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Website Sheds Light On Study Abroad Scams
Classrooms On Wheels Program Arrives in
Nicoya
Website Sheds
Light On Study Abroad Scams
By Tony Forte
Students planning to study abroad now have a
new tool to help them decide what program to
enroll in. The recently created
abroadreviews.com helps students
rate more than 100 study abroad programs for
free.
People can post reviews, comment on other
people’s posts and rate programs from one to
10, with 10 being the best, said Tom Noonan,
creator of the site. The site went live in
Sept.
Noonan studied abroad in Costa Rica in
summer 2008 after he graduated from Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo.
While in Costa Rica, Noonan interacted with
other students and heard tales of
unfulfilled promises from programs students
were signed up for.
During a medical detective program, 12
students were supposed to be learning
Spanish medical terms in the classroom and
volunteering four hours a day, Noonan said.
Students were also promised four weeks of
firsthand experience in a hospital.
But the company never came through on its
promises.
There were no opportunities to volunteer
during the first week, Noonan said. During
weeks two, three and four, students could
only volunteer during one or two days of the
week.
Also, while the students were being taught
some Spanish, none of it pertained to the
medical field.
“They just didn’t deliver anything that they
promised,” Noonan said.
Those undelivered promises were why he
created the Web site. He wanted to identify
bad programs and inform students of good
ones, he said.
For Chico State students, the best bet to
avoid scams is to go through a program that
is affiliated with the California State
University system, said Tasha Dev, Chico
State’s study abroad coordinator.
“If it’s way cheap and they are telling you
that they are going to do 1,000 things for
you, it’s probably a scam,” she said.
Programs through Chico State are thoroughly
reviewed, Dev said.
Students interested in going through the
university can also be connected to alumni
who went through programs in the past.
If a student chooses to go through a
third-party program that isn’t affiliated
with the CSU system, calling the company
directly and contacting other students who
have participated in the program are good
ways to be sure the program is not a scam,
Dev said.
“That’s really the No. 1 thing you can do,”
she said. “A Web site like this is one great
tool, but you need to take it one step
further and have an actual, real
conversation with that person.”
Junior John Hartley is interested in
studying abroad and thinks the Web site will
help students, he said.
“That’s a pretty freaking sweet idea that
would prevent a lot of people from getting
scammed,” Hartley said. |
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