Highlights

• Enhance your Spanish language skills in the Dominican Republic over spring break.
• Learn about Dominican culture and society through film and explore how film is a form of expression that reflect's the Caribbean's cultural and national identities. 
• Explore the history, art and nearby nature of Santiago de los Cabballeros, the DR's second-largest city located in the lush Cibao Valley.
• Course can count towards a Spanish major, minor, or immersion or as elective credit.

Overview

During the spring semester, you will take a Dominican Culture and Cinema course in Rochester and then travel to the Dominican Republic to meet Spanish-speaking film professionals and students at RIT’s partner university, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).

While in the Dominican Republic, you will stay with a local host family and participate in academic and cultural excursions organized by the faculty director and PUCMM.

Program Details

• Term: Spring Course/Spring Break Travel
• Location: Santiago de los Caballeros
• Faculty-director(s): Godys Armengot (gaagsl@rit.edu)
• Application Deadline: Sunday, October 27^th 2024 by 11:59PM

• Program/Travel Dates:
  • Date of U.S. Departure: 3/8/25
  • Date of In-Country Arrival: 3/8/25
  • Date of Host Country Departure: 3/16/25

(Travel dates are subject to change. Do not make travel plans until you are accepted to the program and receive instructions to make travel arrangements from the faculty director).

Course Details

Course:

• MLST 449: Dominican Culture and Cinema

• Total Credits: 3. Must complete Rochester campus AND travel portion.
• Term credits earned: Spring
• Pre-requisites: MLSP 201 (completed or concurrent) or prior equivalent language proficiency.
• Course meeting days/times: Tailored based on student availability
• Credits may count towards major elective, minor, immersion, free elective, perspective. Applicants should discuss with their academic advisor how credits will count towards their degree program.
• Program open to graduate students: No

Class Registration & Grading

• You will receive letter grades for the course(s), which will count toward your GPA.
• You will not register yourself for the study abroad course(s) in SIS. You will be registered by an advisor in CLA before the start of the program.
• You will receive an incomplete grade in SIS until the travel portion is successfully completed.
• Please note that you cannot audit study abroad courses.

Special Considerations

As with all international travel, we strongly encourage you to visit the U.S. Department of State website to learn more about risks associated with this location and recommended safety precautions prior to making a decision to participate.

Please note that this program includes:

• Warm temperatures with no or very limited A/C in living corridors and academic facilities, limited elevators in buildings, and wheelchair-accessible ramps and automatic doors.

If you are concerned about these components of the program, please contact the faculty member and/or RIT Global. We will make efforts to accommodate or identify alternative plans.

Program Eligibility

• 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th Year Levels
• MSLP 201 (completed or concurrent) or equivalent language proficiency determined by a Language Placement Exam
• Meet all Study Abroad Eligibility requirements outlined below:

Study Abroad Eligibility

All RIT students who study abroad must:

• Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher (students with lower than a 2.5 GPA would be considered on a case-by-case basis)
• Have a clear conduct record with RIT
• Have no financial holds on your RIT eServices account at the time of your program acceptance/confirmation
• Be an RIT matriculated student at the time of the program
• Have a valid passport at the time of travel that is valid at least 6 months beyond the dates of your travel
• Be able to obtain any necessary visa documents on your own

To Apply

1. Watch the short video below to understand all the application steps and important information.
2. Use the Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program Checklist to make sure you are completing all the application steps
3. Start an application by clicking the "Apply" button for the appropriate term below.

You should have a pending application in the Compass at the time of the deadline to be considered for acceptance into the program. A couple of weeks after the application deadline, you will receive an email regarding your acceptance. You will typically have one week from the time of your acceptance to confirm (or withdraw) your participation in the program. By confirming your participation, you are signing a legal document agreeing to be billed and pay a non-refundable deposit and program fees.

Before confirming your participation, read RIT’s cancellation/refund policy for studying abroad to understand your financial obligations and responsibilities fully.

Program Cost & Financial Aid
Most study abroad programs typically charge tuition, a program fee to cover housing and program excursions, and out-of-pocket expenses such as your flight, food, and spending money.

Student budget worksheet : Outlines all program costs
Spanish in the Dominican Republic, Spring/Spring Break 2025

Take a copy of the budget worksheet to a meeting with your financial aid advisor PRIOR to the application deadline to determine how your aid may apply towards program costs.

As you review the budget worksheet, please remember that it does not include your RIT financial aid or scholarships, which may cover some of the program costs. The purpose of the budget worksheet is to show all the costs associated with your study abroad program, which will help your RIT Financial Aid Assistant Director determine how your aid and scholarships may be applied.

To understand how your financial aid and scholarships may apply to your program costs:

• Make an appointment with your financial aid assistant director (call Financial Aid at 585-475-2186) and mention that you are calling for a study abroad appointment.
• Upload a copy of your budget worksheet(s) via the Financial Aid upload portal at https://join.rit.edu/register/FA_upload (at least 48 hours before your scheduled meeting, so they have time to prepare).
• Please rename the file name of your budget worksheet before uploading it to the Financial Aid portal based on the instructions provided in the portal (adding your name and student ID)

To find out the name of your financial aid assistant director for your degree program visit:
https://www.rit.edu/admissions/aid/contact#counseling-team

You should meet with Financial Aid before the application deadline to understand how your aid will apply. If you plan to receive financial aid for this program, it will pay out in the term you are receiving the credits, not necessarily the term of travel if those terms differ.

If you are on tuition waiver or exchange (parents are RIT employees, etc.) let the Education Abroad office know because it may affect your tuition costs (email global@rit.edu).

Scholarship funding for study abroad is available!
• RIT Study Abroad Scholarships
• National Study Abroad Scholarships

Keep in mind that scholarship deadlines are often early, so it's best to investigate these at the start of your application process.

Additional considerations when applying for study abroad:

• If you require Access Services support for this program, contact Angela Hauser (abhdis@ntid.rit.edu) to discuss your needs. Support is most often available for RIT Global Campus, RIT faculty-led, and short-term affiliate programs.
• If you receive disability services support at RIT and would need support on your program abroad:
  1) Contact your Access Coordinator in the RIT DSO office;
  2) Share your Eligibility Letter in your RIT MyDSO portal that outlines the services you receive with the faculty-director for your program to find out what support would be available to you abroad (do this before you commit to the program).
  
  It is important to remember that disability accommodations in other countries vary, and you may not be able to receive the same exact support you receive at RIT.
• As with all international travel, we strongly encourage you to visit the U.S. Department of State website to learn more about the risks associated with this location and recommended safety precautions before deciding to participate.

• Consider how you will manage your health and wellness while you are abroad: Health & Safety
• Before you make any program commitments, understand how your host culture values your diverse characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Identity & Diversity Abroad