It’s the beginning of the semester, and that means one thing: everyone you know just left for their semester abroad. If you’ve been on Instagram, I am sure that your feed has been inundated with posts from Florence, Rome, Paris and the United Kingdom. For some students, studying abroad is viewed as a must-do college checklist item and the perfect addition to their Instagram feed; but for others, seeing study abroad posts is a reminder of a financial challenge that they can’t overcome. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.
Many universities, including the University of Connecticut, tout study abroad programs as fantastic opportunities that promote diversity and the global spread of knowledge. But for many programs, the promise of diversity ends when it comes to students with diverse financial backgrounds. According to a study by Terra Dotta, the software that UConn uses to manage its Experiential Global Learning programs, financial concerns are the main deterrent for potential global learners. With most students expecting to pay over $5,000 for their study abroad experience, the price tag is steep and daunting. If diversity and intercultural competence are so important, then why do they feel like a major investment?
To understand why study abroad programs are so expensive, we have to examine how these programs are run and promoted. While many programs at UConn and schools around the nation are marketed as “tuition-based,” this does not always mean that you’re getting the best bang for your buck. Many of these programs still rely on some outsourcing or pre-arranged work for housing and travel — a service that must be paid for —and the price is absorbed by students. Examples include Worldstrides at the American Business School in Paris and Anglo Educational Services in London. Despite greatly simplifying the process of locating housing and getting adjusted, students might be able to find better prices and learn crucial life skills if the process were more independent and allowed students to find private housing and travel accommodations.
While many programs at UConn are prohibitively expensive for some, others are on the right track. The Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages offers a plethora of dual-degree programs such as engineering programs in France, Spain and Germany. The School of Business has partnered up with LCL for EUROBIZ, and for health-focused students, there is the Pre-Med/Allied Health Spanish Program in Granada. One thing that these programs all have in common is that they offer an internship component, which in some cases can be paid. For students who are worried about financing their experience, this can be a key contributor. Not only does it provide temporary financial relief, but it also increases students’ marketability when searching for post-graduation jobs, which are becoming increasingly hard to land. Increasing the availability of these types of programs would greatly reduce the financial burden on students hoping to study abroad.
Studying abroad shouldn’t be limited to those who can tie in an internship, either. Beyond reframing study abroad as a part of standard tuition rather than as a luxury add-on, universities must offer more plentiful and more substantial scholarships for outstanding students. Furthermore, these opportunities need to be made easy to apply for and well known. For some, $500 could be the make-or-break contribution that determineswhether someone goes abroad or stays home. Both institutions, private donors, federal and state governments must recognize that grants such as these can open doors for students who would not have otherwise had the chance.
While study abroad should generally be made more accessible for students of all backgrounds and majors, there already exist some great resources. The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program and the Fulbright Program provide fantastic study abroad scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, respectively.
When college is already a financial strain, shelling out thousands more can feel like an impossible task, and it can push students away from opportunities before they’ve even had the chance to look. If universities truly value diversity and global education, then they need to create solutions that make it accessible for all types of students. Efforts must be made to increase scholarship opportunities, offer more affordable programs and more enthusiastically promote programs like Gilman and Fulbright, which many students do not even realize that they are eligible for.
True diversity comes when our study abroad programs represent the full range of economic statuses at the University of Connecticut. The best impact comes when the exclusivity factor is removed, because students should not have to be rich to have an enriching experience.