<p>$45,700, up 5%</p>
<p>Ouch! I guess I should be quite happy that we have a Swat graduation in June, and that the "spigot" for the Swattie gets turned off after that. (Although there are two more in the pipeline.) Honestly though, I think his education has been worth the $$.</p>
<p>Yeah, Swat went up 5% compared to Princeton going up 4.5% with their much ballyhoo'd "no tuition increase" PR campaign. Go figure.</p>
<p>Yes, another year and our spigot also turns off. Whew!!</p>
<p>Although I'd echo what momof3sons said. And son seems to be enjoying this semester even more than before.</p>
<p>And students studying abroad pay the full tuition, room, and board to Swathmore (and I am sure at other similar colleges) if they want to get Swarthmore credit for their studies abroad. The cost of the study abroad program my daughter will attend next fall is much lower than the Swarthmore tuition, room, and board. I am not complaining though - my daughter (a transfer student) loves Swat and is doing very well, and they seem to provide a lot of guidance to students preparing to study abroad.</p>
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The cost of the study abroad program my daughter will attend next fall is much lower than the Swarthmore tuition, room, and board.
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<p>Heh, heh. My daughter found a study abroad program that costs more than Swarthmore.</p>
<p>BTW, Swarthmore will also pay your daughter's overseas airfare to get to her study abroad program and reimburse her for some out of pocket expense. It may come out closer than you think.</p>
<p>I know - we already figured out all that. The one my daughter is attending is highly recommended and apparently quite selective (at least that's what she was told), but is less expensive than Swarthmore by quite a bit even including the flight, etc. Your daughter's was probably expensive because she flew to several different places as part of it, right?</p>
<p>What out of pocket expenses did they reimburse your D for? At the program my D will attend, students buy their meals at one of several cafeterias or at a restaurant, so Swat will reimburse for the anticipated price of eating three normal meals a day.</p>
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What out of pocket expenses did they reimburse your D for?
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<p>Not much in my daughter's case, because everything, including all the airfare from NY to Argentina to China to India, and back to NY was included in the program cost. The only thing not covered was lunches and local transporation (taxis, subway, auto-rickshaw, etc.). I think my daughter said Swat cut her a check for $500+ to cover that stuff.</p>
<p>If meals are not included in your daughter's program at all, she'll probably get a more substantial check.</p>
<p>Yeah, the around the world airfare was the killer on my daughter's program. Just pricing it on Expedia comes up with a minimum of $6,000.</p>
<p>I'm sure you wouldn't have been complaining if your daughter attended a great study abroad program that was perfect for her that cost less than normal Swarthmore fees.</p>
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I'm sure you wouldn't have been complaining if your daughter attended a great study abroad program that was perfect for her that cost less than normal Swarthmore fees.
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<p>No, not at all. Actually, by the time you total it all up, most of these programs are priced to be pretty darn close to a semester at a joint like Swarthmore. The ones that are significantly less are often third world countries with very inexpensive housing options, plenty challenging in their own right.</p>
<p>Early on, she did consider one program that didn't look that fantastic to me. The fact that it was cheaper than Swarthmore actually gave me the opening for a conversation. She said, "I knew that was coming!". She had already figured out that she would have to sell us on a pretty good program to replace a semester at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>We eventually agreed that a program should be a) intensely immersive or b) further her major in a big way or c) be a seriously eye-opening cultural experience. She ended up getting all three, but any one would have been OK.</p>
<p>My study abroad program cost almost as much as a semester at Swarthmore, so this policy has not had a big effect on me. At the same time, I do think it's the strangest and most suspicious of Swat's policies. </p>
<p>Basically, if you want to go abroad, and get Swarthmore credit for your work, you <em>have</em> to pay Swarthmore tuition. If you're on full financial aid, or you pay less per semester at Swat than your study abroad program costs, then that's a great deal because your finaid transfers. If, on the other hand, you pay full tuition and your program costs less, you're basically paying as much as $10,000 extra just to get your credits to transfer. I haven't heard a good rationale for that one.</p>
<p>My recommendation? If your program costs less than a semester at Swat, and you can afford to take the semester off (ie. not have the credits transfer), then do that. If you need the credits, well, you're gonna have to pay.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure the policy is similar to other colleges. The Swarthmore foreign study office was very upfront with me when I inquired as to how the payment for study abroad works (I called because I didn't realize that my daughter would be receiving detailed information on this, and I wanted to know since it dealt with my money.) Anyway, the person I spoke to told me the exact same thing that you recommended - if the credits are not necessary for graduation, take a semester off and save the money. I think the same thing was put in writing in the information packet my daughter received. It is not like Swarthmore is trying to hide this option.</p>