Top 20 Baccalaureate Colleges for Study Abroad Participation

interesteddad
Fri, 17 Nov 2006 18:49:17 +0000

MarathonMan:

Those percentages relate to the price of study abroad in relation to the cost of college here, and financial aid.

Most study abroad programs are slightly less expensive than sticker price at the top-dollar colleges, but more expensive than the actual price most US college students pay (either after financial aid or at in-state publics).

You have to look at your own individual situation viz-a-viz college cost to determine what kind of study abroad funding makes sense.

I think the most popular approach colleges take is for you to pay your own study abroad costs and then charge you an administrative fee to transfer credits back home. Financial aid may or may not travel with you. This approach is certainly best if you are a full-fare customer at home and choosing a low-cost study abroad program.

Keep in mind that, if the college gives you financial aid at home, they don’t have to write a check, they are simply takinga discount on the price they charge you. If they allow you to study abroad in somebody else’s program, they are not only losing your revenue, but having to actually write a check if financial aid applies! Some schools restrict study abroad to their own programs where a group of their students picks up en masse to go abroad.

Some colleges are now having their study abroad students pay the home college the regular tuition (after financial aid) with the home college paying for the study abroad. This is ideal for financial aid students, but can end up costing full-fare customers more than they might otherwise pay for study abroad – in effect, the college is using progressive pricing such that full-fare customers subsidize study abroad for aid students. This system has the advantage of keeping all financial aid mechanisms (including federal aid and subsidized loans) in place because study abroad students are still technically enrolled at and paying the home college.

My daughter’s school adopted the second model about ten years ago (explicitly stated to subsidize study abroad for financial aid students). Since the cost was fixed, regardless of what we “ordered from the menu”, this policy did tend to push our family to consider more expensive study abroad programs over less expensive no-frills programs – just as you would probably order the lobster over the salisbury steak from a fixed price dinner menu.

Most summer programs are pure add-on expenses for the parents, above and beyond the cost of college. I suspect that participation in these tilts to a very high demographic as few of us can (or want to) pay for college tuition and a European vacation for the kid!