Cost of International Trips At Walls

When you enter into a School Without Walls open house, one of the first things you see is that it is truly a school, without walls. The city is our classroom, but not just the city, the world. This might sound appealing in the moment, but after closer consideration, it might not be as plausible as before. As of January 2nd, DCPS established a new policy regarding field trips. All educational overland travel now needs to be executed through the new central field trip policy which states that schools are no longer allowed to manage their own logistics, and now need to travel through approved travel companies and agencies, which increases the cost. 

The unfortunate reality of this perspective on education is that not everyone can afford it. International school trip costs are becoming more and more expensive, and all of a sudden, the Walls motto doesn’t sound so appealing after all. From the England trip that Mr. Ghazi has been hosting for years, to the occasional Spain trip that the Spanish department hosts, Walls strives to provide their students with life-changing, priceless experiences all over the world. But these trips are no longer accessible to students.

The real question is: what changed from the past? For starters, there has been an increase in flight costs, travel accommodations, and overall travel fees. Because DCPS has strict rules regarding “overland” field trips, international trips now need to go through travel agencies that increase the price of the overall trip even more. DCPS rules have become stricter over the years, and the cost is a consequence of that.

There are many things to factor into one’s decision of attending a trip or not. Raffi Petruska (‘29), a student that is on the waitlist for Ms. Martinez’s Spain trip this spring, stated, “I thought that it would be a fun experience…interacting with Spanish kids, and just learning your culture, it's going to help my Spanish a lot.” He is very excited to potentially embark on this trip with his classmates and immerse himself in Spanish culture, while also getting to know his classmates more. On the other side of things, there is increasing costs of trips. One main theme that comes up is that teachers do not want the cost of trips to be the reason that a student decides to turn down this opportunity.

Financial support, fundraising, and donations are some of the many ways that costs can be reduced, but it is necessary to acknowledge that that may not be enough. When asked about financial support, student Emiliana (Emi) Cabrera Gomez (‘29) stated, “I didn’t really know how to use that…It wasn’t very clear.” Financial support is a resource provided to all students that ask for it, but the process of obtaining the help one needs is tricky. It is important to ask teachers for help. Costs of international trips are increasing, but that does not mean that student participation needs to decrease.

Gomez has decided to not attend this trip because “it's way too expensive.” When asked about her feelings regarding missing out, she shared, “I am kind of upset. I have friends that are going…I think it’s really unfair.” Rising costs are preventing many students from attending trips that could be extraordinary opportunities for them to immerse in a completely different culture. 

Although costs of international trips are increasing, SWW does not want that to be a barrier that students face, and everyone is willing to put in the work to make sure that students can successfully attend trips that they want to attend.