<p>Thanks, icy9ff8.</p>
<p>My summer abroad changed my life. It opened my mind to other world views like nothing else. I went from studying French to speaking French - fluently. I met people who became life-long friends (this is 27 years ago, and our kids have grown up together). I ended up being able to take a bit of time off after college (didn't know to call it a gap) working as an interpreter for a small real estate firm that specialized in selling to French farmers, traveling around the southeast. Then, after working for 2 years as a software engineer, I was the right person at the right place at the right time for a company that needed a French speaking software engineer to live in Paris for a year to learn a product they had OEM'ed. </p>
<p>Fast forward 17 years, and I'm again the right person to take over for a French teacher who had gone on maternity leave, and here I am, 5 years later, enjoying a teaching career.</p>
<p>It was pretty funny when DS#1 started trying to sell me on a semester abroad. He was selling the wrong parent.</p>
<p>Fortunately, both the state U's that my sons attend have programs abroad where tuition and fees are the same as at home, so we're talking room and board and air fare. Not peanuts, but not 20,000 for a semester, either.</p>
<p>I'm hoping they could end up in programs at the same time, if in different countries, and visit each other and travel on weekends.</p>
<p>My d spent a semester in Florence through Wells College. It was an extremely well run and organized program. Everything was taken care of through Wells college- including airline reservations, housing arrangements and a one week sightseeing/orientation tour before classes began.<br>
Students study at the Lorenzo de Medici Institute in the heart of Florence. There is an incredible array of courses to choose from- and the classes are taught in English.<br>
Tuition costs at Wells is reasonable- so the program wasn't too pricey.
But I still had to pay a fee to my kid's home school- so my guess is we did pay over $20,000 for the semester.
I can't say enough about the Wells program- it was extremely well run.
My d absolutely loved her time in Florence. She took classes in International Law-Global Politics-- as well as Italian cooking.</p>
<p>NYU has a wide variety of study abroad programs in many different countries, so it's worth taking a look at them just to get a comparison.</p>
<p>My D (CS major) did a summer study abroad in Cambridge and Scotland - mostly Scotland at U of Glasgow. She studied Scottish history. Since it was only a few weeks the cost was relatively low. It was run by the Uni of California (UCI even though she attends UCSD) but it's open to students from other colleges. She really liked it - so much so that she talked us into going on vacation there last summer.</p>
<p>Thanks, all, for your contributions. There seems to be less expensive programs at universities outside London (in Bristol and Lancaster) that would give D the opportunity to travel but not be exposed to London's high costs on a daily basis. I'm still pulling for Sydney, though.</p>
<p>ColoradoMomof2</p>
<p>I think your original post was whether the fees for the programs you had been given were within the range of "normal." Apparently, the arrangement between CU and the English and Australian schools doesn't fix the tuition at what was paid at CU. So, at least one poster says the fees are average.</p>
<p>One other concern was paying $10-$20K more for the abroad semester (with D not taking any courses in her major) when the abroad courses might not credit toward her graduation. I'm not sure that there is any real guidance for you on that issue, but posters have pointed out numerous ways they arranged (or have heard about) where some or all of experiencing another country is paid for by someone other than the student or her parents.</p>
<p>You also mention that D has had it fairly easy in the entitlement area and you want her to be part of the process and earn part of her way. For every reason set out in this thread, that is a very good way to proceed.</p>
<p>I am a numbers kind of person and if the abroad is $10-$20k more for one semester, you are currently paying $6-$8K per semester. The cost of the abroad program is essentially adding 1-1/2 to 3-1/3 semesters at CU to your economic commitment. </p>
<p>If you treat both of your two kids alike (I'm assuming you have two from your user name) you probobly are looking at adding an outlay of possibly 6+ semesters. Viewed that way, is this something that you can do w/o jeapordizing your economic planning? And, is this something that you want for your kids (not just that they want for themselves) to go this substantial extra way? </p>
<p>I know parent who deep down resent it when they "do, do , do" and "give, give, give" to the kid's wishes and the kid (not surprisingly) does not have the experience that the parent visualized. If you and your husband really want her to have this exoerience, finanace what doesn't pinch you and make your daughter figure out how to make the rest happen. If she really wants it, she can come up with somethng that makes it happen on terms you and your husband can accept.</p>
<p>Thanks 07DAD, for your insight.</p>
<p>I spent yesterday afternoon crunching numbers and thinking about it last night. Yes, you are right, we have a S who will start at CU-Boulder this fall. So we do have two college students to think about and try and finance the best we can without pinching ourselves to the brink. And, truthfully, if D studies abroad, S will want to as well. H and I would want to give the same opportunity to both kids anyway. So we need to come up with a logical precedent.</p>
<p>Your numbers about what we are currently contributing are pretty much right on the money. That's why the thought of spending twice as much (or more!) for a semester chill my blood. I came up with a couple of options for D and will present them to her:</p>
<p>1) We can pay a certain "ceiling" amount for a semester abroad and no more. She has to find a program that fits within that financial parameter. Additionally, she needs to contribute "X" dollars of her own money, up front. Less entitlement, more commitment.</p>
<p>2) She can attend a less expensive summer study abroad program, with some of the same financial parameters and her own $$ contribution.</p>
<p>3) She can find a paid internship abroad in one of her majors and we can look at the finances for that. Again, she contributes to the cause.</p>
<p>4) She can get her degree at CU-Boulder on schedule, without studying abroad, for what we thought it would originally cost, and she would have anywhere from $4000-$5000 left in her college fund to finance an extended trip anywhere she wants to go. Again, any $$ she would need on top of that would be hers to earn and contribute.</p>
<p>I'm happy with these options. Will wait to see what D thinks when I tell her!! </p>
<p>If anyone sees another "angle", please let me know!!</p>
<p>ColoradoMom - If you and your D like the idea of an internship, note that while I found my own, many universities have internship abroad programs.</p>
<p>Be aware that some internships are unpaid. If she's going to use the internship to help pay her way, make sure to find out whether any given opportunity is paid. When I found mine, the salary was listed on the website, so it wasn't a problem.</p>
<p>Thanks, jessiehl. I'll have D check into those internship options at school.</p>
<p>Sydney is lovely, but the airfare is very expensive. And Australia also is an expensive place to live.</p>
<p>I found a less expensive semester program just outside of Sydney at the University of Wollogong. Easy access to the big city without as much of a high cost. The CU students that went there raved about it. Will let D know about that school.</p>
<p>I think she's enthralled with the thought of living in a big, international city, but hasn't really thought about the price tag yet.</p>
<p>My S has looked at New Zealand for study and/or for temporary work, say during summer here. I recall that it was substantially cheaper in NZ than other places. Having spent some time in NZ, I suggest your daughter might want to look into that. Auckland has approx. 1 million people.</p>
<p>Also, because of its geographic location and connection to the Bristish empire it has an international feel.</p>
<p>Thanks, 07DAD. Actually, the New Zealand affiliated programs are more expensive than the Australia ones. Odd.</p>
<p>We were fortunate enough to spend 17 days in Australia and New Zealand 3 years ago. Both places were beautiful, but it's hard to beat the Australian people in terms of friendliness and spirit.</p>
<p>It might be too late for this, but there are organizations that pay for students to do Study Abroad. The Rotary gives $25K for the year, which would bring your costs down close or equal to what you are paying for the state school. D attends private with lots of FA, and her FA stayed the same, and actually cost her LAC less than they were giving her for a year here.</p>
<p>Thanks, ejr1. Unfortunately, we don't qualify for financial aid (or I guess I should say we are fortunate). With a second student in college next fall,though, things may certainly change!! However, I do know D is investigating scholarship possibilities based upon merit - she is an excellent student. The Rotary scholarship sounds interesting.</p>
<p>One note about the Rotary scholarship - you are not that likely to get one as an American to study in England, or Australia. They want to promote cultural understanding, and they also want developing nations to get to host more students. You're far more likely to get one if you pick a destination country whose culture is very different from yours. They have a list on their website of destination countries that get preference.</p>
<p>Nice to know. Thanks!!</p>
<p>Take a look at what your D wants to get out of her study-abroad experience. I like Australia but if she's interested in seeing more history or someplace less similar to the USA she's probably better off going to Europe or elsewhere. Europe has centuries of history, castles, cathedrals, different languages, etc. Even if studying abroad in England she could make short weekend or break trips to the continent for something different. Paris is only a 3 hour train ride or even shorter flight away. </p>
<p>If she wants to pack a lot into a shorter trip, have her look at one that 'gets around'. Some of the study-abroad programs are basically just taking classes at another college but some of them get out and about and are almost like tours. My D was on one like this in Scotland where they went and stayed at a lot of places.</p>
<p>Something like -
<a href="http://summer.uci.edu/travelstudy/%5B/url%5D">http://summer.uci.edu/travelstudy/</a></p>
<p>Thanks, ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, for the advice and link. The Cambridge one looks particularly fascinating to me. </p>
<p>I think D is more interested in touring than actually studying elsewhere, so a summer program or a graduation trip seems more appropriate, to my way of thinking. I also think there's a little bit of "keeping up with the Joneses" involved. Her boyfriend is talking about going to Madagascar next spring, and I think because HE'S talking about going somewhere, she wants to go as well. At least one other girlfriend is planning on studying abroad next summer as well, so D thinks SHE should as well. Right now she's more about "desire" and not much about "practicality". She's still in class today, so I haven't had the opportunity to tell her about the fact that there are some financial constraints involved.</p>