Click HereThinking about how much your experience abroad is going to cost you (and your parents) relative to what you pay per semester or per year at your home university is important. Basically, studying abroad can cost you more, less, or the same as studying at home. The bottom-line cost depends on a variety of factors that may or may not be within your control. For example, you can control how many times you eat out or cook in while abroad, but you cannot control things like your home university's tuition policies, whether your financial aid is transferable, costs of living in another country, tuition at an overseas school, or international currency exchange rates.
Looking at the major expenses
Study abroad programs package major costs in various ways. Some may include tuition, housing, meals, airfare, insurance, and other program-related expenses in one all-inclusive fee. Others may include some but not all of these items. Collecting all the information and trying to come up with complete figures so you can arrive at the bottom line of what studying abroad will cost you is entirely your responsibility. And you need these calculations so you know whether you can afford a particular study abroad program. Never be afraid to make phone calls or send e-mails asking about what something costs.Be aware that program costs frequently change because of varying exchange rates and changes in the types of services provided for the program fee. As a result, the cost listed in last year's catalog or study abroad guide may no longer be accurate!
The following variables often affect the overall cost of your study abroad experience:
- Location, location, location: In general, living in a big, bustling, cosmopolitan city is probably going to cost you more than living in a quiet countryside location. When the U.S. dollar is weak in comparison to a local currency (say for example, the British pound), then the cost of living is going to be higher. Conversely, when the U.S. dollar is stronger than the local currency, the cost of living will be lower — that is for U.S. students studying abroad. Additionally, the cost of your study abroad program depends on which part of the world you choose to study in. Programs in Western Europe tend to be more expensive than those in most other parts of the world (Canada, Africa, Asia, or South America). But take note that it is not unheard of for programs to be expensive in countries with lower costs of living.
- The length of your stay: This factor, although obvious, is important: The longer the program, the more money you're going to pay. If you're away for a full year and fly home for vacations or holidays, that means paying for more than one airfare to and from your destination at the beginning and end of a semester. However, be aware that costs can fluctuate based on the time of year you happen to be studying abroad. For example, the per-week/per-credit cost of a summer program may be greater than the per-week/per-credit costs of a semester program.
- Your class load: You may pay tuition at your home university on what is called a semester basis, which means everyone pays the same tuition for the semester regardless of how many or what type of classes you take. Realize that outside of the U.S., many universities determine tuition based on a per-credit basis. Taking five classes can cost more than taking four, and taking science courses with laboratory components can cost more than taking an English class.
- The program you choose: Study abroad programs offered by private colleges or organizations (such as the Counsel for International Education Exchange — CIEE) cost more than programs sponsored by public institutions. A great way to reduce costs is to go abroad through the public university of the state in which you're a resident because paying the reduced in-state tuition may be less expensive. Shop around. Some destination cities and countries are more popular than others; therefore, any number of universities may offer study abroad programs in a given location, which means that prices will vary.
- The services offered: The type of program in which you plan to study also determines cost. When you choose go with an island program (See Chapter 5 for an explanation) that caters to groups of U.S. students, the costs typically are more than directly enrolling at an abroad university. For more money, you're getting more services, such as program staff support in the country you're studying in, language training or orientation programs, social activities, and sightseeing trips.
- Hidden expenses: In addition to your program fee, you may find yourself paying a number of other hidden expenses. A few to watch out for and put into your budget/overall cost scheme (again, see Chapter 14 for more detail) are application fees, extracurricular fees (in other words sports center access), housing deposits, room and board for vacation periods, passport fees, student I.D. fees, commuting costs, insurance (health, accident, traveler's, renter's), phone calls home, laundry, luggage, and weather appropriate clothing.
Understanding home-university tuition policies
Your home university's tuition policy is probably the single most influential factor that determines how much you pay for your study abroad experience. What your home university's policy is regarding fees to study abroad also determines whether your financial aid transfers.When you receive financial aid to help pay for schooling and you've applied to go abroad (or you're at least considering it), you need to meet with your financial aid officer or study abroad adviser at your home university to start figuring out how you can pay for your abroad experience. Bring a proposed study abroad budget with you to this meeting. Preemptively taking this step is a good idea because you'll probably have to submit one to the financial aid office eventually anyway. (For more help with study abroad budgeting, see Chapter 16.) Be sure to ask what funds can and can't be applied to a study abroad program. Each home university has different rules and quirks about financial aid and going abroad, and although I try to cover some of these here, your financial aid office is the better authority on this situation. Financial aid representatives can advise you what your particular situation is — based on the amount of aid you're receiving and where you intend to study — and then adjust your financial aid package accordingly.
Because many foreign universities are state supported, the cost of tuition is much lower than what is charged at many U.S. schools, particularly private colleges and universities in the U.S. Conversely, some foreign universities have different levels of tuition and charge higher tuition fees to foreign students. For example, Trinity College, where I studied in Dublin, Ireland, charged its lowest tuition rate for Irish students, a middle-level tuition rate for European Union nationals, and its highest tuition rate for non-E.U. students. Yeah, they apparently believe Americans are made of money!
The following is a list of possible study abroad tuition and financial aid scenarios, from the simplest to the most complicated.
Taking advantage of your home university's program
You're going on a home-university sponsored study abroad program. Tuition is the same regardless of whether you're studying with your home university in another country or in the U.S. If you're currently receiving financial aid, then it's highly unlikely that anything needs to be done differently than in any other semesters you've been at school. You and your parents fill out an endless pile of forms, send them to the appropriate places, and your school gets the correct amount of funds. Just make sure that you budget for things you don't normally pay for when you're staying in the U.S. Airfare may be one such item; groceries are another (if you're on a meal plan at school and don't usually cook for yourself).Traveling through a different university
You choose to go on a study abroad program sponsored by another U.S. school. Your home university requires you to pay full home-university tuition, and through a written agreement between it and your abroad U.S.-based program, you're allowed to use your financial aid. Policies on whether you're entitled to your financial aid vary, and you need to double-check this with your study abroad or financial aid office.Getting stuck paying excess tuition
You choose a program sponsored by your home university or another U.S. university, and you're required to pay full home-university tuition even though the tuition at the school you'll be attending is much lower. The U.S. schools tend to justify this in one of the following ways:- You're paying not only for school credits you earn through the home university but also study abroad advising and other administrative and support services. While studying abroad, you accumulate credit toward the degree you receive from your home university. When that's the case, it is hoped that the courses and grades appear on your transcript just as if you were at your home university for a year.
- While you're away, the home university cannot really fill your space, for a number of reasons, one of which is that the university budget assumes a certain number of students attend school for four years, and the budget doesn't work whenever a certain percentage of the student body is away on leave.
- The principle of equality of opportunity for abroad studies to be accessible to all students means that your home university needs to be able to provide financial aid. Thus, it needs to rely on certain tuition revenues, especially when it provides an extensive amount of institutional financial aid.
If your abroad program only charges you tuition and expects you to arrange your own room and board, make sure that you're billed only for home-university tuition.
Whenever you're paying home-university tuition, you are more than likely responsible for airfare and other nontuition charges. An exception would be if your abroad program offers some sort of group airfare as part of its comprehensive fee.
Taking a leave of absence
Yep, you guessed it. Taking a leave of absence can get a little bit tricky, but you may be able to take advantage of lower-cost tuition at foreign universities. Some universities will approve your study abroad plans and transfer your abroad credit if you decide to go abroad through a U.S.-sponsored program or direct enrollment at a foreign university; however, doing so requires you to take a leave of absence. Technically that means you're not a student at your home university for the duration of your abroad program, regardless of whether it lasts a semester or a year.Unfortunately, taking a leave of absence is likely to change your financial aid and funding status. You won't be allowed to take your institutional aid with you, and you may need to seek other scholarship or grant opportunities through your U.S.-sponsored program or foreign university. When you're going with a U.S. program, you can adjust your federal and state aid accordingly, but if you're directly enrolling at a foreign university, the general rule (at this point, anyway) is that you cannot take federal or state financial aid with you. Thus you're going to have to look for other ways of funding your abroad experience. Check out the list of additional resources in the "Utilizing Other Resources for Finding Money" section at the end of this chapter to jump-start your search.
If your home university requires or recommends taking a leave of absence, you should discuss all the ramifications of this with your study abroad adviser. Not only do leaves of absence cause credit issues with your home university, but they can also cause financial problems. If you take a leave of absence because you are not officially enrolled at your home university, financial lenders may demand repayment on student loans!
Ah yes, but hope for the federal government doth spring eternal. Some recent developments in how financial aid is administered have proven beneficial for students wanting to study abroad. Stafford loans now are made available to U.S. students studying in Canada. See the section, "Looking at the legalities of funding," later in this chapter for more on using federal aid to study abroad.
For you to be able to study abroad, as many as five different groups of people or organizations can become involved in getting your financial aid straightened out. (They should award parents with special degrees in filling out more and more (and more) financial aid forms.) If you're already receiving financial aid (see the next section), you're familiar with three of them: you and your parents, your home-university financial aid office, and whatever organization/bank/educational-funding agency is loaning or giving you the money. When you throw an abroad university into the mix, the number of players climbs to four. That is a great deal of coordinating to accomplish, and ultimately, you're the one responsible for making sure that the money gets where it needs to go. Erin E. Sullivan
