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Pam Hendrix Center for Education Abroad

Domestic Field Study Programs

The Office of Global Engagement has been charged with providing budgetary and risk management oversight to domestic field study experiences offered by Clemson faculty and staff. All programs meeting the criteria outlined below will follow similar budgetary development and health and safety oversight as study abroad programs.

Domestic Field Study is defined as a Clemson University sponsored program that meets all criteria outlined below:

  1. A credit-bearing or co-curricular experience coordinated by Clemson faculty or staff;
  2. Involving travel of 2 or more students to destinations within the US and outlying territories; AND
  3. Including an overnight stay away from a Clemson SACSCOC-approved instructional site.

Exclusions: Domestic Field Study does not include internships, clinical, co-op, conference travel, or other experiential learning opportunities that involve a single student or which do not involve overnight travel away from a Clemson SACSCOC-approved instructional site.

All domestic field study programs are subject to the applicable university policies, procedures, and requirements. If you have any questions about the characterization of your program, please reach out to dfsprograms@clemson.edu

Use the steps below to guide your DFS workflow:

Step 1: Determine if your program type

  • Non-Fee Based Domestic Field Study Program
    • Meets all three of the criteria listed above
    • No funds or other fees are collected from Clemson students
  • Fee-Based Domestic Field Study Program
    • Meets all three criteria outlined above
    • Funds will be collected from students
    • Requires a budget proposal and associated budget approval process

Step 2: Complete DFS requirements, determined by your program type

All Program leaders must comply with process and implementation times outlined in the links below:

Step 3: Build Preliminary Program Budget

  • Using the PHCEA-provided template, complete a preliminary program budget and submit for review.
  • Preliminary budget is due approximately 2 weeks after the registration due date for Fee-Based DFS Programs. An official budget template will be emailed to registered program leaders in advance of the deadline.

Step 4: Recruit Students

  • Once registration has taken place and the program budget has been approved (for Fee-Based DFS Programs), program leaders may begin the marketing and recruitment process
  • All program participants will be required to register their participation with the PHCEA