Dear Querétaro Travel Study Student,
We invite you to spend part of your summer in beautiful Querétaro, Mexico where you will have a choice of enrolling in four courses offered from June 22 - July 31. Students are required to take at least 12 units. (Each class must have at least an average of 22 students per class for the class to go as scheduled. We reserve the right to cancel a class of low enrollment.)
The city of Querétaro graces the landscape with its majestic baroque buildings and is located 138 miles or approximately three hours northwest of Mexico City. This colonial city with an elevation of about 5,000 feet above sea level is the stage for fun, offering cultural activities, places to dance, Mexican music, and delicious Querétano food. To help you see the beauty and culture, we have arranged four Educational Field Trips which all students will participate in as this important part of your travel study allows you to learn first hand what you may not read in textbooks.
Our Program Assistant is Ms. Josefina Bravo Rubio, a family law attorney in Querétaro. She will assist me by contacting the host families and arranging the field trips. Ms. Bravo will also be available to the female students for discussing matters that may arise regarding the social customs of women in Mexico as well as other questions you may have. She may be reached by telephone at 2-16-28-82 in Querétaro.
The application for the Travel Study Program is due May 1st and we would like you to write a brief statement as to why you wish to go to Mexico and what you expect to get from the program. Please turn in the completed application form along with a $200 non-refundable deposit to any of the orientation meetings or the Summer Sessions Office (2214 SAASB), the Program Director will schedule an interview with you and ask that you contact them via emailto set up a time when they can pre-register you for courses and get you a packet of information with important forms to complete.
We will hold your place in the program when you return the deposit of $200 to Summer Sessions. This is a non-refundable fee and checks are to be made payable to The UC Regents. The deposit is due no later than May 1st along with your other documents listed in the Student Guide. Please note that our course material fees and unit fees are estimates at this time and we hope to have these fees published in mid April. Students who apply after May 1st will be on a wait list.
Our fees for the program may increase this summer; however, the good news is that we will have some scholarships available through Financial Aid. If you plan to apply for summer financial aid, it is very important that you take care of your financial aid early and not do this at the last minute. Most of the time, your loan(s) for summer will be disbursed twice during the summer. If all your financial aid documents are complete and turned into Financial Aid, your first disbursement through the BARC office will be approximately 10 days before the program begins and the second disbursement may be sometime after you have traveled to Mexico. You need to check with the Financial Aid Office to find out just when you will receive the second disbursement.
The Program Director plans to schedule several orientation sessions before we leave for Querétaro. These are very important as we will discuss some important issues not in the Student Guide. It is important that your email address be available, up to date, and accessible for notification of these meetings and for information we may need about your documents.
The faculty will meet you the first day at the Plaza de Armas in Querétaro on Monday, June 22 by 8:30 a.m. at the "Fuentes de Los Perros", ("the Fountain of the Dogs"). We will go to class from there.
We are celebrating our 15th year in Querétaro and welcome you to join us.