Your Experience with Study Abroad Costs

I’m really not sure where to post this (mods: feel free to move if there is a more appropriate forum). Recognizing that destination and length of experience are going to impact costs…just looking for a general sense. If you or your child has studied abroad for a semester, did you find the cost comparable to what you would have spent at the home campus?

D20 has scholarships offers at two schools.

One of them covers the entire tuition, but cannot be applied toward study abroad.

The other covers most of tuition (leaving a $4k per year gap), but CAN be applied to study abroad (she would, however be limited to the programs that have arrangements with the host institution).

Study abroad is a priority for her. Ideally, she’d like to do, at a minimum, a semester away - with an additional travel experience (short course experience) or two, if possible. As she’s making her decisions, I’d like to have a realistic sense of the financial ramifications of each choice.

My 2 Ds were under each of those instances. The merit aid at one would not cover the study abroad. The merit at the other would cover the cost at institutions with formal agreements with the school. My D at the second school went while D1 did not.

My kids school offered a very rich study abroad themselves. Tuition was less costly. Housing was more. They were on their own for food. Transport was included as well. The school did the adjustments, and merit aid applied.

So check the fine print on what is actually included in study abroad costs.

This is going to depend a lot on where you go to. I have looked at (on-line) some universities abroad that for Americans are comparable in price to private universities in the US ($$$$$). I have seen some very good universities in Canada which for international students are about the same cost as the in-state price at our local public universities ($).

One daughter took a semester abroad in high school. This was arranged through the high school to a school that they have a relationship with. The additional cost to us was the price of the airplane ticket. The same daughter is currently at university in Canada (which I call “semi-abroad” since we live in the northeast of the US).

It sounds to me as if you have a difference of $16,000 between the two schools that you are considering. This difference would be enough to pay for one year of tuition and fees at one of the small universities in eastern Canada, as well at some of the “less famous but very good” larger schools in Canada. It might just barely pay for one semester of tuition and fees at some of the more famous schools in Canada. However, $16,000 would probably not be enough to pay tuition only for one semester as an international student at many universities outside of North America.

Your daughter might need to think about where she wants to go abroad, and then look specifically at the programs offered by each university that you are considering.

I might add that our experiences with studying abroad are very positive. I think that this is very much worth considering as a likely option for your daughter.

It’s actually a bigger difference (than $16k). At school A, we’re only responsible for r&b, which is about $12k per year. At school B, we are responsible for r&b (approx $16k per year) plus an additional $4k in the gap between what the scholarship covers and the actual tuition.

We have funds to cover $16k per year. D20 would need to take the federal loan to cover the shortfall.

Without factoring in study abroad, she graduates from school A with around $17k left in her coffers. With or without a study abroad semester, she graduates school B with about $20k in student loan debt. So, you can see why I am curious to get a good idea of what a semester abroad might actually cost.

“Without factoring in study abroad, she graduates from school A with around $17k left in her coffers. With or without a study abroad semester, she graduates school B with about $20k in student loan debt.”

I would avoid the debt.

I think that this is going to depend upon where your daughter wants to go. I do not think that I would take on $20k in debt to do a year in Europe or Asia. I think that I would rather study over the summer in Quebec City or Nova Scotia with no debt rather than spend a semester in Paris or Scotland and run up $20k in debt.

Yes, I am generally debt-averse and she is not eager to take on any, either. That said, she is revisiting both schools and if there is really something glaringly wrong with school A, or, conversely, something that just really “feels right” about school B, well…I think it is a manageable amount to graduate with. Note that she would be incurring that debt to attend school B whether she studies abroad there or not. Study abroad expenses only changes the bottom line on school A.

D’s school offered 3 types of study abroad. First the school had several programs (one semester in London, a few just a month or summer programs) and you could use all your federal, state and school aid, and there was extra study abroad money (thank you Dick Cheney). I thought this was paid to the university but it was paid to a private company and the big difference this made was for taxes - it was NOT considered tuition even thoughWyo professors taught the courses and on the transcript it looked like the course was taken on campus (same course #, same grading scale).

Second was a program with an affiliated university. There were usually negotiated tuition rates with the schools and the credits were automatically accepted, but you did pay the foreign university whatever that university set as COA. You could use all your university/federal aid.

Third was independent, and while there were a list of colleges in the program, you still had to get courses approved for transfer and apply to have your aid available.

In all cases the student paid for airfare, passports, visas, medical requirements (vaccinations, insurance, etc) and I don’t think those were included in the COA. She did the school sponsored semester in London, which had one charge for instate or OOS students, and it was more than an instate semester on campus and a lot less than an OOS semester. It included classes, transportation in London, housing and breakfast (it was a homestay arrangement). There were weekend ‘adventures’ in and out of London that you paid for separately, but a few things included too (plays, museum tours) as part of classes. My daughter did one weekend in Paris but other than that had plenty to do in London/near London (like Brighton Beach or Stonehenge).

This is very school dependent. You’ll need to ask the school.

And the hidden “maybe”- not every kid is as diligent as he or she needs to be in making sure that every single credit from an overseas program transfers back to their home university.

I know half a dozen kids who ended up on the 5 year plan for a BA (grr…) because they assumed that taking a full load overseas meant a credit by credit transfer.

No. It’s at the discretion of the academic Dean (or Deans) at the home institution. Even back in the dark ages when I was in college, there were courses taken overseas which were not given full credit back home. Either because half the semester repeated work which had already been completed or because the syllabus was not deemed “college level”.

For a program not run by your kids own university, your kid is going to have to verify that the time abroad does not become an expensive vacation with a few credits thrown on top. If you want your kid on the “8 semester and a degree” plan, this requires careful project management!!!

@DeeCee36 It looks like the differential is actually closer to $40k between the two colleges in terms of study abroad cost. (Coming out of college with a $17k surplus v. coming out of college with a $20k debt).

I would seriously ask your daughter whether a couple of months abroad is worth $40k to her (not just $20k of debt). She could easily take the $17k surplus from school A and travel for a couple of months during any of her summer breaks, or take a 3 month travel after graduation and end up in a better place financially.

If study abroad is really important to her, she could also look for additional schools that would be more affordable to do study abroad and more broadly apply for that specific purpose.