Semester abroad in college

[Anonymous]

True, study abroad can be a money maker for schools. Schools abroad are generally cheaper thus by charging the same tuition they can skim some off the top.

Go for it!

[Anonymous]

Op, what languages, of any does your kid speak? Interest? Art history, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go for it! Although I just want to add a different perspective. I'm on the board for my college. Most colleges have realized that the semester or preferably "year abroad" is a money maker for the school. If the college can urge every student to do it - as we are doing, then you can run five years of students through the campus every four years. In other words, we can scoop up another full year's worth of tuition x 3,000 students without building more dorms. And in most situations, deals are struck so that a good portion of the $60K coming in the door for the student is mostly retained by the college or university. So schools are often not offering this with the best intentions - so investigate the program thoroughly. If your school is just dumping you in Germany without thought, plan or academic mission, then it's a financial game for the school. Similarly, we realized we were losing money on room and board because students moved off campus ASAP, so now have a three-year residency requirement in triples and quads. ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS. But, otherwise, go for it! A great opportunity if the college runs the program well.

Interesting persective. I went to a small private liberal arts college and all of my classes abroad counted for credits I needed so I still was able to graduate in 3.5 years despite a semester abroad. After I graduated, my school did stop off campus housing unless you have "special permission".

14:19 back again. Thanks for posting - you reminded me of something I wanted to say. I think the era of graduating as you did (early) is long gone. The trend as you probably know is for kids to take five years or more to graduate. This used to blamed in the big university system on the inability to sign up for required courses for a major first term, etc., or switching of majors. But now also in the SLACs the stigma of needing to graduate in four years is long gone so tossing in the year abroad is another way of trying to extend that four year graduation into 4.5 or 5. I didn't mean to imply in my post above that the year abroad does not get you full credit - it does - so technically the student should be able to return and still graduate in four years but often that doesn't work out that way and colleges often make it difficult on purpose (can't get the right course; am behind on thesis; necessary stats. course isn't offered the term on return -- you get the idea) so often those that do take the year abroad wind up graduating in 4.5 or 5 years. So that's an additional $60K in the college's purse on top of the $60K it got for the year abroad. I'm certainly advocating for doing any kind of study abroad - just saying that the student and parent should fully check out exactly what is being offered on the other end because the practice is a racket of sorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go for it! Although I just want to add a different perspective. I'm on the board for my college. Most colleges have realized that the semester or preferably "year abroad" is a money maker for the school. If the college can urge every student to do it - as we are doing, then you can run five years of students through the campus every four years. In other words, we can scoop up another full year's worth of tuition x 3,000 students without building more dorms. And in most situations, deals are struck so that a good portion of the $60K coming in the door for the student is mostly retained by the college or university. So schools are often not offering this with the best intentions - so investigate the program thoroughly. If your school is just dumping you in Germany without thought, plan or academic mission, then it's a financial game for the school. Similarly, we realized we were losing money on room and board because students moved off campus ASAP, so now have a three-year residency requirement in triples and quads. ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS. But, otherwise, go for it! A great opportunity if the college runs the program well.

Interesting persective. I went to a small private liberal arts college and all of my classes abroad counted for credits I needed so I still was able to graduate in 3.5 years despite a semester abroad. After I graduated, my school did stop off campus housing unless you have "special permission".

14:19 back again. Thanks for posting - you reminded me of something I wanted to say. I think the era of graduating as you did (early) is long gone. The trend as you probably know is for kids to take five years or more to graduate. This used to blamed in the big university system on the inability to sign up for required courses for a major first term, etc., or switching of majors. But now also in the SLACs the stigma of needing to graduate in four years is long gone so tossing in the year abroad is another way of trying to extend that four year graduation into 4.5 or 5. I didn't mean to imply in my post above that the year abroad does not get you full credit - it does - so technically the student should be able to return and still graduate in four years but often that doesn't work out that way and colleges often make it difficult on purpose (can't get the right course; am behind on thesis; necessary stats. course isn't offered the term on return -- you get the idea) so often those that do take the year abroad wind up graduating in 4.5 or 5 years. So that's an additional $60K in the college's purse on top of the $60K it got for the year abroad. I'm certainly advocating for doing any kind of study abroad - just saying that the student and parent should fully check out exactly what is being offered on the other end because the practice is a racket of sorts.

Seriously? That's awful. I highly question whether the top slacs do this. I graduated from A "potted ivy" a dozen years ago and NO ONE other than ONE guy took more than four years to graduate. No one. Even this girl who missed a semester due to being in a coma after a car accident managed to graduate in four years.

That does sound like a scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes but[b doing a year can be more of a struggle or more daunting.[/b] Is easier to know that you are only there for four months if you are feeling lonely. I did several stints abroad, all under five months, and they were very valuable.

Yes. And that is exactly why a year is better than a semester.

[Anonymous]

14:46 i don't have the stats at my fingertips but more and more kids are doing five and six years in college. It's been the subject of a number of threads here so is in the archives somewhere. Of course that happens more frequently in the large university setting but it is becoming much more common. A lot of kids take "gap years" during their education also for any number of reasons, including financial. Some have to bob in and out of the system and work jobs to pay for tuition. Even when I was in college and law school, some students bowed out for a semester or were put back a year because they had failed a course. But, yes, SLACs are trying to make money any way they can so they can offer all those premium extras you see on tour. Those gorgeous gyms, food halls, libraries, super dorms with kitchens all come with a price tag. The SLACs are battling it out for the best kids so are throwing money at anything that will attract the best and the brightest and - most importantly - increase the no. of applications just so we can turn them down to increase our "selectivity rating" with u.S. News & World Report. Sad but true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True, study abroad can be a money maker for schools. Schools abroad are generally cheaper thus by charging the same tuition they can skim some off the top.

Go for it!

When I went abroad 20 years ago, I went through a program not associated with my SLAC (but approved by it). Tuition for the year was ... $800. Pretty much what the European university charged and a fraction of what my SLAC charged.

My parents saved a boatload of money that year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:True, study abroad can be a money maker for schools. Schools abroad are generally cheaper thus by charging the same tuition they can skim some off the top.

Go for it!

When I went abroad 20 years ago, I went through a program not associated with my SLAC (but approved by it). Tuition for the year was ... $800. Pretty much what the European university charged and a fraction of what my SLAC charged.

My parents saved a boatload of money that year.

Great idea! Also for those with kids still in high school, we've done the EIL (experiment in international living program) every summer. It's only one month but a great way to get your kids exposed to a new culture or work on fluency in a language). And much cheaper than trying to do same via a family vacation. There's a wiki page on it.

[Anonymous]

Some schools have their own programs with their faculty cycling through, which is much better than joining an outside program where the emphasis could easily be on partying. I have nothing against partying, but if your DC is really going to get something out of the program, it should be a good one. And if you're looking at schools knowing that this is important. look at schools that have their own programs.

[Anonymous]

^^ reminds me of when I did a summer term in Washington. Our "cycling" SLAC professor held one class and then decided he didn't want to teach us anymore and told the lot of us to write a paper on anything we liked and he would give us an A. He went off and partied the whole summer.

[Anonymous]

Semester abroad at many schools is an extended spring break for kids who are often getting their first exposure to a foreign culture. A year abroad is a joke and no reputable school would permit it, much less encourage it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ reminds me of when I did a summer term in Washington. Our "cycling" SLAC professor held one class and then decided he didn't want to teach us anymore and told the lot of us to write a paper on anything we liked and he would give us an A. He went off and partied the whole summer.

But that's not a semester abroad, thats a summer program. if you're afraid that this will be the case with a college study abroad program, research it. But this is not the sort of thing we've found, so really its pretty irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some schools have their own programs with their faculty cycling through, which is much better than joining an outside program where the emphasis could easily be on partying. I have nothing against partying, but if your DC is really going to get something out of the program, it should be a good one. And if you're looking at schools knowing that this is important. look at schools that have their own programs.

To my knowledge there are no bona fide programs for college credit that place an emphasis on partying.

Doing the program through the home school should not be the default - there are many good study-abroad programs out there for various prices. It is worth shopping around for a good program at a good price. Bonus: You will meet and make friends with students from all over the U.S., which is another layer of experience different from what you would have studying abroad with students from the same school you already attend here in the U.S.