Costa Rica has a 100-year democratic tradition, respects human rights and has no army; people are proud of their peaceful traditions. While it is impossible to predict or guarantee the absence of risk, if one stays out of problematic areas and practices preventative measures (about which students will receive instruction during orientation), the threat of danger is greatly reduced. Each semester the LASP staff monitors the conditions of the regions they are hoping to visit in an effort to avoid unnecessary risks.
The LASP gateway city (i.e. the city from which all the students depart for Costa Rica together) is presently Miami, FL. Travel from the gateway city to the program and back to the gateway city is included in the cost of tuition. You are responsible for getting yourself from your home to the gateway city and back home again.
You must arrive in Miami at least three hours prior to your scheduled departure. Each group member will be given a means of identifying the others, you will meet at the designated airline counter and travel together to the Costa Rica.
Definitely. If you do not already have one, you should apply for a passport immediately. The requirements are somewhat strict, and once you have everything they require, it can still take well over a month to get your passport. U.S. passports are good for ten years; once you have one, you’ll be set for international travel for a long time. If you already have a passport, make certain that it is valid until 6 months beyond your return date.
Because acquiring a passport is a lengthy process, each student must apply for a passport at the time they are applying for the LASP.
When arriving in San José, the student will be granted a 90-day tourist visa as they go through immigration.
When arriving in San José, students will be granted a 90-day tourist visa as they go through immigration.
Visas for other countries visited during your time at the LASP will be acquired as they are needed.
Each student is placed with a family that lives in or near San José. The families who are chosen to "adopt" one LASP student each semester come from a cross-section of the Costa Rican Christian community. Families are urged to integrate students into normal family lives as much as possible. Costa Rican homes may be relatively simple, so students may share a room with a "sister" or "brother." When appropriate, students should expect to help out around the house. Meals will likely be very simple and students will be served the same food that their family eats. Rice and beans are staples in Costa Rica and are usually eaten once or twice a day.
During the travel components of the program, students stay with families, in hostels, hotels or dormitories.
San José has a very mild climate. It is located in the Central Valley of the country which makes for a comfortable temperature year round. There are two seasons in the country of Costa Rica: rainy and dry. The dry season typically is from Dec. – April. The average temperatures during the entire year can range from mid-60s (considered quite chilly by some) to mid-70s. The rainy season goes from May – Nov. During this period, the sun usually shines until midday and then it’s likely that it will rain for the entire afternoon. Umbrellas become an additional appendage during this time.
Other countries the program visits could be warmer or cooler depending upon the time of year.
Absolutely – every day and every night. LASP believes the most important way to learn another culture is to dig right in and interact with the experts – the people themselves. You will be living with a family, working with local organizations or communities, and engaging Latin American speakers as they share their perspectives with us.
Each student is placed with a family that lives in or near San José. The families who are chosen to "adopt" one LASP student each semester come from a cross-section of the Costa Rican Christian community. Families are urged to integrate students into normal family lives as much as possible. Costa Rican homes may be relatively simple, so students may share a room with a "sister" or "brother." When appropriate, students should expect to help out around the house.
During the travel components of the program students may also stay with families.
The first thing you will notice about Costa Rican life is that it begins earlier than what you might be accustomed to. Your family will probably be up and around between 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. Core seminar and concentration classes for you will be 3 – 5 days a week and normally begin at 8 a.m. Depending upon where you live, you could have a 10 minute walk to class or a 45 minute bus ride.
For the first month, you will finish LASP classes around noon and then head to a language institute for Spanish classes for the afternoon. After the first month, you could have LASP classes at any point during the day. You will usually arrive home around dinner time. The day typically ends in Costa Rica around 9-10 p.m.
In order to maximize the program's effectiveness, applicants are required to have the equivalent of one year of college-level Spanish.
The program recommends to the home campus that students receive the equivalent of 16-18 semester hours of credit.
Spanish language study, Core Seminar, and the Travel Practicum form LASP's experiential and academic "core." In addition to these core components, each applicant selects one of the following four concentrations:
Latin American Studies;
Advanced Language and Literature;
International Business (Fall semesters); or
Environmental Science (Spring semesters).
Concentration work takes place during weeks 10 - 15 of the semester and entails related coursework and service opportunities/internships.
LASP does not grant credit directly; rather it serves as an extension campus of the member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. The program recommends students receive the equivalent of 16-18 semester hours of credit, distributed as follows:
All students receive 6 credits for Spanish Language study and 3 credits for Core Seminar. Credits are generally applied to a student's academic major or minor, and the school's language requirement. The seminar courses correspond to upper-level courses in other areas. While concentrations vary on how credits are divided, credits allocated for every student, regardless of concentration, total 16-18.
LASP may accept any exceptional student it believes can meet rigorous academic demands and is serious about following Christ, even from non-Council schools if space permits. When admitted, an additional $200 is charged to non-Council students for their participation.
CCCU students who are not citizens of the United States or Canada are eligible and invited to attend the LASP; however, you’ll need to check to find out if there are particular visa restrictions applied by Costa Rican Immigration to citizens of your country. (Most of the time, there are not, but you need to make sure.) In the past, the LASP has had participants who were citizens of Russia, Zimbabwe, Germany, Japan, Korea and all over Latin America.
No. LASP is a semester program offered during the Fall and Spring semesters.
Actual costs and financial aid for participants may vary, depending on institutional policies. The sending campus is the credit-granting institution, and so they set their own fees. It is important to check with campus authorities so that you will know clearly what your costs will be.
Generally, even with the cost of travel thrown in, the LASP costs almost the same as what most CCCU students would pay for a semester of tuition, room and board on their home campus. That is not true in every case, however.
The CCCU does not set the final cost to you for this study experience. Each CCCU campus has the right to alter the cost in any way it chooses. You must talk with your campus Business Office to determine a reliable dollar figure for this study program.
Actual costs and financial aid for participants may vary, depending on institutional policies. Each CCCU member school administrates financial aid differently for students who will not be present on campus for a given semester. The sending campus is the credit-granting institution, and so they set their own fees. It is important to check with campus authorities so that you will know clearly what your costs will be.
In most cases, some or all of a student's regular financial aid will apply. You must talk personally with your Financial Aid office on your campus to get a definitive answer as to exactly how much will apply to the LASP. Those with performance-based scholarships (such as athletic or music scholarships) are most likely to see a decrease in financial aid.
In all cases, government aid, Pell grants and bank loans are required by law to continue to apply as long as a student remains enrolled in his or her home institution (and LASP students do remain enrolled in their home institution while on the program).
LASP does not say firmly that you cannot have visitors while you are here. However, please note that the semester is intense and most of your time is taken up by classes, assignments, and trips. These are only the academic parts of the program, you will also be busy interacting with your Costa Rican family and friends while in Latin America. Another point is that having someone from “home” come visit might interrupt the process of adjusting and immersion that LASP encourages while you are in Costa Rica.
No, except for LASP sponsored travel to other countries. LASP policy on this is based on the reasoning that you are here for only a short amount of time and to maximize this time, we ask that you do not travel outside the country. Extra-country travel opens the door to unforeseen events and interrupts the process of learning at LASP.
Airlines have become generally very strict about international bookings; it’s rare to impossible for a student to change a planned departure place or date to the U.S. The LASP travel dates and gateway city (Miami) cannot be changed by individual participants according to the group travel contract with the airline.
