Costs and Billing

Drake University offers various international program models for students, including Drake faculty-led programs, exchange programs, and affiliated programs. The type of program, as well as the length of time of the program, has an impact on the billing timeline and method. Please read below to learn more about the costs and billing instructions for our three financial models:

Short-Term Drake Programs

Students who participate in J-term or summer Drake-led programs are sent billing costs, schedules, and procedures in their acceptance message. Drake Program bills can be paid using your usual payment method to Drake University, through Drake’s Student Accounts office. Here is an explanation of payment methods for J-term or summer Drake-led programs:

To pay online, students can log into their my.drake.edu, click on the "Student Account & Financial Aid" dropdown menu. From there, click on "Make a Payment," then "Deposits" near the top of the screen. Then "Select Term" and choose the term you are trying to pay for, like "J-term 2024." Then "Select Deposit Payment" and enter the amount you would like to pay (either an initial deposit amount or the cost of the full program). You can utilize a saved payment method, e-check, debit card (2.85% fee), or credit card (2.85% fee). 

You can also mail a check to Drake University. If you mail a check, please include the student's ID number in the memo line, and include some language like, "J-term Travel" so we can credit the correct student account, and apply it to the correct term. Checks should be mailed to:

Drake University – ATTN: Cashier’s Office

2507 University Avenue

Des Moines, IA 50311

Short-Term Affiliate and Exchange Programs

Students who apply to J-term or summer Affiliate or Exchange programs are billed by the Affiliate or Exchange partner. Students will pay the partner directly, and will need to follow their payment deadlines and methods. The exception is that students who participate in an Affiliate program will also be assessed a short-term affiliate international programs fee of $300.

Semester Programs

Students who participate in semester programs abroad are billed according to Drake’s typical billing cycle. Semester program bills can be paid through your usual payment method(s), through Drake’s Student Accounts office. 

For Affiliate semester programs, the university abroad will let us know the cost of the non-tuition fees (like housing, international health insurance, and on-site programming fees). We will add this invoiced amount to the student’s Drake Account. The student will then pay their Drake tuition, host institution's non-tuition fees, and the semester affiliate international programs fee of $500.

There are some payments that should be made directly to the Affiliate partner. This includes the student's Affiliate application fee, program deposit, and any optional add-on fees, like a lab fee, upgraded housing options, or optional excursions (when applicable). Those three types of fees (application fee, deposit, and optional fees) are made directly to the Affiliate partner, and not to Drake. Important note: the student’s program deposit is applied toward the cost of the program and will be deducted from the student’s non-tuition fees. This means that if the student pays a $500 deposit to the Affiliate, Drake will reduce the student's non-tuition fee (again, international housing, health insurance coverage, on-site programming fees, etc.) by the deposit amount.