Check with your local long distance carrier regarding discounted international calling rates. Many sites have a central office that can relay messages to students studying abroad. All of this will be true once again, though perhaps even in exaggerated form, in another country. Remember that what may be related to you as an emergency will often sort itself out. The parents phoned back a short time later and received no response and imagined all sorts of dire scenarios until finally reaching the student several hours later and finding out that all was now well and that the student had made a new friend over coffee and was beginning to enjoy the new setting.
All students are responsible, however, for incidental expenses while abroad.
If the source of funds is the student's bank account, consider a short-term Power of Attorney so that the student's signature isn't needed for withdrawals. The student's financial institution, whether bank, savings and loan, or credit union, can let you both know what is required. You may want to provide a copy of this information to the Financial Aid Office, so that any funds made available to the student can be directed appropriately. Your student has participated in a predeparture orientation session provided either by the program's program director or by one of the Study Abroad Center advisors. During this orientation, students were provided with information related to safety and health risks and the means to avoid these risks.