Students

FAQs

General

We accept program applications on a rolling basis until each session is full. The sooner you enroll, the greater chance you’ll have of getting into your first choice program and session! Some of our most popular program sessions fill as early as the fall prior to the program.

Our middle school adventures are designed for students who have *completed* grades 6, 7 and 8. Our high school adventures are tailored to students who have *completed* grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. Our college-aged adventures are for students who have graduated high school.

Safety is our top priority and it is something we evaluate continuously. Our team has decades of experience running international programs for students and we’re extremely proud of our safety record. We address safety within every aspect of each program, including the extensive experience and training of our instructors, the specific locations we choose to visit, the relationships we have established with our local partners and the 24/7 support we provide our groups. We adhere to comprehensive, program-specific risk management plans and safety standards. If you’d like to learn more about safety on specific programs, give us a call at 919-256-8200.

For most programs, we have recommended flights and time ranges for arrival. Enrolled families have the option to book flights on their own or through our travel agency partner. A few programs have required group flights, which we set up in advance. Students travel independently but often meet up with one another along the way. We collect itinerary details for every student and Broadreach instructors will be waiting to greet students in the arrivals hall of destination airports wearing special shirts and holding Broadreach signs so that they are impossible to miss. We also mail students Broadreach shirts to wear while traveling which makes it easy for them to identify one another.

Absolutely! Simply connect with a Broadreach team member and we will put you in touch with past participants who have experience with the programs that interest you. Our alumni families are happy to share their experiences directly.

Broadreach has always been proud of our ability to assess and manage risks, and we will approach COVID-19 policies for programs in a similar manner. Please click here to read the latest on our COVID-19 policies as they pertain to Broadreach programs.

Pricing & Expenses

After February 15: Broadreach will charge half of your tuition payment at the time of your enrollment, and the second half 30 days later. After May 1, your entire program tuition will be due at the time of enrollment in order to secure your spot.

Prior to February 15: Every program has a deposit of $1,000 that will go toward your final tuition balance. All deposits are 100% refundable through January 15 of your program year. After January 15, the deposit is non-refundable in all circumstances. Broadreach does not accept deposits after February 15 – only tuition payments. We do not charge an application fee, only a program deposit.

Tuition balance is due on February 15 of your program year. Any tuition payments made are non-refundable after February 15 and are required to keep your spot on any given program. We will notify you after one week of any overdue tuition, but a student’s spot will be forfeited after 2 weeks of unpaid tuition. You may call the Broadreach office at 919-256-8200 to see if there are spots available on the same or any other programs.

If you cancel your trip on or before January 15 of your program year, your deposit and any tuition payment made are 100% refundable. If you cancel your trip before February 15, any tuition payments you’ve made are refundable but your deposit is non-refundable. After February 15, all payments are non-refundable. For this reason, we highly recommend protecting your tuition by purchasing an insurance policy.

Credit card (3% fee on all payments made by CC after the deposit), e-check, check or wire transfer. Your method of payment is chosen at the time of your enrollment.

Any enrollments prior to February 15 of your program year require a $1,000 deposit, and your final payment will be due on February 15. Any enrollments made prior to May 1 will require 50% of your total tuition paid upon enrollment, with the final payment due 30 days after your enrollment date. After May 1, 100% of your tuition is due at the time of enrollment.

Yes, you will need to have medical coverage. We require that students have at least $100,000 of emergency evacuation coverage, some level of international medical coverage and coverage for scuba diving programs that includes diving. We also strongly recommend purchasing a policy that includes tuition protection in the event that you have to cancel your trip for an unforeseen reason.

Yes, Broadreach has worked with Trip Mate for the last several years to provide families with a link to tuition protection and international medical coverage policies through Trip Mate. We feel they do a great job of supporting our families when unplanned events happen. Broadreach will provide you with these options at the time of enrollment or afterward, and you are also welcome to choose your own policy. There are several different options through Trip Mate:

Trip Mate Tuition Protection and Travel Insurance with Cancel for ANY Reason (If purchased within 14 days of first payment; trip must be canceled at least 2 days prior to departure): Includes required program medical coverage (including a waiver for pre-existing conditions if purchased within 14 days of the first payment and if the student is medically able to travel at the time of purchase) and tuition protection (including “cancel for any reason coverage”). Cancel for any reason coverage is not available to NY families, but NY families are still eligible for up to 100% covered reason cancellation. Please see the plan itself to verify your exact coverage. This is the plan that we recommend for the most complete coverage.

Trip Mate Tuition Protection and Travel Insurance (purchased at least one week before travel): Includes required medical coverage and covered reason tuition protection. If you don’t choose coverage within the first 2 weeks, we recommend this policy as it provides coverage to you both before and on the program for covered reasons.

Trip Mate Travel Insurance: This basic plan covers the student for the basics that Broadreach requires and is the least expensive plan. This plan does not cover tuition leading up to the program departure.

It’s difficult to answer this question without understanding your particular circumstances and concerns. In most cases, insurance will not cover you if your trip is canceled due to a global pandemic unless there are other extenuating circumstances. If you’re worried about this, call us! We’re happy to help discuss this situation based on our experiences. Of course, insurance can change, so if you have particular insurance questions, we recommend getting in touch with Trip Mate directly to make sure you feel comfortable.

Airfare is not included in the cost of programs. Because students join our adventures from all over the U.S. and from countries around the world, we are not able to standardize the cost of air travel to program locations. Some programs also require flights to additional locations that are not included in the program cost. Details for booking all necessary air travel are provided once you are enrolled.

We offer early enrollment discounts every fall – please call our office at 919-256-8200 for more information. We also offer a 5% discount on a family’s second summer enrollment. This offer may be applied if a family enrolls siblings in the same summer or has a student who goes on two trips in the same summer. The 5% discount will be applied to the program of lesser cost and cannot be combined with any other discounts.

We also offer discounts to active military families! Give us a call to learn more.

Some scholarships are available through the Broadreach Foundation. Visit broadreachfoundation.org for details.

The cost of programs includes instruction, food, accommodations, excursions, scuba gear (if applicable), college credits (if applicable) and activities from the time students arrive at their program locations. Program costs do not account for air travel, spending money (we suggest $150-$200) and unanticipated expenses such as medical and special travel. Most trips require books which can be purchased from Broadreach. Contact us for a list of expenses that may or may not apply to your program.

Program Expectations

Most participants sign up for programs alone and there is no need to be concerned if you don’t know anyone else on your program – it’s an important part of the experience! It’s normal to be a little nervous about not knowing other students in advance, but within a day of starting your program you’ll be laughing and sharing exciting adventures with new friends.

The majority of programs will have a maximum of 12 students in a group. We aim for a balance of males and females but, in our experience, the gender ratio does not impact the success of programs.

Broadreach instructors are passionate, energetic, supportive and highly experienced professionals. The average age of our instructors is 28 and all meet specific and rigorous qualifications for the programs they lead (e.g., Master’s degree or PhD in particular subject areas, PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor certification, foreign language fluency, Wilderness First Responder certification, etc.). Learn more about our instructors here.

To best accommodate food allergies and preferences, we consider the country and program logistics to determine whether it will be a good fit for specific dietary restrictions. It’s important that participants inform Broadreach well in advance of any food allergies or preferences so we can determine whether dietary restrictions can be accommodated on your chosen program.

We encourage students to bring a cell phone with them for travel day, so they can communicate any delays or changes with their itinerary. When students meet their trip leaders at the start of programs, they are encouraged to call home and let their families know that they have arrived safely. After that, instructors will collect students’ cell phones for safekeeping to promote an ‘unplugged’ experience. Students will have the opportunity to call home about once a week while on program. Every trip itinerary is different and schedules and locations may affect access to phones and internet connectivity. They can use an instructor’s phone to call home or their phone will be returned to them for this weekly call. If there is a medical concern or behavior issue with a student, their family will be contacted by a Broadreach team member. Students may want to consider bringing an older model phone with them for travel day to avoid potential damage to expensive technology.

Our catamarans have four cabins with attached bathrooms, which are divided up between girls and boys. The cabins are primarily used by students to store their bags and to change since most students choose to sleep in safe areas on the deck of their boat. Students bring sleeping bags and pads, and sleeping under the stars with the Caribbean summer breeze is often one of the highlights of the experience.

We provide an extensive packing list for each program that we revise every year based on student and instructor feedback, and most of the items you probably have already. Students can find packing lists inside of their Broadreach Portals after enrollment.

Academics & Credits

Academics will vary by program but usually include journals, discussions, lectures, research projects, and a midterm and final exam. We expect all of our students to participate fully in the academic course work on our study abroad programs, regardless of whether they have chosen to take it for official college credit.

We partner with Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts to offer college credit for our high school and college study abroad programs. Those credits are widely accepted at colleges and universities all over North America. We can typically tell you if an alumni student has transferred those credits to a specific school in the past.