The Office of Study Abroad has seen a large influx of students interested in applying for scholarships throughout the past week.

After receiving a $40,000 allocation for scholarships, the office extended the deadline for the spring semester from Oct. 1 to today.

“A lot of students have considered applying in the spring and are in the process of getting their applications in for programs that still have space available,” said Farhan Aziz, study abroad coordinator.

He said students are also inquiring in general about the scholarship and are contemplating going during the summer or future semesters.

“As far as actual (scholarship) submissions, I’m getting submissions left and right, but the actual number I don’t really know yet,” Aziz said on Thursday.

Aziz said the office appears to be on track to meet its goal, but he’s hoping to still get more submissions.

“I have a lot of people doing things at the last minute,” Aziz said. “I’m expecting a lot of submissions tomorrow.”

He said he’d like to see around 60 to 65 students study abroad in the spring semester. The office has not reached that number yet.

The money allocated to the office applies to the spring, summer and fall semesters.

The deadline for the spring 2009 semester is today, but the summer and fall semesters are still open.

The deadline for both applications and scholarship applications for faculty-led summer trips is Dec. 5.

March 1 is the deadline for applications and scholarship applications for fall 2009 and the summer partner programs.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.