Lately my parents have been belittling me for wanting to be an art teacher. Now, besides that, they refuse to even consider the idea of me studying abroad once I’m in college “just to be an art teacher.” I’m just extremely upset because they are incredibly unsupportive in the first place, and have now denied me yet another one of my dreams.
If your parents are going to support your study abroad (emotionally or financially), it’s time to start looking for ways to fund it yourself.
If you want to study abroad, then do it. Find the way to fund it yourself. Many schools offer scholarships for study abroad.
Many schools just charge normal tuition for study abroad, and transfer the credits. Some schools even cover airfare as part of that. If you study on a program approved by your college, your financial aid typically can be applied as well. But you will need to check this out with each college to figure out how much extra it will cost you. Remember that you probably can’t work for pay during your study abroad semester (so if you have work study or a campus job, you won’t have that income for a semester).
if you want to be a teacher, you need a close to free (local) education. Study abroad needs funding. Maybe that happens when you have a degree that you can actually use overseas? Have you considered that your parents are being pragmatic about $$ rather than destroying your dreams? Your college option that is being funded by merit might have SA options, have you checked? Parents who see that their kids have limited financial return on their degrees are smart to offer conservative financial advice, no?