Why Choose AEA Over Other Study Abroad Companies?

Since 2005, Academic Experiences Abroad (AEA) has been 100% focused on customized educational programs, the vast majority being faculty-led programs at universities and colleges. Unlike most study abroad providers, AEA is family owned, not private-equity owned; and the success of your program is our primary objective. We are also small and nimble, making us extremely flexible in what we can do for you, and we can do that in 100 countries.

Compare Academic Experiences Abroad (AEA) to Other Study Abroad Providers

Below is a side-by-side comparison of AEA and some of our largest competitors.

This comparison is intended to provide a clear, fact-based overview of how AEA aligns with other leading study abroad providers in terms of faculty-led support. While AEA emphasizes flexibility, personalized program design, and transparency, we also recognize that every institution has unique needs.

Quick Comparison Table

Feature / Value	AEA (Academic Experiences Abroad)	EF Educational Travel	WorldStrides	CIS Abroad (CEA CAPA)
Family Owned Company	✅ Entirely family-owned since 2005	✅ Family owned	❌ Private equity-owned	❌ Private equity-backed (CEA CAPA)
Faculty-Led Focus	✅ Faculty-led focus since 2005	❌ Primarily tours & language programs	❌ Focused on K–12/travel	⚠ Some faculty-led, now under CEA CAPA
Customized Program Design	✅ Fully customized, your dates, your students	❌ Predominantly catalog, limited flexibility	❌ Off-the-shelf, limited custom	⚠ Mix of catalog and some custom
Direct Faculty Support	✅ Leadership accessible by phone/text/email	❌ Student-centered, limited faculty support	❌ Group-driven, less faculty collaboration	⚠ Faculty support diluted under CEA CAPA
Group Size Flexibility	✅ No minimum group size required	❌ Typically large tour groups	❌ Large groups; minimums required	⚠ Smaller possible, but minimums apply
Liability Insurance	✅ $5M professional + general liability	⚠ Coverage unspecified/varies by region	❌ Standard corporate coverage, opaque	⚠ Coverage under CEA CAPA, details unclear
Transparent Pricing	✅ Itemized, no hidden fees	❌ Corporate pricing, less transparent	❌ Investor-driven, surcharges common	⚠ Pricing integrated under CEA CAPA
>10,000 Students Annually	❌ ~1,500 students annually (focused, high-touch)	✅ Tens of thousands globally	✅ Tens of thousands globally	✅ Several thousand annually, now part of CEA CAPA

Why AEA Stands Apart

✅ Family-owned company — AEA is the only one here that is entirely independent.
✅ Faculty-led focus has been our priority since 2005.
✅ Focused scale (~1,500 students annually) → ensures quality over quantity.
✅ Direct access to leadership — SAO and faculty can easily reach the Director/Owner directly.
✅ Robust liability insurance — $5M professional + general liability coverage.
✅ Transparent pricing — no hidden surcharges.
✅ Better logo - Come on, have a chuckle.

Disclaimer

AEA affirms the value of choice: whether you select AEA or another provider, what matters most is aligning with the model that best serves your faculty, students, and institutional mission.

The diversity of providers in this field strengthens the academic travel ecosystem, and whichever option you choose, the decision to expand global learning opportunities is always a good one.

Our travels impact people and planet

At AEA, we believe in a small footprint and a big, open mind

From the resources we consume to the people we meet, the cultures we engage with to the foods we eat, our travels are not just about us. We want our impact to be “better” rather than “worse.”

Prioritize local needs in your program planning. Is there a drought in the region you want to travel? Should you consider an alternate destinations? Do they want or need support in local schools or clinics? Will you be more of a burden than a blessing? AEA develops and maintains strong relationships with our in-country managers and team. Together we are constantly assessing whether or not our programs are collectively beneficial.

Know your role. You are a guest in someone else’s country – and sometimes in their home. Learn about and respect their customs and culture. Be open to discussions about your own.

Learn from a local. There’s no better way to learn about a place, culture, challenges, and triumphs than from a local. AEA can arrange special visits and guest lectures with entrepreneurs, experts, artists, and more.

Consider your carbon footprint. Carry a reusable bag and water bottle whenever possible. Limit purchases that involve excessive plastic and animal parts. Educate yourself about onsetting, offsetting and the social cost of carbon. Travel closer to home, and if you do travel overseas, consider traveling to only one country by air. Learn more about the Elephant in the Sky.

Bring needed supplies. There is always a need for more supplies for projects, schools, communities and more. If you are unsure of what is needed, please ask AEA.

It may be hard to imagine a time when few people from the United States were visiting Asia (aside from COVID times!), but Academic Experiences Abroad (AEA) founder and director, Sam Brier, remembers it well. After spending nearly a decade working with universities and NGOs in Japan, China, Laos, Thailand, and East Timor, he returned to the US in 2003 with a vision of establishing educational and experiential opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and understanding. At the time, China and the US were at odds over the Spy Plane incident, the Bird Flu was all over the news, and very few Americans were traveling to that region of the world.

In 2005, in an effort to create unique programs and facilitate meaningful connections for university groups traveling to Asia, Academic Experiences Abroad was launched. It took nearly 3 years of hard work before the first programs ran in 2007. Yet they were so successful that university partners began asking us to create programs to Brazil, Ghana, and Europe. From there, we started exploring those possibilities.

As our partners’ needs have evolved, we have grown too, expanding our services while always keeping in mind the original mission. AEA continues to facilitate human connection and offer unique, customized, experiential learning programs. We are no longer limited to Asia; we also send groups to Europe, Latin America, Oceania, the Caribbean, parts of the Middle East, and parts of Africa.

In 2020, as a response to COVOD-19, we launched the Global Learning Library, an online platform to hear from and connect with amazing people from around the globe. It still lives on. To learn more, please see the video below.

In our effort to be more sustainable over the years, we have figured out our company operation’s carbon footprint. With that information, we remove enough carbon via Climeworks to be a carbon-neutral company.

Furthermore, AEA contributes roughly 5% of our net profits, annually, to support non-profit organizations worldwide that focus on climate solutions such as methane capture; clean water and nutrition initiatives; vaccinations; and healthcare among the world’s most at risk populations.

Where did we get these crazy ideas? Some of them came from Peter Singer’s book, The Life You Can Save, which can be downloaded for free. We encourage you to get it and think more about what you, too, can do to make the world a better place.