Program Fee, Course Enrollment and Visas

CSPP India Academic Tour

December 27, 2008 to January 6, 2009

Program Fee

Because the final deposit deadline of September 1, 2008 has already passed, we assume you have already paid your $300 deposit to Tom Swank. There are two separate deadlines for payment of the rest of the program fee amount ($2200).

1. October 1, 2008 – This is the deadline for the payment of the program fee ($2200) for those who are NOT using financial aid. If you are paying by check, please make the check payable to Alliant International University. In the memo section please write “India Tour.” You can mail the check to the attention of Thomas Swank: 10455 Pomerado Road M-18; San Diego, CA 92131-1799. Or, if you are on the San Diego campus, you can hand-deliver your check to Thomas Swank in M-18. If you are paying by credit card, please use the credit card form and fax it to Thomas Swank (858-635-4775) or scan it and email it to Thomas Swank.

2. October 15, 2008 – This is the deadline for the payment of the program fee ($2200) for those who ARE using financial aid. If you are eligible you may be able to use financial aid to pay for the program fee and flight costs, in addition to your tuition for the courses. Here is what you need to do:

• Contact your campus financial aid representative and inform them about the program and make sure you are eligible for the aid. You may have to complete additional documents so you will want to see them right away.
• Email Deborah Spindler (University Director of Financial Aid) and Thomas Swank (University Director of Student Business Services) and inform them about your decision to use financial aid for paying the program fee by September 24 2008. Thomas Swank will then charge the amount to your student account.

Course Enrollment
As you may know, we are offering two elective courses during the immersion program:

1. Mental Health Perspective in India: Holistic Healing and Nonviolence with Dr. Raji Natrajan-Tyagi & Dr. Jason Platt (3 units) 
2. Multicultural Self Awareness Development and Process Research with Dr. Raji Natrajan-Tyagi & Dr. Leena Banerjee-Brown (3 units)

The deadline for signing up for the courses with us is also October 1, 2008. When you submit the remaining balance of your program fee to Tom Swank, please also let him know what courses you intend to take. We will then provide you with further instructions on formally registering for the courses, as well as financial aid information.

Visa
If you are an American citizen
Everyone will apply for a Tourist visa. A 6 month visa should be sufficient. The Indian government works with an outsourcing company for visas for US citizens, although it is possible to get one through an Indian consulate.  The visa can be obtained from the outsourcing agency either by going directly to their offices, in which case it may take as little as 1 or 2 days, or by mail. Mail processing usually takes about 5 days. There are offices in San Francisco, Houston, New York, Chicago, Washington DC.

Here is the link for an application:  https://indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com/

There will be no problem for you to get a tourist visa. If you are in California, then you can get your visa from the San Francisco office. We will be sending you a letter to submit with your application as soon as we have the final list of participants.  The cost for a Tourist Visa is $73 for a 6 month visa. There is also a $20 fee to return the passport via FedEx (standard mail is not an option).

If you are NOT an American citizen
Anyone who is not a US citizen, but is on a student visa in the US can also apply through the outsourcing company. They will need to include their student visa and a copy of their documents they have signed by Alliant that show they are legally studying in the US.

Facebook
We have created a Facebook account for our immersion program. Several of you are already part of this group. If you are not already a member of this group, please join us. Our group is called “CSPP India Immersion Program ’08 –‘09” You must have received an invite from us to join the group. If you have not received an invitation, let us know and we will re-send the invitation. Another way to be a part of this online group is to sign into Facebook, search for our group and then request to be a part of it. This will be a place where you can meet others who going on this trip and a space where you can dialogue and ask questions. Looking forward to meeting you on Facebook!