study abroad options for a community college student?

<p>i'm an incoming freshman at a community college in CA. one of the main reasons i decided to just spend the first two years at a community college is that i have pretty limited funds. my parents make ends meet, but BARELY. there is no way in heck they would be able to pay for an expensive study abroad program, and my savings won't cover the full cost, either.</p>

<p>i don't really know what my options are other than going on whatever program my school offers...but i really want to go to either spain or france, and my school mainly offers england and italy. i've researched many other CA junior college districts, and a few may have those programs, but i really would LOVE an immersion program.</p>

<p>i really enjoy learning languages. i took spanish in middle school and all four years in high school and want to become fluent. i also want to learn french. my school's programs are geared toward students who just want to see other places with their friends, and the descriptions of the programs make everything seem very english-friendly, which is convenient, but not helpful when you want to learn another language.</p>

<p>i sooo want to go on a full-immersion program somewhere so i can really learn the language and experience the culture. but every semester immersion program costs, like, 15K.</p>

<p>i only go to a junior college, so i wouldn't be able to use a program from a university, right? and even so, they're probably really expensive.</p>

<p>any ideas? i'm sooooo excited to travel and know i will have an amazing time even if i go to italy with my school and don't learn the language. but it would be my dream to be able to go to spain or france on a full-immersion study abroad program without paying an arm and a leg and my first born. :)</p>

<p>Many universities allow students from other schools to attend. You have to check with individual schools to see if you qualify as a community college student. Also there are independent study abroad programs like ISA, CEA, API that have programs or various prices. I did a semester in Sevilla, Spain with CEA where I lived in a house owned by a woman who spoke no English, took a 3 week intensive spanish class, and then took a semester of courses all in Spanish…it costs about 10K. It also included a bunch of excursions that were optional (but REALLY fun). There were a number of community college students there. I know CEA also has a bunch of scholarships.</p>

<p>What I’m trying to say is that you have options–you just have to find them.</p>