<p>Hi all- I’m thinking of attending a summer school in the US, only the cost option is a big negative factor. Which universities offer affordable prices / credithour? I came across UCSD, but this one has only interesting fees for UC-students, not for internationals. </p>
<p>Any idea of summer schools less than $480 / credit hour? (e.g. 240 as UCSD)</p>
<p>-Thanks.</p>
<p>What are you talking about? There are no “prep” courses for graduate school. You stumble and learn the hard way with your peers in graduate courses.</p>
<p>Check first if there are visa issues. It seems that foreign students need to be enrolled in a degree-granting program or do something under the umbrella of “cultural exchange” (e.g. ESL classes or a reciprocal exchange between a US and foreign university) to get a student visa. </p>
<p>A tourist visa does not allow you to be a college student.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Visa would not be a problem, a F-1 visum will be necessary. Requirement is 8 credit hours minimum (eq. 2 courses, fulltime load). </p>
<p>As far as I looked, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seems to offer the lowest costs / credit hour ($ 480). Anyone knowing cheaper/better alternatives?</p>
<p>@ticklemepink There are. Both in terms of “pre-masters” (e.g. 2/3 semesters) as summer schools that offer graduate courses and graduate research skills classes. For instance, UCSD has several interesting ones. Maybe not called “pre-master”, but it might keep me ahead of the graduate material. Or am I wrong? Feel free to comment; open for discussion.</p>
<p>I am not convinced that you understand my concern about visas. Here’s a quote from a government website about F-1 eligibility:</p>
<p>
In other words, you cannot get an F-1 visa for taking random summer classes. You would actually need to be accepted into a degree-granting program (e.g. a Master’s program or a second Bachelor’s degree).
[USCIS</a> - Students and Employment](<a href=“http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=e34c83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e34c83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD]USCIS”>http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=e34c83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e34c83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD)</p>
<p>Back to answer your original question. You can find universities with cheap tuition fees using Collegeboard’s [college</a> search engine](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board).</p>
<p>I have never heard of a “pre-masters” program. There are some places where you can take regular graduate courses during the summer, but they aren’t special programs; any non-degree student could take them (although as already noted, international students cannot enroll as non-degree and get a visa).</p>
<p>Then there are post-baccalaureate programs. The most common ones are for medical school, but my department has one for psychology, and several other schools have them for other fields. The idea IS to prepare you for graduate school in a specific field of study, but in my view they are very often overpriced. For example, my university’s is nearly $40K per year, but the introductory psychology courses you can take here are the same ones you would take at any public university for far cheaper. You do have an advantage of doing research with professors here, but we get students from other universities doing research with our professors all the time.</p>