<p>USNWR looks at the rising cost of study abroad: "as the dollar dips to all-time lows, college students are feeling the pinch". </p>
<p>
[quote]
...Study-abroad costs...vary wildly based on the way colleges structure their programs. Schools that effectively swap students with a foreign college are less affected by the falling dollar, but American schools that operate their own student centers often end up paying more for rent, utilities, and faculty salaries as the U.S. currency falters. The dollar's slide also means that trying to set student fees in advance is a tiresome guessing game for college officials...
<p>Personal experience, my college senior is living the life of a church-mouse poor college student at the University of Reading in the UK. Day excursions run through the University are upwards to 20pounds ($40) and her weekend trip to France to visit with other US students from her college was 200pounds ($400) for transportation alone (tube, Eurstar train, bus fare--no, she did not fly). After working full time all summer she is flat broke with about 2 weeks left to term and she's lived VERY conservatively all semester but the $2k she budgeted (more than $100/week) for spending money was gone in a flash. </p>
<p>The best advice we got...pack less clothing then you think you'll need and bring more money than you think you'll need.</p>
<p>My son is a senior at a SUNY university and is studying in Prague. He loves it and has found it to be very reasonable. While there he has traveled to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Munich for Octoberfest, Berlin, Istanbul and Krakow so far. His tuition is the same and his room and board is actually cheaper. He loves living in Prague and it has been a wonderful experience for him. I would just say to do some research. England is very expensive but there are other cities like Prague that offer wonderful programs at very reasonable prices. I don't know about other schools but through SUNY these programs are less than $3,000 for tuition. Room and board which includes breakfast runs about $1,600.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the Study Abroad office is searching for cheaper housing options for Europe-bound Princetonians, primarily by working with European schools to secure dormitory housing, Uribe said.</p>
<pre><code>"Anything they could do to help students obtain housing would be great," Sandra Katz '08, who interned last summer at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, said.
Nevertheless, the dollar's fall relative to the Euro does not seem to have noticeably decreased the percentage of students choosing to study abroad in Europe, Study Abroad Director Nancy Kanach said.
While 57 percent of students who studied abroad last year went to Europe, this year the number is 55 percent. She added that last year's elimination of the $2,750-per-semester study abroad fee may have offset the dollar's decline and helped keep the percentage of students who travel to Europe essentially the same...
<p>"Studying abroad offers a lesson in economics"</p>
<p>
[quote]
In Europe, the most popular destination, one euro was worth about $1.47 on Friday, compared with $1 in 2002. In November, the dollar tumbled to a 26-year low against the British pound.</p>
<p>"Oh, brother -- good topic," William Thomas, chief of Union College's study-abroad program said when asked about the exchange rate....if the dollar slides further, Jim Pasquill, director of the study-abroad program at University at Albany, worries it could "put study abroad in Europe and other expensive destinations out of reach of more students." Students "with the most financial need will be the hardest hit," he said.</p>
<p>This is unfolding as more students arrive on campuses expecting that a foreign adventure -- sometimes including side trips to cities like Amsterdam or Paris -- will be part of their college experience.</p>
<p>The number of U.S. students studying in foreign countries climbed 8.5 percent to a record 223,534 in 2005-06, according to a survey released last month by the New York City-based Institute of International Education.</p>
<p>The report showed growing interest in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. But the top spot remains the United Kingdom. And the majority -- 58 percent -- choose Europe...