'Shortchanged' comes up short

Alexandra Chtchedrina’s Feb. 15 article, “Shortchanged,” raises interesting issues related to the drop in the dollar’s value in Europe. However, her assumption that Overseas Study has not changed the scholarship amounts since 2005 is incorrect. The 2005 copyright date on the Web site has to do with when the site was designed, not when the material was last updated. And the 2006 date regarding “updates” is also related to formal design aspects of the Web site. We update material on our site on a daily basis, given the time sensitive material we post. Therefore, we do not date each piece of information we make available. We take great pride in keeping our site up to date.\nNevertheless, Ms. Chtchedrina’s article has given me an excellent opportunity to point out that Overseas Study scholarships were recently increased for this summer and fall precisely because of the drop in the value of the dollar. Last year we awarded more than $150,000 in scholarships. More importantly, IU students used a total of $4,856,000 of financial aid on study abroad programs in 06-07, more than half of it in scholarships and grants, including Hutton International Experience Grants. Through the generosity of Edward H. Hutton, students with a 3.3 GPA and higher are able to apply for these special grants. In 2006-07, Hutton grants totaled $400,975.\nPresident McRobbie indicated that he hopes to raise more funds for students to study abroad, but I hope students take advantage of the current scholarships, grants and loans available to them. Studying abroad is an investment of time and resources that IU students believe is well worth the while.\nWe hope the IDS will require students like Chtchedrina to check her sources before writing an article for the IDS in the future to avoid spreading misinformation.