple times a month. I talked to them a lot more at the beginning, which was helpful, but by the end I was caught up in my life there. I think it was just nice to talk to people who knew me when I was meeting people I had never met before. When I had problems, I solved it. I was there, you know? I was far away. I never wanted my mom to call anyone for me.

Many students will elect to purchase a local SIM card for their phones while abroad so they have a local number and data. Using your US-based international phone plan can be much more expensive compared to purchasing a local SIM card and plan. This does require the phone to be unlocked, so contact your service provider to do so. Using WIFI based calling services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Facetime is also an easy way to contact your student.

Prior to arrival, your student should research the culture surrounding money in their destination. Some countries predominantly use cash, and some are entirely cashless and require a chip or tap card. In cash-based countries, students often withdraw from an ATM in for a small fee and the currency will be converted. You or your student should check if there are international transaction fees for the credit card they plan on using.

Some money transfer apps will not work in-country, such as Venmo, but electronic transferring between accounts will usually work. Check with your bank for details on how to do this. Some money transferring apps, like CashApp or Zelle, will work. It will depend on the country.

Your student will likely eat extremely well and lament coming back to Tulane! What students eat daily will depend on their housing accommodations. If your student lives with a host family, they will likely be given two or three meals a day of homecooked food. Some students eat out for every meal at local restaurants, street food stands, or dining halls. Some students will have access to kitchens and cook for themselves, which is great practice for when they live off-campus.

Your student should be able to provide you with either their physical address abroad or the address of their program’s study center where packages can be delivered. If your student does not know their mailing address abroad, they should reach out to their program provider directly. OSA staff does not have individual address information on file.

We do not recommend sending large items, perishable goods, or medication abroad via mail. Medication is likely to be stopped and destroyed when passing through customs. Also remember that import duties or customs fees may be need to be paid by the recipient on delivery.

Students must meet full-time enrollment requirements of Tulane University, which is 12 credit hours. There is also an additional reason – host countries may require students to maintain full time enrollment to keep their student visa. Tulane is not able to intervene in visa issues or if a student is deported for violating the terms of their visa.

However, adjusting academically is hard at first, especially if they are enrolling in a program with a culturally different educational style than they are used to here on Tulane’s campus. Remind them that this is part of the process and something they have done before in life as well – adjusting to Tulane out of high school may have been a large jump in difficulty.

There are also a number of resources still available to the student. As they are enrolled full time at Tulane, they can use domestic resources available to them such as the Success Center or Tutoring Center. They will also have resources available to them through their host university or program provider, and they should reach to their on-site staff for these connections.

Finally, remind them that this is a hard process and it’s okay to struggle at times, and that is why none of their grades will impact their GPA.

Take a second to assess: what does my student really need, and is it something I can encourage them to find on their own? You will always be a resource for them, but you should enter this abroad experience thinking of your intervention as a “Break Glass in Case of Extreme Emergencies” role.

For example, if your student is trying to schedule a weekend trip but is confused on how to book a hotel, walk them through your thought process of how you pick hotels (Cost? Ratings? Distance from downtown?) and encourage them to make their own decision, instead of booking for them.

• Are they confused about credit transfer? Ask them who it is they can talk to about it (hint: their Study Abroad Advisor).
• Does your student have an ear infection? Encourage them to seek out local doctors on their own while expressing sympathy. While you could call our office and ask us to ask the program to ask the student how they’re doing, this increases the amount of time your student is sick, compared to if your student reached out on their own.
• Is your student severely depressed or ill to the point they cannot reach out on their own? This is the type of emergency where you should intervene.
• Take some time to sit with them and reflect on the different support structures in place. Often times, students feel like they are very alone, when in reality there are so many people waiting to help, and the student just needs someone to guide them there.

Miranda (Peer Advisor): All the resources a student needs are there, and the best thing you can do is to send them back to the program. They have people who speak the language, know the healthcare system, etc. What are you going to do that on the ground staff can’t do? No offense. The program has been doing this forever and they know what’s up.

There are also hundreds of thousands of guides, articles, academic studies and research about specifically study abroad. Taking some time now, before they go, to research the field will help you prepare and find resources that resonate with your student.

Care.Tulane.Edu has a large variety of support guides for students on the 8 aspects of holistic health.

There are so many differences now in study abroad than there used to be. Think back to the things you really loved about your study abroad experience – but also think about the bad parts of your experience as well. Most likely, there were bad points, but over time and with perspective the good outweighed the bad.

Another aspect is how much more interconnected the world is now. It’s much easier for your student to connect with their peers and you – which also means it’s much easier for them to compare experiences with their peers or over-communicate when things are at their low point. Remind them that their peers are oftentimes presenting a version of themselves on social media that is very different than reality and are likely struggling with the same feelings of culture shock and not showing it.

We often hear from parents that their student is having a horrible time, but when we reach out to the student, they’re fine and were having a singularly bad day and are now having a lovely time exploring a museum. Consider when you studied abroad – maybe you sent your parents letters, had a once-a-week scheduled phone call, or got emails printed for you sporadically by your host university. Likely, those daily snapshots of bad days did not make it into the weekly (or monthly) communication the same way they would if you could talk daily.

This will depend on the cost of living of their host country along with their personal spending habits. Numbeo has a comparative cost of living calculator and researching prior to arrival (or deciding on a program) can help students budget. There are some cities with a much higher cost of living compared to New Orleans; some where it’s drastically lower.

Students should honestly assess their current spending habits – do they purchase coffee daily or make it at home? How often do they eat out? Do they currently spend a lot of money on experiences or new things?

Learning to budget is an important life skill. If this is their first time making a budget, consider helping them define what their spending priorities are, and show them how you personally make a monthly budget.

Miranda (Peer Advisor): I didn’t pay that much because I lived with a host family and when I did it was for my own things – like if I was craving chocolate! My host mom bought me food and school supplies. Budgeting for travels on weekends were my biggest expense! Airbnb, hostel, transportation, food… it’s all on you. How many people am I going with? Where? How do I get there? Can we share an AirBnb? Accounting for that was the biggest thing I had never done before.

If your student has dropped communication outside of the norm, OSA can contact your student and encourage them to reach out to you. If they have not signed the OSA FERPA waiver, we cannot call you back to confirm their status.

Housing varies around the world in terms of amenities, commute, and standards. For example, the United States, culturally, has much more air conditioning than other countries. Especially in Europe, the housing market is incredibly tight for residents – and even more so for short-term residents, such as study abroad students. Most of the time, study abroad students are living in both nicer and closer housing than local students, or even full-time staff at their host institutions. Many domestic students in Amsterdam live in Rotterdam, the next city over. Staff in Tokyo often have to commute two hours on public transit in rush hour.

Going back to encouraging your student’s growth mindset, encourage them to think of their housing as part of the process of studying abroad and overcoming challenges. For example, if they have a long commute, rather than only validating that it is annoying to commute longer than they normally do at Tulane, encourage them to think about what they can learn from the process. Is public transit more easily accessible? How far away do their host country classmates live? How can this help influence their choices about where they live after graduation?

Also encourage them to avoid comparisons between housing they are in and what their peers are in, whether those peers are in the same program or a different one. Just like off-campus housing in New Orleans, it varies, and learning to adapt is a key component of study abroad and post-grad life.