Creating the budget for your faculty-led program can be challenging and it often takes much longer than anticipated to finalize your program budget.

As soon as your program is approved you should begin to work with the Director of International Programs to finalize your program budget. It’s important to keep in mind the costs for faculty led programs are an additional fee to students outside of the costs students incur for the academic year at Puget Sound. Therefore, it’s important to keep the costs as low as possible in order to provide this opportunity as equitably as possible across our student population.

Budgets must be finalized with the approval of the Director of International Programs

Faculty-led Study Abroad Financial Policies:

  1. Programs with one faculty leader require a minimum of 10 students for the program to run. Programs with two faculty members (as leaders or assistants) require a minimum of 15 students for the program to run. Subject to the approval of the Director of International Programs, faculty are entitled to enroll more than that number if they wish.
     
  2. Faculty Stipend
    1. The stipend available for faculty-led trips is $100 per day for the duration of the trip plus one travel day before and one travel day after the official dates of the program (up to a maximum of 30 days). This stipend is the total available, so two faculty members leading a trip will receive $50 per day each. Please note that this is taxable income.
    2. Faculty will be issued overload contracts from the Office of Academic Deans.
    3. Faculty stipends will not be folded into the program cost, but rather will be paid directly by the university to the faculty member (specifically, the instructor(s) of record for the course). The cost of the faculty stipend will therefore not be borne by students in the course.
       
  3. Trip assistants
    1. Each faculty-led program with 15 or more student participants may bring an assistant abroad.
    2. When a second faculty member is not available to serve as an assistant, exempt Puget Sound employees or independent contractors can be hired as assistants. Independent contractors must have a business license and insurance up to the coverage required by the University’s insurance provider.
    3. Assistants cannot be family members of the faculty member(s) leading the trip.
    4. Assistants travelling from the United States to participate in the program will have their costs folded into the overall cost of the program. Independent contractors that serve as assistants and reside in the United States will not receive any compensation beyond having their trip costs paid.
      1. The amounts spent on lodging and meals for assistants must be no more than those spent by the faculty member.
      2. The university will provide a subsidy for the costs of the assistant at a rate of $50 per day (for days worked), up to a maximum of $1,000. This subsidy will be loaded into the program budget to reduce the overall cost of the program, and therefore cost for each student.
      3. Only one assistant will have their costs folded into the program budget. Any additional people that travel with the group (e.g., family members or additional faculty members) must pay their own way.
    5. Independent contractors that serve as assistants and reside in-country will be paid $50 per day (for days worked). The maximum amount that will be paid to an assistant is $1,000. Assistants that receive compensation will need to complete and submit a W9 form, while foreign citizens will complete and submit a W8-BEN form.
       
  4. Student subsidies
    1. Programs will receive a subsidy from the university of $20 per day, per student, to a maximum subsidy of $300 per student.
    2. Student subsidies are subject to availability of funds, and may not be available in some years (or may be less than $300 per student maximum).
       
  5. In accordance with the policies of the International Education Committee (IEC), a maximum of five faculty-led study abroad programs will be approved for university support each year. Programs that are not approved by the IEC are not permitted to operate in an official capacity.