Brazil Study Trip

Students will pay the regular MBA Program 5-credit course tuition (3-credits for the participation on the MBA545-51 Integrated Capstone Experience and 2-credits for the participation on the MBA571 MBA Study Trip to Brazil). In addition, students will be charged a fee to cover Butler University's out of pocket expenses to compensate our partner institutions in Brazil for the organization and delivery of the study trip activities, which will include:

• Lectures
• Corporate visits
• Hotel accommodations
• Food (breakfast and lunch)
• Cultural visits
• Local transportation

The Brazil Study Trip cost is currently estimated at $5,000 but may decrease or increase up to 10 percent depending upon final number of participants. This cost has an academic component (2-credit instructional fee) and a non-academic component (other non-academic trip expenses). The academic component of this cost (approximately 25 percent) will be presented as tuition cost for the course while the non-academic component of this cost (approximately 75 percent) will be billed as a non-tuition fee. Students will be required to make a $500 deposit to reserve a space by April 13, 2012, the balance will be billed within the fall semester invoice.

Each participant is also responsible for additional expenses which, based on today's cost, have been estimated as follows:

• U.S. Passport Application, $100.00
• Brazil visa application, $165.00
• International transportation, $1250.00
• Dinners while in Brazil, $150.00
• Other personal or incidental expenses while traveling abroad

For detailed information regarding application procedures, commonly asked questions or emergency situations regarding passports, please visit the U.S. Department of State's website at  http://travel.state.gov/passport/ .

• Call your local post office to find out where to apply.
• Ordinarily, you should receive your passport within six weeks.
• Bring proof of U.S. citizenship (birth certificate or certificate of naturalization), proof of identity (picture ID), and two passport photos (2 inches by 2 inches). Look up "passport photos" in the yellow pages to find a store (many copy centers, AAA, Walgreens' do this) that does official passport photos.
• To renew by mail, send your application, old passport, two photos, and renewal fee to the National Passport Processing Center, P. O. Box 90155, Philadelphia, PA 19190-0155.

• If you lose your passport, contact a U.S. embassy or consulate.
• A photocopy of your passport will make it easier to obtain a replacement.
• Keep a copy yourself and make sure to leave copies with a relative, too.

For complete information, visit "Visas to Brazil & Application Forms" at the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago. This website provides appropriate instructions and downloadable forms. Please note you need to apply for an individual tourist visa. Each person should handle his own visa application. Please make sure that you apply for a tourist visa.

Note that the visa application must be delivered by hand to the Consulate, either by the applicant or by someone designated by the applicant -- such as a visa service. The Consulate will mail the visa back to the applicant if the applicant also submits a prepaid mailer. See their instructions for the details.

The instructor has sometimes elected to use a visa service -- such as Travisa -- to submit the application on his behalf. It increases the cost but greatly reduces the headaches of delivering the application in person. The instructor recommends doing this unless you have some other reason for traveling to Chicago and can fold a visit to the Consulate into your other plans.

Please note once the Brazilian tourist visa is issued, its bearer must enter Brazil within 90 days from the date that it was issued. Failure to enter within that time frame, the visa will expire. Therefore, students should not apply for the tourist visa to enter Brazil before August 1^st, 2012. The visa bearer is responsible to monitor this period of time. Please notice Brazil charges U.S. passport holders a $130.00 visa application reciprocity fee.

Once the Brazil Study Trip travel itinerary is established, the instructor will provide students with such information. The instructor will coordinate and provide students with information regarding international transportation arrangements. However, students will pay airline companies directly for the cost of international transportation to Rio de Janeiro.

Most U.S. airlines take off from the U.S. into Brazil in the evenings; therefore, students will be expected to depart from the United States the evening of Saturday, October 13^th, 2012 and to arrive into Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil the morning of Sunday, October 14^th, 2012. The return portion of the itinerary should be arranged returning into the U.S. the evening of Saturday, October 20^th, 2012.

The instructor will coordinate with our partners to arrange participants' single-occupancy hotel accommodations. Once these arrangements have been made, information will be provided to students through email and also will be placed within this section of the website.

It is important for you to have adequate health insurance coverage while you are abroad. Failure to obtain coverage can result in anything from very high medical bills to refusal to be treated in a hospital or doctor's office. In many countries, foreigners must prove that they have medical insurance before they can be treated and are often required to pay cash up-front. No matter where you go or what treatment you may seek.

Check to see if your current medical coverage is valid outside of the United States. Find out how you would file a claim from abroad and how the insurance company would handle the claim. Ask your insurance company if they provide benefits for medical evacuation and repatriation. Although it is not a pleasant subject to think about, you need to be aware of what would happen if you were to fall seriously ill while abroad and had to return to the US for medical treatment. For example, some policies provide an air ambulance with accompanying nurse or physician for instances where the patient must return to the home country. If your current policy does not provide such coverage, consider purchasing some form of supplemental insurance coverage. It is to your benefit to thoroughly research your options prior to committing to a specific insurance carrier.