Schools with VERY strong study abroad options

Parents Forum
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My d26 kiddo is hell bent on study abroad (I had to talk her off the ledge of full on just applying to international schools for a variety of reasons, lack of federal loans being one reason)

Her number one at the point is gwu. They have a global degree program where you spend 3 semesters abroad. She’s in love with this idea. I’m supportive of this plan except holy expensive!! GWU is at the very top end of how much we could borrow when I ran the calculator and it would set her (and us) back financially for a while. I’d love some less pricey options for her to consider. She’s leaning towards international relations as a major and she got bit by the travel bug at a young age. We’ve hosted exchange students her whole life and she’s very close to many of them from all over the world so I get it. I just want options in case a merit scholarship doesn’t come her way from gwu which is the only way we could afford it more comfortably.

And if you have any experience with this program at GWU, please let me know your thoughts!

Thank you :blush:

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There are quite a few international schools where one can still take out the direct student loans. (I know you said there were other reasons, too!)

https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/international-schools-in-federal-loan-programs.pdf

There are also many independent study abroad programs, CIEE, IES, and AIFS have a ton of options, and many schools accept their credits. Of course cost can become an issue, depending on one’s budget. These options can supplement a school’s own options.

I can’t comment on GWU’s offerings. I would generally not take out any more than the $27K max undergrad student loans. Parents are responsible for anything beyond that, either directly or as co-signers. Can some parents handle those loans? Sure. But setting yourself back financially, impacting your credit rating and borrowing power, and/or not funding retirement first often does not make sense from a financial perspective. Good luck.

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URI has some programs.

Others like Syracuse and Florida State have abroad centers. At FSU go abroad the first year and get in state tuition.

NYU has four year programs abroad.

Any school, high ranked or not on the abroad lists, will offer opportunities abroad because all will have affiliate programs - like CIEE, Semester at Sea.

My daughter’s school had lots of programs but none worked. She did one through Nebraska.

So find the right college. The abroad part will work itself out.

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Arcadia has a very well known study abroad program, although I don’t think you need to actually be a student there to take advantage: Study Abroad Programs for College Students | Arcadia University

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These days, most every college offers robust study abroad options. I would not use this as a way to choose a college (especially if affordability becomes an issue). For any colleges your D is interested in, she can check out Study Abroad section of the school website.

I believe William and Mary offers a joint degree program in International Relations with St. Andrews that may be worth looking into (if affordable).

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UDel has the oldest study abroad program in the US, plus their global scholars program. Students need to apply. The winter program is extended to February so students can choose to do study abroad in the winter for 6 weeks.

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Saint Louis University has a Madrid campus where students can do all their undergraduate abroad. They can also 2 years abroad and 2 years at the Saint Louis campus.

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U of Denver encourages all students to study abroad for Junior year/ semester. The cost is the same as it would be if you were on campus (plus travel) and you can use all your FA. It has a strong international relations program.

The U of Wyoming encourages study abroad and when my daughter was there, it was cheaper for OOS students to go abroad (tuition was a set amount for instate and OOS, so sort of half way point for both). The Cheney family foundation gives everyone a grant to study abroad and you can use all your FA. It also has a strong and well funded IR program (again, thanks to the Cheney family) with a very nice (newish) building right in the center of campus. They also participate in the domestic exchange program so a student could spend a year at another university and pay the cheaper of WY tuition or that school’s tuition.

My niece was an IR major at U of San Diego. She did a semester in France, and almost all of her friends were also in Europe that semester so they all traveled all over and met up in Africa, Ireland, England, Germany. Some kids did a full year abroad. It is not a cheap school but they do have good merit aid. Niece has a masters from GWU and now works in DC.

Most schools allow students to set up their own study abroad, but the student has to do more work to make sure the credits will transfer, for housing and costs, and for advising if they don’t do the school’s sponsored program(s). My daughter went on the sponsored program for Wyoming so all credits were automatic to her transcript. the FA was given to her to before payment was due, etc. There were two other options for study abroad too, with the second level a group of pre-approved study abroad programs (credits to transfer, cost set) but more requirements for the student to handle all the arrangements, and the third group is more of a list of programs that are approved but the student has to get courses approved for credit transfer and the tuition and other costs are up to the foreign university so the student has to do more paperwork.

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Came here to recommend William & Mary/St. Andrews Joint Degree.

Also you can use federal loans at St. Andrews and other international schools.

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I also was originally going to mention the W&M/St Andrews program. I note IR is one of the six allowed majors, and IR is very good at St Andrews (and it doesn’t hurt it is pretty popular among powerful families from across the world):

Assuming she can get admitted and you can afford it, I think this is pretty much as good as it can get for an extended combination of US and non-US experiences with an IR interest.

I also wanted to throw in another vote for checking out the Korbel School at Denver:

https://korbel.du.edu/academics-degrees/undergraduate-degrees?search=

They also have a very robust merit program so that might get you where you need to be.

Syracuse is another private with decent merit and a very good IR program run out of the Maxwell School, which is a top Public Affairs school in general. Also a very highly regarded study abroad program:

Among smaller colleges, Macalester has merit, a highly-regarded study abroad program, and has a dedicated International Studies department:

I note the study abroad program is run out of the Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship, which is pretty cool in general:

I also note Macalester has a great location in the Twin Cities, which are (too some surprisingly) very international cities.

Then really almost all the core Big Ten universities have strong IR programs and are mostly pretty affordable to begin with, some with merit as well. But I will give a particular shout out to Indiana. VERY popular study abroad program, and their IS majors are run out of the Lugar School:

That’s just some ideas.

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If LACs are in consideration, look at Wash & Lee. It has a strong program for international relations and well-established study abroad relationships and advising. Their DC term may also be of interest to your D.

W&L has generous need-based aid (need blind and meets full need) plus merit aid, notably the Johnson scholarship full ride to approximately 10% of each class plus limited full tuition scholarships. Whatever aid a student receives follows them for study abroad so the cost is typically no more than what is paid when on campus. There are also Opportunity Grants available to help with any extra expenses.

My D studied abroad 3 times and loved her experiences. I’m happy to answer any questions.

https://my.wlu.edu/johnson-program

ETA: Add me to the list who first thought of W&M/St Andrews program :smiley:

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If not already mentioned, there seems to be a lot more options if the student attends a semester based program vs a quarter program. It seems easier to join other school’s programs and private programs when on the semester calendar.

Also, I believe a majority of US colleges charge you their full tuition and room & board fees even if the study abroad program is priced lower. There are schools that only charge you the study abroad direct fee and that would be significantly cheaper - I am not sure if there is a list out there of schools that allow it vs charging you their fees. I wonder if other posters could recommend schools that have this model.

For example, one of our daughter’s studied abroad in the UK - her US college charged their same fees yet if you look up the program it was 1/2 the price of her US college. It was not allowed to sign up through the program and still remain a student and have the credits transfer, so we paid the full fee. The school states this is how they fund their study abroad office and I get it - but we were also a bit bitter paying full room and board fees and then seeing the school only provide a small food allowance vs the large sum we were still paying for board at the home college.

We paid over $4000 for “board = dining” to the US college when our child was abroad and the school only provided $800 for the entire semester for the student to grocery shop - so a $3200 difference in board costs alone which means more out of pocket costs by the family/student in order to have a decent grocery budget.

I feel this is important when evaluating the programs and rules at each university, as you are concerned about budget and loans. Don’t forget about the cost to travel, health insurance (if not included in the program) and fun travel that many students participate in over weekends.

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Older S attended St Andrew’s for a semester while enrolled at W&L. He had a merit scholarship that covered tuition at W&L. I thought we would save a ton when he went abroad because you did pay the St Andrew’s tuition which was significantly lower. However; they adjusted the scholarship amount that semester. I believe we still came out ahead, but not near as much as I hoped!

Edit: he had a fantastic time. I will say that he found the classes to be easy compared to W&L classes. And at my urging he spent many a weekend cashing in on the ultra cheap ryan air flights to explore Europe. He also roomed with his freshman year roommate from W&L, who spent the entire year at St Andrew’s

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My cousin did the LIU Global progam and loved it – Global | Long Island University

I teach at James Madison University and they have a very active Study Abroad Program including semester/year programs at St. Andrews, Oxford, or Cambridge – Oxford, Cambridge, and St. Andrews Programs - JMU – as well as many other Study Abroad opportunities – Study Abroad - JMU

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Centre College is known for their study abroad programs. Many students do multiple semesters off campus.

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If she’s at all interested in business, you might have her consider the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business. They have a cohort program where students study all over the world together throughout their 4 years./index.php. It’s apparently the top Intl Business program in the country, and UofSC has generous merit for high achieving OOS students. College of Charleston has the International Scholars program and Global Ambassadors program, both of which look like great opportunities.

My D25 is interested in IR too, and GWU looks great but it is so darn expensive. An IR major is highly likely to need grad school, so we’re focusing on good and affordable places to shine in undergrad, saving the big $$ for grad school.

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My d25 is low stats and test options and they still offered 16k/yr.

The Creighton Global Scholars Program is an innovative and esteemed academic and experiential four-year program designed to develop global competency, foster intellectual curiosity and learning in and out of the classroom, and to inspire meaningful change and action across many international borders. High achieving globally minded undergraduate students will have opportunities to engage in immersive experiences and discussions regarding global innovative topics shaped by international perspectives and educational learning opportunities abroad and on campus.

Global Scholars will complete four study abroad opportunities, learn about critical global issues, develop cross-cultural skills, and engage in social and cultural events. Highlights of this program include:

  • Two semester-long study abroad experiences.
  • One semester at the Italy Center in Bologna, Italy.
  • One semester sophomore year at Encuentro Dominicano in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
  • Choice of two summer intensive experiences.
  • Six semesters on Creighton’s Omaha campus.

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Thank you all so much!! So much information to look over! Really- THANK YOU. :heart_hands::heart_hands:

The financial piece is hard because we make enough money where some schools will give us zero dollars (some state schools, for example, are giving us zero dollars and out of state tuition is HIGH) and other schools will give us tons! When I ran the net cost calculator with William and Mary it showed up as zero financial aid. I’m going to do it again in case I did a typo and added a zero somewhere. But that school kept popping up for us.

Before I even present her with any options for her to look at, I am going to run net cost for all of them and then pass along any of that I think would be financially doable so she can sift through them. I hate to have her fall in love with a school only to be told it is not possible.

She is still heavily researching international schools to attend full-time. South Korea is her goal, she is trying to get into the program through nsliy for this summer. She was a semifinalist for an academic year with them in the past but didn’t make finalist. And when I looked at any schools in South Korea, none of them seem to be FAFSA schools. Plus, having her on the other side of the world for four years makes me sad. Why did I raise such an independent kid? :sob:

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OOS schools, unless they are merit schools buying kids in, typically give no to little money because their role is to support in state student. They make up their shortfall by grabbing out of state students s at full pay. That’s why so many schools - whether it’s an Alabama or Miami Ohio or U of South Carolina are loaded with smart kids - they buy them in!! Or the Florida schools which are low cost to begin with are attracting kids…as is a Purdue, etc.

So you did not mess up at W&M unless you are in state.

So if you like W&M, look at Miami Ohio as a school that’s similar in feel - but will come with a lot of merit GPA dependent. For my daughter, it would have been 40% less than W&M had she attended.

If she’s interested in Korea (my daughter studied this summer at Dankook U (via U of Nebraska), you might consider a US language flagship program.

U of Hawaii is the Korean language flagship and this might provide a nice mix of domestic and international for your student. It will include a year abroad and internships. As far as I can tell, it’s the only US university in the language flagship world for Korean so it might also lead to fantastic jobs (ask for outcome but I can see Korean embassy type things). These programs are funded, at least their setup, by the federal government.

U of Hawaii is a tad under $50K for tuition, room and board , about $32K if you are a WUE resident (western state), and it looks like there’s merit of at least $2,000 a year.

But the language flagship programs may come with even more merit - so you should reach out to the school and find out. Also, find out how tuition works at the Captstone which is a full year in Korea.

But the Language Flagship schools - which cover various languages but the only Korean one is at U Hawaii.

Hope that helps.

PS - here is more info on the flagship. Domestic Flagship Program

Flagship programs at U.S. colleges and universities provide a 4-year curriculum for undergraduate students aiming to reach professional-proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, or Russian. Students engage in immersive study, cultural experiences, and a rigorous, outcomes-based approach while pursuing the major and career of their choice. Following the competition of the domestic program, qualified students embark on a Capstone year overseas, where they have the opportunity to study and intern in their chosen field while fully immersed in the target language of study. It is funded (via congressional appropriation) through the federal government - not saying the tuition is covered - I don’t know but the program set up comes from funding.

Home - Korean Language Flagship Center

FAQ - Korean Language Flagship Center

Home | Flagship

GRAMELAC | CAS | Miami University | Miami University

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I mentioned UDel above, my daughter was 34 act, 3.95 uwgpa, 9 AP’s, received $17,000 a year in merit. Unfortunately her study abroad to New Zealand was cancelled during COVID. It has a very solid program. Center for Global Programs & Services | University of Delaware