Study Abroad frustration over hype and cost

<p>My 2 oldest did study abroad, and last one is definitely interested. Her school requires that you study in the language of the country you are in (French in her case) so it will not be an extended vacation. This LAC also pays for the plane tickets there.</p>

<p>Oldest D did a program in Brussels and had some classes in English and some in French. I think she found it relatively easy but also a great experience and she did travel a lot around Europe cheaply. One of her majors was Intl Affairs.</p>

<p>Son studied Japanese at college and did a program with his school in Japan in the summer. It was an intensive language program with some cultural weekend trips and he feels it helped him with his minor in Japanese. The plane tickets were pricy though!</p>

<p>I did not study abroad but find it is much more common now. I have a niece and a nephew living and working abroad in long term jobs.</p>

<p>Some schools’, like Colgate, study abroad often involved a real program set up by the school and there are professor(s) going over with the students. At other schools, like Cornell, it literally meant study abroad at a college overseas. </p>

<p>When D1 studied abroad in Australia, she just went over there with a friend and studied at a local U. It was no different than if she was at her home Uni. The only difference was the cost, it was 10K cheaper. D1 didn’t like her experience the first month, but she loved it at the end and has made life long friends.</p>

<p>As a rule of thumb, I would not let my girls live with host families. I would prefer if they had their own apartment or lived on campus. Same reason I didn’t allow them to sleep over friend’s house I didn’t know the family well.</p>

<p>^ ya host families are REALLY hit or miss.</p>

<p>I lived in Italy for two years in HS (one with my fam, one with a host fam) and my experience with my host family was so horrible I knew when I went abroad in college (last spring) I was NOT doing a host family</p>

<p>Living In the dorms in a foreign country was rough and awesome all at the same time</p>

<p>Sydney U’s residential college was pretty awesome, much nicer than D1’s home college.</p>

<p>OP, I hope the above posts have disabused you of the notion that a semester or year abroad is going to be too costly. So moving on, the one big argument I made in favor of my kids’ studying abroad (and neither did it, to my consternation) is that it is very unlikely that one will ever have another opportunity to spend more than a week in another part of the world. Life after graduation just doesn’t allow for that sort of freedom. So if you have the chance for substantial foreign travel, take it! And if it does happen that studying abroad requires working a few more hours a week to save up for airfare or expenses, it’s a small price to pay for a once in a lifetime opportunity.</p>

<p>I lived with two different host families- one that was in a suburban community and constantly had host kids and one who had never had a host kid before and lived on the equivalent of an American Rez. My fiance lived with a host family when he studied in Japan. We loved all of the experiences and have encouraged others to do home stays. YMMV.</p>

<p>Another poster to add to those who say it was the same cost as staying at their respective schools (minus airfare over there and back - well, and my airfare over there and back because both times I used it as an opportunity to go see them and do some exploring myself). D1’s school actually has their own department set up in the U.K., so she didn’t miss a step in getting in all her requisites for graduation. D2 attended another U. and lived on their campus, in their dorms. So it was different for each one. But in both cases, they took a full course load of credits that applied directly to their graduation requirements and in their majors.</p>

<p>Young people in professional jobs today are going to have to be comfortable getting on a plane and flying to a foreign country to do business or have meetings. If a student hasn’t yet traveled as a child or teen, study abroad is a good way to get exposure and a certain comfort level with international travel and contact.</p>

<p>D is currently studying abroad and it is less expensive than her urban university here in the states…even the cost of living is a bit less. She is taking four courses, two of which apply to her core major and two electives. All apply to her graduation requirements. Her school made it very easy and financially feasible to do a study abroad offering scholarships to do so. So, I wouldn’t close the door on it yet, we do live in a global world and professionals are expected to travel in most cases.</p>

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<p>This is a good point, and one I didn’t think about because I blindly put my trust in the Ivy League college that offers this program (for its own students only). Not only did the hosts smoke and serve potatoes for most meals, but the husband was apparently unemployed and stayed at home watching TV (and smoking) all day. My D felt uncomfortable being alone in the house with this arrangement. The home was in a small-town suburb with few amenities and the hours of public transportation were limited. Some things for others to keep in mind.</p>

<p>Bay, I’m wondering if different programs do a better job of vetting host families. D1 went on a program run by a company whose primary business is providing study abroad programs. She said that everyone on her program was very happy with their host families. </p>

<p>Clearly another thing for families to check out before committing to a program.</p>

<p>Every family will have a different situation and everyone’s study abroad situation will be different also. I encouraged both of my d’s to study abroad as the experience was directly connected to their area of study. In both our cases the cost was a bit higher than their semester would have been had they been at their home college. For younger d, her semester abroad came at a very rough time for the dollar against the euro, one of the most favorable time periods for the euro. Older d was a double major in studio art and art history. She studied abroad at the Temple Rome program one of the oldest studio abroad programs in Europe. It was a rigorous program with two studio art classes, two art history classes and mandatory Italian class for which she had studied a year pre-requisite at her home campus. You needed to be accepted both academically as well as on the basis of your studio portfolio.It was an invaluable experience both personally and academically. Fast forward several years and older d went to grad school at Tyler/Temple. One of her study abroad faculty members became a mentor and continues to do so and has provided recommendations for her in professional capacity. She only teaches undergrads at the Tyler/Temple campus so d did not study with her again but she was always supportive and came to see all the grad student shows.
Younger d studied music in Vienna at IES, one of the only study abroad programs for music. It was challenging but rewarding on many levels, not the least of which was that she held her own against vocal students from many schools of music. She learned quite a lot about opportunities for grad school and performance in Europe. She also took 5 classes and many required rehersals and performances were held on weekends.
In both cases, d’s met people who had unlimited funds to fly off every weekend. They also met students who had no additional funds to do anything beyond what was required. Older d had many friends who studied abroad while younger d had hardly any. As she was a double major in music and English with theatre concentration, she had to make many difficult choices academically about what was doable for her. She had no regrets about her choice and again it was a life changing experience. Both d’s made very good friends from study abroad that they are still close to.
Sometimes you can do a summer program instead of a semester or a year. Older d also studied abroad for four-week program in France. Following year, she was a paid intern for 10 weeks, following two years she was a paid staff member and also had a mentor who wrote many LOR for grad school applications… so you never know…</p>

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lmkh70, since your objection is based on your family’s inability to afford study abroad programs, why wouldn’t setting financial parameters solve the problem? Most colleges promote their study abroad programs because many incoming college students would like to participate, if the money is there. If the money isn’t there, studying abroad becomes just another nice thing the kid can’t afford to do. Everyone has to come to terms with that reality at some point.</p>

<p>The problem is not with study abroad programs per se, some of which are quite affordable and worthwhile, and others of which may be an impractical use of limited financial resources. Taking schools off the list because a large percentage of students study abroad will eliminate a LOT of very good schools.</p>

<p>Our youngest d was able to fund about 85 percent of her own summer study abroad program through savings and a part-time job. Seven academic credits, an irreplaceable perspective on the Holocaust, and an ability to get by in Czech - it was much more than an expensive vacation.</p>

<p>I should add to my previous post that part of the reason our experiences cost a bit more was that I included the travel cost to get to Europe from NY as opposed to just driving in a car up to school. Also, art supplies in Europe are pricier than they are here. Tuition to our home university covered the tuition for program. Room cost were transferred from home university to study abroad. Older d lived in student housing that were dorm-like, small units for three girls with kitchen and very strict rules about overnight visitors/good security. Younger d lived in 3 bedroom apartment with three other students and a guy who sort of functioned as an RA/coordinator. Her program covered the cost of her private voice lessons and her art history elective covered cost of all museum admissions anywhere she went. She actually was able to pick up a babysitting job for several weeks towards the end of her semester. When older d did summer program, she had part of tuition covered by department grant for summer study. There are also scholarships that are specific for study abroad that can be researched as well.</p>

<p>I am sure most host families are very nice, but there is no way to make sure all host families are. Even if the program is able to vet out the family, what about the extended family or friends? I always do wonder what kind of families sign up to host exchange students. Do they do it a) for money, c) for the cultural experience, or d)out of goodness of their heart? Which one would make you feel more comfortable about placing your kid there and what’s the probability it being the reason your kid’s host family is doing it for. What would be your recourse if it should not work out? </p>

<p>D1 got very good exposure to the local culture by living at a college dorm. She was invited to friend’s homes for meals and weekends, but she always had her place to go back to.</p>

<p>Just think of it as another instance of colleges selling themselves based on lifestyle and facilities. They focus on the gym and the student rec centre, and study abroad, and not the classrooms or the academic facilities.</p>

<p>I think you’re right that study abroad is normally a vacation. It’s also not a particularly unusual one. At many American colleges, study abroad (a semester in Europe or Australia) seems to be absolutely standard for any moderately-wealthy white girl studying one of the humanities or social sciences. Those who think it will help them stand out on job applications are deluding themselves, in most cases.</p>

<p>But as others have pointed out, it needn’t be expensive. If you can direct enroll in a foreign university, it is often cheaper. (Hence all the scandals about some American universities charging normal tuition for their students abroad, and pocketing the difference).</p>

<p>I wonder if the OP is confusing a Semester Abroad with Summer Abroad? Summer Abroad programs can be quite pricey since the costs don’t replace a normal semester’s cost. </p>

<p>I know at some schools the faculty-led summer abroad programs are super popular, but they can be costly $5k-7k plus airfare, spending money, plus any optional side trips.</p>

<p>That said…the side trips for semester abroad can get costly…but they’re not required of course.</p>

<p>oldfort, we had opened our home to an exchange student one summer. It was a great experience for both sides and we still keep in touch. For us, money was not the motivation to host since there were no monetary compensation. In fact, we paid for everything while the student was in my house except for her own spending money. We took her to see and do as many tourist things as we can.
DS (high school class of 2014) went on summer exchange with a very reputable program and stayed with a host family. It also was a great experience for both sides and we still keep in touch today.
I have heard that some countries have few families willing to volunteer. In that case, the program does pay some money to the host families.
I agree that host family is hit and miss. It can be an awesome or bad experience. The good thing with a program is that if the host family does not work out, the student can ask the program to find an alternate family.</p>

<p>I do think study abroad is overhyped in admissions sessions and often creates more logistical problems that one might expect. My son goes to Tufts which is definitely a school that talks about study abroad a lot in admissions materials. They run a bunch of their own programs - which have the advantage of giving full Tufts credit with no hassles, but I believe cost the same as Tufts tuition and you are studying with other students from Tufts. Since my son wanted to study Arabic he had to find programs that Tufts would approve. While getting Gen Ed credit P/F wasn’t hard, getting credit for his major proved illusive. He got credit for a year of Arabic and one history course. Everything else was just gen ed. It made his senior year schedule more constrained than it might have been. (If he’d only taken one semester instead of a whole year - it would have been easier.)</p>

<p>I think my experience was ideal. Take a gap year before college and achieve near fluency in a language so that you can use it in courses in college. Take advantage of summers for other foreign experiences. I spent the year in France and spent one month after Freshman year improving my German. (I spent the summer before my senior year in London, Paris and Berlin doing research for my senior thesis. The university gave me a grant so it cost nothing.) All the language study came in handy.</p>

<p>BTW my younger son who has been to three different programs would say academics are definitely easier at all of them - though the semester all his courses were in Arabic and there was a language pledge and they shared an apartment with a Jordanian student was quite challenging.</p>

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<p>But then how would universities be able to gouge gullible families?</p>