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Q. Hello: I'm supposed to look into the Eisenhower Society, which is soliciting nominees from our campus for its People to People courses in several countries. Anyone have students with experiences there? I've looked over the website and it's hard to tell what to do with it. Thanks for any suggestions. It appears it's pretty much funded by students themselves if they're accepted, but some of the courses look pretty interesting.

A. I'm responding from the perspective of a director of a Study Abroad Program, something I did from 1986-2001. Having received from my provost the solicitation from "People to People International" a few minutes after reading Bob's query, I visited the web site and found it to obfuscate some of the salient details that any study abroad advisor would need to know: who are the faculty? How long has the program been in existence? What are the costs? What do the costs include? Thus, I called the organization. I was told that the tuition for the courses would be made known to the students once the student was nominated by the appropriate academic officer. When I pressed for specific details, I was told that it would be somewhere between $3900 and $4900 (for 6-16 day programs). "Course" details are sketchy and one "course description" provides details about beach culture and shopping. One of the sections of the web site is targeted to educators who may apply to be "the appropriate delegate leader" for a group of up to 40 "university" students (but college-bound high school seniors are eligible to apply). My sense is that this organization is asking academic administrators to create their targeted mailing/marketing list. But perhaps I am cynical because I have worked with many students who have found excellent host-country study opportunities, particularly in non-European countries, that do not charge much more for a semester than this program is charging for one or two weeks.

A. Thank you for this hard-nosed look into what is involved and for the research you did. I don't have time for groups that are not up front and completely transparent about their operations. I was already put off by their sketchy letter and now will not subject my students to going blind into a situation. Clearly this is not a fellowship! It might however appeal as a Study Abroad or internship resource.

A. I just received information about the same program, so they must have just sent a mass mailing. What I concluded after looking at the web site is that this is a study abroad program, dressed up as a scholarship program. There are no special benefits that I could see that would not be part of any other study abroad programs. I talked with our study abroad coordinator and he agreed that the application and the process is a study abroad program in all respects.

A. I worked with a student who was a Truman scholar and during her senior year, she participated in this program and had a great internship at a Public Policy Institute. A friend went with her and interned with a corporation of some sort. They liked the program a great deal, but I found as I'd recommend it to others and try to give more information, that the website was weak on details, as Mary indicated.