One other thing that excites my HS senior daughter is the chance to do study abroad in college. Does anyone have experience with that at OU? Any experience with the flagship Arezzo program? The OU study abroad website has a very comprehensive selection of study abroad opportunities including engineering classes at the Italian campus. My D will be a NMF studying chemical engineering.
Studying abroad has been one of my favorite things to do at OU. I studied abroad the summer after my freshman year and did Organic Chemistry in Arezzo. It was a fantastic program that I highly recommend to everyone. I had a couple of friends that did the engineering one in Arezzo that thoroughly enjoyed it. Truly, the Arezzo experience was all around amazing and I had a tremendously good time.
The main thing I would recommend when considering study abroad is the timeline. Classes abroad are typically (although not always) lower level classes. So if a student waits until their junior year, it can be difficult to find classes that actually help a student make progress towards graduating.
@WoolScarves Thanks for the comments. The OU Arezzo program seems like a great experience. My D plans to study chemical engineering, so Organic Chemistry would be a good Summer class for her also. How does the OU NMF scholarship work with the study abroad program in Arezzo? Did you have to pay a lot of out of pocket money?
@jerzmaster Organic Chemistry was great. If she’s trying to decide between that and engineering I will give a very quick comparison.
OChem was great because it had an amazing peer group and the professors were amazing. The setup was great and was an incredibly easy way to learn OChem. Not having to do other classes while learning OChem was such an asset. Having it condensed to a month made it very manageable in terms of “tough it out or a month and you’ll have it done.” There’s also mandatory studying with the professors which means ALL of the students are successful. The difficulty of the course means that you don’t get to sight see and go as crazy as some of the other programs though.
Engineering is great because the students can knock out tedious elective classes in a place as awesome as Italy. I know my friends enjoyed it and took full advantage of being in Italy because their courses didn’t occupy a ton of their time. Overall, both are great options.
In terms of finances, I’m never the most reliable on these so take other parents’ words over mine. What I remember is that the whole program totaled around $6,500, which included plane tickets, living expenses, tuition, etc. The NMF study abroad stipend covered part of it. You don’t get the tuition waiver because you’re only enrolled in 6 hours through that study abroad program and you need 9 over the summer to count as full time.
My D is going to the Oxford Honors program this summer. Her advisor encouraged her to take an online class in addition to the Oxford class. He said that will give her enough hours to qualify as full-time and therefore get the tuition waiver.
@SaxMom15 Our D is doing the Honors at Oxford this summer, too! 
She was also advised that doing an online course, in addition to the Oxford course, would result in a full time summer load and therefore qualify her for the tuition waiver. @WoolScarves - is it possible that the full time load for the summer is now 6 credits instead of 9?
2 things are not clear to me till now.
- If you are NMS, does it mean you will get free tuition for any number of courses you do? Is there any limit? For example, your child did 17 credits in Fall and 18 in Spring and now 6 or 9 in Summer? Do OU waive tuition for all the 41 credits for the first year?
- So called Flat rate tuition concept: Based on what I read in OU web site, sure it helps if students are doing course not fully 15 every semester. But the flat rate still covers only 30 credits. So assume if the child is not getting any tuition waiver, I assume student have to pay for any courses done beyond 30, in the above example, it means student have to pay for 11 credit hours tuition. Is that right? Or I am flat out in my understanding of flat rate!
@GoldenRock Based on our visit, I believe statement #1 to be true. OU will waive tuition for 5 years including summers for NMF. Their is a limit to the number of hours you can register for. I remember 19 hours max unless you can get special approval. I don’t know anything about the flat rate tuition.
Another thing I’m learning is that OU fees are significantly higher than what I see at other colleges. This is important for the NMF since fees are not covered.
My daughter is an engineering student minoring in Spanish. She is a NMS freshman. She has chosen OU in Puebla, Mexico for this summer. She can earn six 3000 level credit hours toward her minor. It is a great fit for her. After reading this thread today, I searched the OU website to see what constitutes full-time. It appears that 6 hours in the summer qualifies as full-time currently. I know when our DD spoke with her advisor, he indicated tuition would be covered as it is an OU program abroad. We are thrilled with idea of this experience and that tuition will be covered. She also has the stipend which can be used for travel, room and board. After this program, she will only need 6 more hours for her minor.
FYI. In study abroad there are many variations, broadly 3 type of programs. Depending on that for some programs tuition is covered as NMF but for some programs, students need to pay or pay some differential amount from their pocket. So read all the points for the program of your choice.
Yes The Puebla program is OU extension program it is free and nicely will fit in to Spanish minor.
Just to be clear, the OU in Puebla program is not free. Because the hours are OU hours, not hours from another university abroad, and she is taking six hours which satisfies the summer full-time student condition, her scholarship will cover tuition. She will also have her stipend to apply toward travel, room, board, etc. my understanding is that we will have some out of pocket expenses to cover after the stipend is applied. I do not want to give a false impression that all expenses are paid, as they are not. At least that is my current understanding. If someone needs information, I would be glad to report back as we complete the process. I do want to say that it is an excellent opportunity and we are grateful for it. As you explore study abroad, check into whether or not tuition would be covered for the program you are interested in.