Students Receive Free Passports as Passport Caravan Returns to Campus

CIEE recently partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) and Indiana University to host Passport Caravan events on campus, providing free, on the spot passports for students at each school.

Since its beginning, CIEE and Passport Caravan have funded passports for more than 10,000 students around the country. This initiative is one of many led by CIEE to increase access to global opportunities for all students.

Access to necessary documents (like a passport) is often cited as a barrier to pursuing international opportunities, especially for students from backgrounds that are typically underrepresented in study abroad.

When Passport Caravan visits a campus, CIEE arranges for passport agents to be present to help process the applications of students who applied and were approved to receive a United States passport.

“Passports can be one of those tricky things for somebody who’s never had one before,” said Shira Burns, Associate Director of Faculty Directed Programs and Curriculum Integration at ASU to reporters from Phoenix’s Fox 10 News on the morning of the event.

She revealed that ASU plans to host another Passport Caravan for students in the fall, “It can be hard to figure out the process, so we’re making it really easy for students.”

Passport Caravan began as part of CIEE’s pledge to help double the number of Americans studying abroad.

Part of the IIE Generation Study Abroad Initiative, Passport Caravan emerged as a response to a growing concern that too few Americans were pursuing the life-changing experience of international education, thus missing out on the opportunity to develop skills critical for success in an interconnected and interdependent world. CIEE is proud to lead the change on campus and around the globe.

For more information on CIEE access initiatives and scholarships, contact ir@ciee.org.