While 38 students were granted scholarships from the Global Summer Fellows program, many others did not receive funding, complicating their summer study abroad plans.

Six such students were selected in December to be participants in the Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement and have been participating in the first module of the program the whole semester, but now could be unable to travel to their service-learning sites after not receiving adequate funding.

VISAGE offers students a yearlong learning experience that begins with a spring semester course in preparation for a four-week summer service project abroad. In the fall semester, students engage in a capstone research project and community service work in Nashville.

Many of the students who had been denied funding found the program’s application process to be especially frustrating.

Four students who are going to the Cape Town, South Africa site are in jeopardy of being unable to go on the summer trip after not receiving adequate funding. Two participants of the Nicaragua VISAGE site may not be able to go, either.

First-year student Kion Sawney, who was chosen to go to South Africa, applied to Global Summer Fellows but did not receive funding, although he was able to procure funds from another source. He said the program lacked organization and transparency, leaving students unaware of the details of the application process.

“We were kind of out of the loop when the decisions would be made, how much funding would be given, how many people were going to apply and what qualified an individual to receive the money,” he said.

After not receiving an award from Global Summer Fellows, junior Nick Williams is still unsure whether or not he will be able to travel to South Africa with the rest of his group in June. He said he thought there would be an interview component to the application process, which he had relied on to explain his unique financial situation — he must fund his trip entirely on his own.

“I was banking on an interview to explain myself,” he said. “I know I’m not ‘need-based’ but if I don’t get funding, I’m not going, and I’m already in VISAGE.”

Several VISAGE students, including Williams, said they had thought it was implied that because they were already part of the program, adequate funding would be procured to allow them to go on the trip.

“It was implied that if you had need, it would be met. Nothing was guaranteed, but finances were not discussed in detail. It didn’t seem like it would be the issue it has become,” said first-year student Meryem Dede, who is another one of the four who cannot go to South Africa due to the lack of funding.

Dede said she felt the students were not given a realistic idea of the funding available.

“VISAGE is an award-winning program, which is why it is sad to see the program fall through the way it did — it is heartbreaking. I feel like the financial aid process has been opaque, and it should have been clear from the start. The severe lack of funding that Vanderbilt has to offer was understated. I know there was nothing guaranteed, but it seemed implied. It did not seem like it would be the issue it has become,” Dede said.

Professor of History Marshall Eakin is leading a VISAGE trip to Nicaragua this summer; two of the eight students (CONFIRM) on his site did not receive necessary funding and will therefore not be traveling with the group. He said he agrees funding is an issue for the VISAGE program, but the amount and availability of funding was clear from the beginning.

“I think part of the problem was the euphoria over having $250,000 that was not there before, but nothing’s guaranteed,” Eakin said. “It may have felt like it was more of a sure thing than it was, and even though $250,000 sounds like a lot, it only funds about 40 students.”

Sawney said the university sent mixed messages about the accessibility of study abroad programs.

“They really push study abroad really hard and then you can’t go if you can’t afford it,” he said.