It may only be October, but the Office of Study Abroad is already planning for Summer 2013 as representatives present a variety of study abroad opportunities.

“Discover Summer: 2013 Study Abroad Opportunities” runs from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in Room 2120 of Coleman Hall.

Kelly Holland, the study abroad coordinator, said the reason they introduce the summer programs so early is because of how the deadlines are set up.

She said along with the September Study Abroad Fair, they typically begin advertising for summer programs in the fall.

“The deadline for faculty-led programs is Jan. 11 and March 1 for the independent trips so even though a lot of the trips don’t leave until May, the deadlines are not that far away,” Holland said.

Along with the early deadlines, Holland said another reason to begin advertising now is because of the number of spots in the programs.

“All of the programs fill on a first-come-first-serve basis,” Holland said. “A lot of the professor-led programs have a limited amount of students they can take, and already four or five students signed up already.”

Holland said summer is the most popular time for students to study abroad, and they typically have roughly 150-200 students involved in summer programs.

“The way a lot of students’ curriculum is set up is they have class during the fall and spring semesters,” Holland said. “A lot are also involved in Greek organizations or registered student organizations and don’t want to leave for a whole semester away.”

She said this is not only because of how their curriculum falls but also how many of the programs allow students to still have time to have an internship or job before returning back to school.

“The beauty of many of these programs is that you can do both,” Holland said. “They leave immediately after finals and return by the end of May.”

All of the programs that are run through Eastern count for credit hours.

Holland said this is first time they are doing the programs back to back. She said there would be no formal presentation, but they will have all of the different summer programs in one place.

“We figured we’d try it two days in a row because how different peoples’ schedules are,” Holland said.

She said students have often seen study abroad PowerPoint presentations, but this will be much more informal, more question and answer.

“It is kind of like us having office hours,” she said.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or awywialowski@eiu.edu.