King's Oxford partnership will transfer financial aid

Financial District, NEW YORK--Previously King’s students could attend the Summit Oxford program only on a limited case-by-case basis and had to pay the $17,500 cost on their own, often asking friends and relatives for financial help. Now, with the contract between King’s and Summit Oxford, students receive a credit transfer guarantee and are able to apply their King’s financial aid to their Oxford bill. To guarantee credit transfer, King’s has approved a specific list of Oxford core classes and electives to help students plan their tutorials. About six King's core classes as well as major electives could transfer through the program, depending on which tutorials students chose to study. Students will pay the equivalent of King’s tuition and on-campus housing minus their normal financial aid, plus $5000 to cover the higher expenses for an Oxford semester, according to Sarah Hutchison, assistant International Ventures coordinator.

Flights and cost of living are not calculated. The program is geared toward juniors and seniors with a minimum GPA of 3.2.

King’s will also help new students interested in Oxford plan their credits from the beginning of their King’s career. Planning to study abroad can be “particularly hard for PPE students, who don’t have many elective choices,” Hutchison said.

Global Engagement Coordinator Elijah McCready says that the process of partnering has taken about a year and a half. "The reason it's been so slow is because there’s been so much regime change at the college," McCready said.

Interim President Andy Mills has been extremely influential in moving the partnership forward. "I have a lot of gratitude for him," McCready said.

Hutchison, a sophomore, had wanted to study at Oxford since starting at King’s but couldn’t until her financial aid package transferred. She plans to go abroad in the fall and is one of many students who can now save thousands on their experience.

Dan Kemp, who is one of five students to have attended the Summit Oxford program, said he thinks the partnership will benefit the program because more Kingsians will be able to go and thus “have more of an impact” on the Oxford community.

Kemp said Summit Oxford is “primarily geared toward those who want to pursue the Christian intellectual life.” While Kemp acknowledges that students are often “worldviewed out” by the time they’ve spent a few semesters at a Christian college, he lauds Summit’s focus on teaching people a holistic and truly orthodox understanding of the Bible.

“You realize you have all these pre-cognitive beliefs from folk theology and eclecticism and other schools of thought that influenced your Christian community,” he said. “At this program, you may deal with more than you will again your whole life."

Why Summit? McCready said he has not found another study-abroad program that caters to the King's philosophy. "If we went to Oxford and started our own program it would almost be identical to Oxford. It brings together the Christian worldview in a really compelling way," he said. "It was the fruit of a lot of hard work and this is the type of program I would have wanted as a King’s student. I'm excited to have brought it about," McCready said.

As for future plans, McCready said that if all goes well, he would like to have students studying abroad in Paris by 2014.