<p>My D. (junior on partial, academic scholly at private, out of state liberal arts college) just asked if I could send her to Italy next semester for 4 weeks to study abroad! Says it is $3,500 plus air? food? She is making B’s (could make A’s), wanting law school (but walked out of a practice LSAT exam because she was tired), and spends about $400/month in addition to room/board/tuition (says it is for books and food since the food is really bad). I am a single mom working for myself, and never know how much income I will have month to month. I have no retirement, no savings, and almost lost the house last year. I know, you are going to beat up on me and my daughter, but just looking for real, practical help here. Is Study Abroad worth the investment, even if you have it?</p>
<p>Best investment you can make for your daughter is your own financial well being. If she really wants to go abroad she can start saving money now and continue saving in the summer and go sometime in her senior year on her own money. That way she gets a lesson in economics along with her trip.:)</p>
<p>I thought they fixed this post switching thing…</p>
<p>I think generally that study abroad is great if money is not an issue and the student is disciplined enough to get the most from it. It doesn’t sound like you are in that situation. $400 a month on extras - I’d put a stop to that. My daughter didn’t spend that the whole semester and she has to pay for an accompanist twice a week. If you can’t afford it, then don’t feel badly about it. Plenty of kids do just fine without studying abroad - unless a particular major calls for it. If she decides to go to law school, it won’t matter for admission, but her grades will.</p>
<p>“I think generally that study abroad is great if money is not an issue and the student is disciplined enough to get the most from it.”</p>
<p>Hear, hear.</p>
<p>Is study abroad more than the actual cost of school? I know here, and at a few other schools, its about 10k cheaper for me to study abroad. And most places offer similar financial aid packages for study abroad students.</p>
<p>Mr. Bo - I believe costs vary with the school and with the study abroad program. D#1 is at a school that doesn’t charge extra for study abroad, but doesn’t pay the costs of the host program. Students are expected to find scholarships to pay the host institution fees. D#2 is at a school which has students cover all costs. At least the programs are well-organized!</p>
<p>How did SAX’s response to my question get before my question?? Mine was the first, original post.</p>
<p>My daughter is studying abroad this semester and her college pays the full tuition from the program, but her housing abroad is about $3000 LESS than it costs for housing at her college. Travel costs are about $1000 – so if we were paying full cost it would be a $2000 savings for us (money that could be used to spend abroad) – however, d. is on need based financial aid, so they cut back her grant by $2000 because of the reduced “need” that comes with cheaper housing costs – so its a wash. </p>
<p>But I am green with envy and my daughter will be spending a semester in one of the great cities of the world, essentially with all expenses paid. The rest are going to be the normal costs of living - its probably a wash as she’d have expenses living at her college, too. The only real problem is that she can’t work while she’s abroad to earn more money – but she did manage to arrange to get her spring semester work study hours allocated back to fall semester, so she should be able to earn her full work study grant for the year.</p>
<p>I think it’s certainly an investment for a kid who has not had the opportunity to do much international travel. That said, nothing is a good idea right now if it will break the bank.</p>
<p>$400/month extra is excessive. if you almost lost the house then forget it.</p>
<p>I’d like to add something. I’m also a single parent. I do NOT give my daughter monthly spending money. I never have – she was expected to earn it from the first. She has traveled extensively but she has worked before & after to raise extra money as needed. For example, as noted above, she doubled up work study hours fall semester in order to finance the spring abroad.</p>
<p>I’ll say something else – I posted above that we are breaking even, but actually that is not the case. My agreement with my d. has always been that I pay the bill from the bursar, she pays everything else. With the changes to financial aid and reduced expenses for travel abroad-- I’ve done the math and I will actually come out paying about $600 less than I would if my d. stayed home for the spring. I am going to give my daughter that money – some of my friends say that I am being very generous, but I don’t think so, because if the out-of-pocket for me was more rather than less, I would be making my daughter pay the difference.</p>
<p>Basically, a bill came from the bursar in November before the study abroad plans were finalized and told me what I owed. I told my d. that the balance owed on the bill was the full contribution she could expect from me, one way or another. </p>
<p>Maltipoo – the bottom line is that if your daughter wants to study abroad, if it costs more money, then it should be her problem to figure out where the money is coming from. My daughter also spent all last summer living abroad – the only thing I paid for was airfare for one leg of the trip, which is about the same as what I would have paid if she had come home for the summer.</p>
<p>My daughter is planning to study abroad at a school that has a reciprocal agreement with her school. Limits her choices a little but all her scholarships and financial aid stay in place and the usual tuition is paid to her home university. The overall cost will be roughly the the same but travel costs will be additional. She is working and saving money to pay for any additional expenses including travel while she is in Europe. She will be gone for a full semester plus is planning to stay the summer and travel. It is not a rip off as she will be attending class at a Uni over there. </p>
<p>I am hoping that we will have enough frequent flier miles to get her plane ticket. Other than that she will be paying extras herself.</p>
<p>I agree with Calmom. Your daughter needs to finance this herself, especially given that you are struggling a little financially.</p>
<p>What does this 4 week trip involve? I would want to know to determine whether or not it was worthwhile. I’m a big proponent of study abroad - my older kid studied abroad for a semester last year and it was a fantastic experience on many fronts. (And like some posters above have noted, his semester abroad cost somewhat less than a semester on campus back home.) I’m just not sure that a 4 week trip would yield some of the benefits I saw in a semester program.</p>
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<p>Study abroad is a wonderful opportunity IF you can afford it. If not…it’s not necessary for most programs. It sounds (from the above) like this is not financially possible for you right now.</p>
<p>This four week program sounds like it is in addition to the costs you are already paying for her schooling. To be honest, if I were in your shoes…I would say no. You can tell her to see if there are some grants for this study abroad program…but I don’t think you sound like you are in the position to fund it.</p>
<p>My DD is doing a 10 day trip this spring abroad. She is paying for the whole thing herself. But then…she doesn’t spend $400 extra per month on anything…and she works 10 hours a week. She didn’t even ask for funding for this trip. We’ll probably make a small contribution toward it as her Christmas/birthday present…but she is shouldering most of the cost as this is above and beyond the cost of her schooling (which we already pay for).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t automatically say a Study Abroad Semester/Period is an a ripoff. But I would definitively say that a Study Abroad Semester/Period is an indulgent and unnecessary expense unless your parents are rich. And I also think if someone takes one on borrowed money, then it makes it even more a grossly self-indulgent and unnecessary expense.</p>
<p>A four-week study abroad program, unless it’s very structured, is a pretty much a waste of time. There’s very little possibility for building fluency in the language. If she’s in a group program with other students, she will probably use English most of the time. If there’s no homestay, there will be little opportunity to really interact with the local people to gain much cultural benefit. Unless money is no object, you will be spending money for a glorified vacation. It is probable that your daughter will love the experience and that she may be inspired to return for a longer stay or visit other countries, but don’t expect to “get” anything for spending this amount of money.</p>
<p>Such a trip is better than not visiting another country at all. But it takes time and real immersion to develop linguistic and cultural skills by visiting another country. To expect much result in less than 3 months is unrealistic. </p>
<p>However, if this is an art history or architecture course where students will have structured course work and see the great works firsthand, that would be somewhat different. It’s certainly not a rip off, it’s not much of an investment, but it will most likely be a glorified vacation.</p>
<p>One of my DDs did a study abroad and the COA was lower at that school, everything was paid through her home school, it cost less that staying at the home school.</p>
<p>Another DD wants to do one of those 4 week inter term plans- her school has two 4 week session, one is included in the annual costs, no extra tuition and no extra R&B, time for 2 classes. The May term is extra and does offer some travel opportunties. </p>
<p>DD could either come home and take two summer school classes or go on the study abroad. She is hoping to go abroad, but we would pay airfare and tuition (two needed classes) and she would need to earn spending money.</p>
<p>If we do pay extra it is not so bad in this situation as she did two years in CC, and saved a great deal of money.</p>
<p>I looked into this and found it to be a slight rip off. But that was before my daughter want to add another major that requires a lot of time at her college. She is more fired up about her new major and is willing to forgo the study abroad program. However, I did suggest to graduate early(because of all the AP credits she received from high school) and apply to this international school for a Master degree.</p>
<p>Anyone have experience with Arcadia, Butler or any of the other study-abroad programs? Do they add a lot onto the cost of study abroad, vs. what you would pay by going to a program sponsored by your own college (which may not have a program in the country where the student would like to attend).</p>
<p>My son is in England right now doing a study abroad for the semester and the only additional cost to us was the flight. Son saved up the money for travel and whatever other expenses he needed by working all summer. </p>
<p>This coming Spring he will need to do a May term. This is when students study one subject intensely and some of them have abroads associated with them. Costs vary but none are less then $2,500. Our son has $1,500 in a fund but would have had to come up with the difference. He decided it wasn’t worth it. </p>
<p>I think when our kids are spending their own money, the choices they make are different. We also don’t give any monthly stipend. There’s no way we would fund a study abroad if we couldn’t afford it.</p>