First we heard about corruption in financial aid offices where university administrators compromised the interests of students by taking bribes from lenders. Now we learn about similar shenanigans in study abroad offices. An article in yesterday’s NY Times, which quickly shot to the top of the “most e-mailed articles” list, highlighted a number of potential conflicts of interest in the relationships between university officials and third-party study abroad providers, including “free and subsidized travel overseas for officials, back-office services to defray operating expenses, stipends to market the programs to students, unpaid membership on advisory councils and boards, and even cash bonuses and commissions on student-paid fees.”

Students are constantly hearing how valuable an experience studying abroad is and there’s been increased attention at making sure lower income students have access to study abroad opportunities, so it pains me to read that “one of the reasons it costs so much is all this institutional mediation.” Especially when that mediation involves shady backdoor deals.

I’ve been spending the last few weeks poking around Yale’s study abroad site as I contemplate whether to go abroad this spring. I just hope I’m not being directed towards certain programs so an administrator can get a free vacation.

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Slightly unrelated, but I always like to throw in a video, so check out what this girl did during her study abroad in Japan this year: