Some students, including Sandra L. Di Capua ’07, said they believe the summer options are more beneficial than those offered during the school year because summer study abroad excursions wouldn’t require students to miss any classes or extracurricular activities.

“As far as I am concerned I have eight semesters at Harvard and I don’t want to miss out on anything by leaving for a term,” Di Capua said.

Adrian D. Maldonado ’04, the Quincy House study abroad adviser, applauded the expanded summer programs as an excellent way for students who cannot go abroad for a full year to spend time overseas.

“I feel like everybody should study abroad for a year, but if they can’t for a whole year this is a great substitute,” Maldonado said.

Maldonado first heard about the summer programs after he received brochures to pass on to Quincy students, and was at first surprised to hear of such an opportunity.

“It was a complete shock to me,” said Maldonado, who studied abroad last spring at St. Andrews University in Scotland. “This is a huge deal.”

—Staff writer Jeffrey C. Aguero can be reached at aguero@fas.harvard.edu.