What if my son or daughter has a problem abroad?
How do I contact my student while he or she is abroad?
Will my son or daughter be safe?
Will there be other students studying with my son or daughter?
What hotel and meal arrangements should my son or daughter make for orientation?
What are my options for paying your program fee?


What if my son or daughter has a problem abroad?
One of IFSA-Butler’s most important services is our on-site office in each country where we have programs. These offices are fully staffed with professionals who conduct orientation and work closely with our affiliated universities in that country, but their primary job is to prepare our students for the academic and cultural differences of their host country.

We strongly encourage our students to contact our IFSA-Butler office in their host country if they experience problems, either personally or related to their studies. Our staff in these offices are located in the same time zone and are familiar with the academic and social challenges of study abroad in that country. They are trained to help students solve problems and are always happy to lend guidance or a sympathetic ear.

In addition to maintaining each on-site office, our staff abroad keep pagers or cell phones for student emergencies. In the event of an emergency outside of office hours, a student can call the emergency number to receive assistance from our staff.

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How do I contact my student while he or she is abroad?
Most parents use a combination of e-mail, telephone and regular mail to contact students. Whenever possible, IFSA-Butler informs students of their addresses abroad before departure, but in some cases we do not have student addresses until orientation. Nearly all of our affiliated universities assign e-mail addresses to students, but these are not available until after class registration. For this reason, we encourage our students to open an Internet e-mail account such as Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail so they can send e-mails to friends and family before classes or while they travel.

If your son or daughter is living in a student apartment abroad, he or she will likely be responsible for setting up and paying for phone service, usually in cooperation with roommates. Many universities still do not provide individual phone lines in dorm rooms.

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Will my son or daughter be safe?
Understandably, safety is one of the concerns we discuss most often with parents. The universities where we have programs are prestigious, stable and located in areas with low violent crime rates. Our comprehensive, mandatory orientations address health and safety issues relevant to the country of study and our resident staff are careful to keep students aware of locations and situations that can present danger. In addition, the publications we send to students, both before departure and while abroad, contain extensive information about staying healthy and safe.

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Will there be other students studying with my son or daughter?
Although there may not be other students from your son or daughter's home college, there will be other IFSA-Butler students on the same program. We offer group flights for most programs so students need not travel alone and our orientations are a great way to share excitement with other students.

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What hotel and meal arrangements should my son or daughter make for orientation?
Your son or daughter does not need to make hotel arrangements for orientation. IFSA-Butler arranges and pays for orientation accommodation, and most meals during orientation are included in our program fee. If your son or daughter takes our optional group flight, we will arrange for transportation between the airport and the orientation location. For programs with rural orientations, all students (regardless of travel plans) meet at the airport and travel to the orientation site together.

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What are my options for paying your program fee?
IFSA-Butler accepts personal checks and credit cards (MasterCard and Visa). All semester and year programs come with the option of TuitionPay, an interest-free monthly payment program.

We also accept transfers of financial aid from your son or daughter’s home university. For more information, please visit our financial aid section.

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