Field Study
Hampshire College students are eligible to participate in a field study experience for a maximum of two semesters during their time at Hampshire. Students who transferred into Hampshire may be limited to one semester of field study depending on the time of transfer. The dean of faculty may allow exceptions to this limit in extraordinary situations.
Current financial aid is neither transferable nor automatically available for a field study semester. Information on how your financial aid may be affected is explained below. How your aid would be adjusted depends on which type of field study you select. Hampshire College offers two types of field study: course-based and self-designed.
Course-Based Field Study
In a course-based field study semester, a student may elect to enroll in an accredited program at a U.S. or international school. The accreditation must have been completed through a U.S. accreditation agency. Hampshire College is the home school and the school where the student will be attending is considered to be the host school.
The student will be charged a $900 administrative fee on their Hampshire bill along with the health insurance fee, which can be waived if the student has comparable health insurance. The student will be responsible to pay direct costs billed by the Host school including tuition, fees, housing, and food, and indirect costs incurred while at the Host school.
If the student is applying for financial aid, a FAFSA application for the year the student will be enrolled in the field study and a completed consortium agreement must be on file with the financial aid office at Hampshire College before we can determine aid. This agreement is completed and signed by the Host school. An agreement form will be sent to the student after we are notified that the student will be participating in a course-based field study.
The consortium agreement must be approved by the Hampshire College financial aid office before the start of the enrollment period at the Host school. The student must maintain full-time status (at least 12 credits) at the Host school. The student will be considered to be a full-time student at Hampshire College even though they will be enrolled at the Host school. Hampshire College will process federal Title IV aid for the student. Please note that students enrolling in programs that are not accredited are not eligible for any type of financial aid.
A student retains their eligibility for federal aid including Pell Grant, State Grant, and Direct loans. We must have the completed and approved consortium agreement on file in order to process this aid. These funds will be applied to the student’s Hampshire bill and if there is a credit (refund) the student may request a check. The refund can be used to help pay expenses at the Host school.
Students participating in a course-based field study do not receive any institutional or campus-based aid. This means that a student is not eligible to receive any need-based institutional grant, merit or endowed scholarship, federal work-study, SEOG, VA, or Gilbert Grant. Any of these types of aid, in addition to tuition exchange and tuition remission, not available during the field study semester is not transferable to another semester.
self-designed field study
Students participating in a self-designed field study, are considered to be full-time students at Hampshire College. Students may be participating in an internship or doing research away from campus. Students are expected to check in periodically with a faculty member throughout the semester.
Students will be charged the full semester’s tuition along with the health insurance fee, which can be waived if the student has comparable health insurance. These are the only charges that will appear on the student’s college bill for the semester. Housing, food, and the required fees of health services, student activities, EMT, and Hamp dollars will not be charged for the semester because the student is away from campus and cannot use these services.
Students may receive financial aid during a self-designed field study. The financial aid office needs a valid FAFSA report for the year in which the field study will occur. We will also ask the student where they plan to be living during their field study, whether renting an apartment, living at home with a parent, or living with relatives.
Students may receive various types of financial aid including their merit scholarship, federal aid including Pell, SEOG, and Direct loans, and State aid including the Gilbert Grant. If a student has a need-based institutional grant (Hampshire, Hampshire Opportunity, James Baldwin, International), their grant will be reduced by the amount of the required fees listed above. This need-based grant may also be reduced because of the student’s housing and food plans for the semester. Students are not able to receive federal work-study funding.
field study general policies
- Follow the guidance for waiving health insurance and meet the published due dates to complete the process.
- A parent may borrow a Federal Parent PLUS loan for a dependent student for field study expenses. Parent tuition benefits may or may not apply to a course-based field study. Parents should consult with their employer’s human resources office to inquire about eligibility and amounts.
- If your financial aid overpays your Hampshire College bill, you will have a credit balance (refund) that you can request as a check to help pay for your field study expenses. You may contact the student accounts office to determine if you have a refund available and how to obtain it. No refunds are issued until after classes begin at Hampshire College, so you may need to pay some of your expenses up front and get reimbursed with your refund later.
- Be sure to check in on TheHUB at the beginning of your field study semester. We cannot process your aid until you have checked in.
- For a Fall field study, plan to complete your aid application by May 1st. We will determine your aid as soon as we have all of the necessary documents so you can plan accordingly.
- For a Spring field study, if you were not enrolled in the Fall, be sure that your aid application is complete by December 1. If you were enrolled for the Fall term and received financial aid, we will determine your Spring term aid and send you a revised offer notification.
- It is important for you to have a contact person (usually a parent) who should also have your power of attorney to sign documents for you and to arrange finances and payments in your absence. This is also important if financial aid application materials need to be submitted while you are away.
Please contact the financial aid office with any questions you may have regarding financial aid for a field study semester.