My hypothesis is that the reason it is unknown is because it has a terrible name. Totally generic. Not something you can Google and have it come up on top. Even the acronym is totally forgettable and generic. The name does not even make it clear that it is mainly a domestic exchange vs. study abroad. It is something I stumbled on only after many hours searching with the idea that “There must be some program that facilitates domestic college exchanges here in the US.”
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I heard about the domestic exchange at the college visit my daughter did. She did not do it (did study abroad) but it was explained as an option in the study abroad break out session.
I remember them saying you pay the lesser of your home college’s tuition or the tuition of the exchange college.
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LOL, I had forgotten the name by the time I came back from the gym and saw your reply to me. National Student Exchange. National Student Exchange. National Student Exchange.
I’ve gotta write this down in my spreadsheet, otherwise I’ll forget it again.
From a quick perusal, it appears to be mostly state
flagships or the like. Mostly less selective schools.
But American University is an intriguing option! And a year in Montreal or PR or the Virgin Islands or Hawaii or Guam - dang. Yet another enticing program that makes me wanna go back to college!
So the theory is that my kid could go to Cheap State U and do a year at American University for the same price he’s paying to Cheap State – and whatever schollys he got would come with him?
And, according to the fine print on the site, there’s no limit other than one year max at one school??? So he could do four years at four completely different colleges?
How amazing is this!? There has to be a catch.
My kid is looking to do something fairly generic as a major - philosophy/poly sci - and go on to law school. So it’s not like he would have to be at one school all four years because of its stellar program or anything. He just needs a good GPA and LSAT.
There are many benefits to the National Student Exchange program (repeat, repeat, repeat…I need help remembering its name, too!).
That said, however, I would caution anyone with the idea of spending multiple 1-year stints in a row. I think that one of the easiest times to form new friendships is freshman year when everyone on-campus is new and most people know few others. But people who transfer (or exchange) in after the first year have a harder time building a social group. And if you are literally changing campuses every year, then you’re always having to try and rebuild a social network and you don’t build the same depth of friendships as you’re only there for a year and don’t have multiple years to deepen the friendships.
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Usually, the college (and often major department) you graduate from has some sort of requirement to take a sufficient amount of upper level courses or credits at that school (in the major department if applicable).
So your four years could be like this:
- Frosh year at your home college.
- Sophomore year at exchange college(s).
- Junior year maybe at exchange college(s) if allowed, but may be required to be at your home college to fulfill requirements to do so or take upper level course work that must be done there and not delayable until senior year.
- Senior year at your home college and graduate.
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Great information. I had forgotten all about that resource. But for the sake of clarity, in the above recommendation do you mean no more than 1% behind their non-PG peers. Or did you mean 10%?
The ones I listed were no more than 1% behind. I would want OP to decide how much lower the PG grad rate was than the regular grad rate, as that is more of a personal decision related to comfort level. I figured 1% below was not statistically significant and thus nobody would take issue with it for being too lax.
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Makes sense.
Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but isn’t the first school on your list (U. of South Florida at Sarasota -Manatee) at 10%?
Check out Troy University in Troy, AL. Automatic full ride (tuition, housing and meal plan) for 3.7 GPA and 33+ ACT/1450+SAT. Full Tuition and housing for slightly lower stats.
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The Pell Grant students are graduating at a 10% BETTER rate than their non-PG peers. Pretty extraordinary.
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Yes. Or it might be something like this:
Freshman year-you already have 1 year of Gen Eds from Duel Enrollment
Sophomore year-this is your 1st year on campus, done at home campus
Junior year-National Student exchange
Senior year-back on home campus
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Many schools require at least 60 credits from that school to graduate, or require your final 30 be on campus (this was before covid, so some may now allow online). My sister got caught up in this in the 1970s when she did her first year at one school (LAC) and then transferred to a state university. She did study abroad for a year and then came back and was able to graduate in December. Hold on! The study abroad program was a co-op between 3 schools and that year one of the other schools was the sponsor. She didn’t have her last 30 credits AT her school. Through some bargaining, they decided to let her graduate (after she produced a paper written in English to show she could write; her majors were French and German and most of her upper division work was not in English).
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I agree that one should confirm the fine print with the school! But supposedly the credits from NSE are supposed to transfer automatically/be treated like home credits. Who knows whether schools all 100% honor this though.
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Oh for sure, I would never presume to do any of the things I’d fantasized up above (different school each year) without getting it in writing - triplicate, for sure! - that everything would credit and there wouldn’t be any delay in degree progress.
And it’s probably not even a great idea for a young kid, because finding your tribe is important, as are making faculty mentoring connections and networking.
But for me? At my advanced age? What a joy this would be. Pity they don’t let us do it…
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Go get a(nother) Bachelor’s degree!
Oh, it would be so much fun.
I bet there are limits to this program.
But I should look into it. I was in such a hurry when I was in college that I blew through the BA in two years and ditched the master’s when I got a great job. I have no idea why I was so eager to be a worker bee. Huge mistake.
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Maybe this will be your retirement plan?
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Courses that are accepted for transfer credit may not necessarily:
- Fulfill subject requirements at the home college.
- Count toward the number of upper level credits completed at the home college.
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Makes more sense. I was reading it backwards, thus my initial question. Details, details . . .
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