Angel Salinas said his parents are glad he's not going to Ecuador this summer.
Salinas was one of nine students planning to study abroad in Ecuador this summer, but was notified via e-mail Wednesday the education and society program didn't fill its quota of students and was canceled.
"That might have been the reason the program was canceled, because my family was praying," the Spanish sophomore said. "They watch too much news. They just don't understand that when you go to college, you want to open your brain."
Salinas went to Mexico last summer for study abroad and was looking forward to going to Ecuador.
According to the Office of Study Abroad, there are about 20 other summer programs canceled already for insufficient enrollment.
Inge Steglitz, assistant director of the Office of Study Abroad, said officials like to send first-year programs regardless of enrollment.
"We understand that a brand-new program frequently doesn't have word-of-mouth yet," Steglitz said. "All of these things are decided on a case-by-case."
But the Ecuador program, three people shy of its 12-person minimum, was unable to be sustained.
"That is a pretty standard thing that happens this time of year," Steglitz said.
Salinas said he was notified about his acceptance to the program one week before it was canceled.
"I didn't even have a chance to fill out my budget work," he said, adding he was so excited about going he may try to go on his own.
Ecuador faculty adviser Patricia Lunn said although she was disappointed the program was canceled, she wasn't surprised.
"This program was budgeted for 12 people and we didn't have it," she said. "It's quite common in fact that in the first year, new study abroad programs do not enroll fully."
Lunn attributed the low enrollment to poor advertising.
"It's very hard fully to get information in a school as big as MSU into the hands of the students," she said. "We tried very hard to get this information out."
Either way, Lunn said the program's cancellation was a letdown for her as well as the students involved.
"Programs don't just happen," she said. "Faculty members plan them and invest a lot of time and paperwork to make them happen. I'm disappointed, as are the students."
Elementary education sophomore Colleen Nelsen, who also was planning to study abroad in Ecuador, says she was upset the trip was canceled.
"I wasn't really very surprised, but I was just really disappointed," she said, adding enrollment in study abroad might be higher if not for the war. "I'm sure more students would've signed up if world situations had been different."
