Chico State international programs announced the cancellation of  study abroad programs that would have sent and welcomed students to and from countries all over the world. 

This announcement arrives as the Chico State advising period for Spring 2021 begins. Students  planning to go abroad will have time to pick classes for online-instruction at Chico State. 

The U.S. Department of State-Bureau of Consular Affairs website uses a 1– 4 system to rank traveling safety in the country. A score of one says to “Exercise normal precautions” while a rank of four says “Do not travel.” 

Chico State is monitoring the website to judge whether it is safe for their students to travel to certain countries. “Anything that is three or above requires the president of the university to make an exception for travel,” said Sara Trechter, Chico State’s intermediate associate vice president of the Department International Education and Global Engagement. “Also, the CSU international programs, which some of our study abroad students apply through, cancelled all of their programs last week, including programs to countries like Taiwan that are Level 1.”

Only one country remains open for travel—Thailand, a No. 2 risk level on the State-Bureau of Consular Affairs website. 

Virtual classes for r some abroad programs can be found on the study Chico State’s study abroad website. 

“We are also integrating Collaborative Online International Education (COIL) into coursework at CSU, Chico to give students the opportunity to work on a project with students across the world in similar courses,” Trechter said.

The cancellation of the study abroad program was not a shock to those  preparing to study abroad.

Alejandro Amaya, a Chico State senior, had made arrangements to study in Japan for Spring 2021. 

“Throughout the program it was kind of iffy, and I knew there was a chance that I couldn’t go,” Amaya said.

The process of applying to study abroad takes many steps and time. “What I did invest was time,” said Mark Arey, a Chico State student. “My applications for the program and scholarships were a cause of pretty serious stress in between my hectic class schedule and part-time job.” c.

Summer programs for study abroad are still open, so students may opt for that route instead.

“Well, I’ll try again. In fact, there were some opportunities I didn’t want to miss out on by staying in America for a while longer,” Arey said. “I changed my study abroad plans to include a summer program in Korea and an academic year program in Japan. I’m hoping it all works out, but I remain cautiously optimistic.” 

Disclaimer: Alex Amaya is a copy editor for The Orion at Chico State.

Dylan Griffith can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @dylanr_griffith.