As a result of rising costs abroad, the Education Abroad Program was recently forced to cancel some of its upcoming summer and yearlong programs for 2006-2007.

EAP Strategic Marketing and Communications Director Bruce Hanna said the program can no longer afford some of its programs due to the rising cost of foreign workers at campuses abroad. He said the dilemma is partly due to the fact that the U.S. dollar cannot match the purchasing power of countries that use the euro as their currency.

In addition, he said, the program has received less state funding than in previous years.

Hanna said EAP attempted to minimize the impact of rising wages abroad by reducing its administrative costs. During the 2005-2006 school year, no EAP programs were canceled as a result of budget cuts. However, for the 2006-2007 school year, Hanna said EAP first cut those programs that had similar alternatives available, followed by programs with few students enrolled.

Among the seven options that were stricken from EAP’s 229-program roster was the Summer Intensive and Culture Program at the UC Center in Paris, France. Summer and yearlong programs in Australia, Italy, Spain and Denmark were also cut, Hanna said.

However, EAP peer adviser and fourth-year anthropology and dramatic art double major Kristen Kozlowski said students should be able to find other ways of studying abroad since, even if one program is cut, another similar program is probably available.

“Usually people who want to go abroad to a certain country will be able to, since there are multiple programs in one country,” she said. “I have never heard of someone not going abroad because the program they want is closed.”

EAP peer advisor and fourth-year political science major Coleen Yamamura-Clark said students were notified of their options.

“EAP is really good at notifying its participants when problems arise and if a program is closed due to budget or other problems,” she said. “The participants will be able to transfer to other programs.”

The estimated EAP enrollment for the entire UC system for 2005-2006 was 4,164 students, and it was 4,241 in 2003-04, Hanna said. However, he said UCSB’s enrollment numbers for EAP have increased every year for the last three years.

Hanna said 706 UCSB students are currently enrolled in the EAP program, as opposed to 658 in 2003-2004.

The slight decline in total EAP applicants in the UC system over the last two years can be partially attributed to the budget cuts in the same time period, Hanna said. He said EAP is currently trying to solve its budget problems and find a mechanism to fund its programs.

“Part of the cuts can be attributed to the fiscal problems of the State of California because the EAP program is an academic program under the UC system,” he said.