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Sometimes talking to your study abroad office can help. I know where I work we have programs that are based on our institutions tuition and fees. Perhaps you are searching and only seeing the expensive options, and your study abroad advisor may be able to steer you in the direction of more affordable options?
I'm going into my Junior year of college and would really like to study abroad. I am studying both Spanish and French, and I am aiming to get into either Public Relations or Luxury Marketing, so knowing another language is greatly beneficial for my future career goals.
My question is does anyone know of any programs for students who come from low income backgrounds but have strong academics but need help studying abroad? I've looked just about everywhere online and am becoming quite discouraged because it seems like studying abroad is only an option for kids with money. I work two jobs during the school year, and have held an internship every summer since being in college--including the summer before my Freshman year. I am very dedicated to my academics but know that this would be a great experience to help me become fluent in either Spanish or French. I just don't know what else to do, I can't afford to pay another whole tuition for just 2 months to 6 months overseas. The majority of the programs I've come across range from 10 grand to 15 grand and they only offer 500 to 1,000 dollars in scholarships
Does anyone know any program out there that either sponsors college students with high gpa's to study abroad or at least offer scholarships that match the cost of the program????
Honestly, study abroad while fun is over-hyped, I couldn't afford it, so when I graduated, I saved up money and lived abroad instead. If you really want to do this, you should go talk to your study abroad office or adviser. At my school, we had an adviser that would help us with setting up classes in the host country and they would pay enough, well usually the plane ticket and I think everything else was on our own. I am not sure how I feel about it though because I saw a girl that did it and graduated with a Spanish degree. When I asked her if her Spanish had gotten better, she said not really and she was only there like 3-4 months and at that time, that is when your brain is really starting to get used to the language.
The other thing that concerns me, is that you are majoring in Spanish and French and you said you wanted to do public relations? I would really advise you to do some through research on this. I know very few foreign language majors and the ones that I do know are 9 times out of 10, teaching. I know 2 people off the top of my head, one with a spanish degree and one with a french one. The spanish person works at a company doing payroll..and the french guy works at Wal-mart. Most people would rather hire someone with a degree in Corporate Communications for PR work and marketing.
Be careful going into too much student loan debt. You don't want to graduate college with more debt than your expected first year salary. So if the first year salary is $40K, then don't have more than $40K in loans total.
DIscuss this with the study abroad dept. Many colleges have an agreement with international institutions. Instead of using your aid at your institution it will transfer to the foreign institution. You will be responsible for your flight and spending money. Both of my kids did this- they lived relatively inexpensive.
Most of the colleges that we looked at allowed financial aid to be transferred to the abroad college. I agree with the other posters about speaking to someone directly at the study abroad office. The only expenses we paid were for the flights when my kids did SA. There are usually colleges abroad that have a direct connection with your home college.
DIscuss this with the study abroad dept. Many colleges have an agreement with international institutions. Instead of using your aid at your institution it will transfer to the foreign institution. You will be responsible for your flight and spending money. Both of my kids did this- they lived relatively inexpensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toobusytoday
Most of the colleges that we looked at allowed financial aid to be transferred to the abroad college. I agree with the other posters about speaking to someone directly at the study abroad office. The only expenses we paid were for the flights when my kids did SA. There are usually colleges abroad that have a direct connection with your home college.
My daughter studied abroad in Paris, a very, very expensive city. If she would have gone to a program in a French speaking African country (and there are many of them) her expenses would have been several thousands of dollars less for that semester (possibly even less than if she would have stayed back in her college town)..
On the other hand, since Europe is so compact, she was able to take a few weekend trips to other major countries while she was there.
BTW If you are, or aren't, able to study abroad be sure to keep up with your foreign language either way. My daughter keeps up her French by listening to radio programs in French, talking in French to friends from France & Canada in French via Skype, seeking out French speaking international students and even things as simple as setting the language on movies to French (you would be surprised how many movies have that option).
With Spanish, you probably even have a much easier time finding Spanish TV shows, neighborhood grocery store and markets, etc where you can practice listening & speaking in the other language.
Most of the colleges that we looked at allowed financial aid to be transferred to the abroad college. I agree with the other posters about speaking to someone directly at the study abroad office. The only expenses we paid were for the flights when my kids did SA. There are usually colleges abroad that have a direct connection with your home college.
That was our experience as well. One school didn't include food as the living quarters abroad were apartments, but the room cost was lower so it came out as a wash and they could use their scholarships, etc.
I'm going into my Junior year of college and would really like to study abroad. I am studying both Spanish and French, and I am aiming to get into either Public Relations or Luxury Marketing, so knowing another language is greatly beneficial for my future career goals.
My question is does anyone know of any programs for students who come from low income backgrounds but have strong academics but need help studying abroad? I've looked just about everywhere online and am becoming quite discouraged because it seems like studying abroad is only an option for kids with money. I work two jobs during the school year, and have held an internship every summer since being in college--including the summer before my Freshman year. I am very dedicated to my academics but know that this would be a great experience to help me become fluent in either Spanish or French. I just don't know what else to do, I can't afford to pay another whole tuition for just 2 months to 6 months overseas. The majority of the programs I've come across range from 10 grand to 15 grand and they only offer 500 to 1,000 dollars in scholarships
Does anyone know any program out there that either sponsors college students with high gpa's to study abroad or at least offer scholarships that match the cost of the program????
First, DO NOT go on a study abroad program. It is a total ripoff. You pay your own school's tuition, plus the fees of the school overseas and your living expenses. Think about it - you pay like 15K for 3 months overseas, but you could go there yourself for way less than that. So yes, basically study abroad is for rich kids. (and kids who want to go way into debt). Moreover, most of those programs will not actually help you learn the language that well - many of them keep you with a large group of Americans, and you don't really have that easy a time getting exposure to the language of the country (especially if it's one where lots of people already speak English, like France or Spain). **Naturally, if you can find a way to get it paid for with financial aid, then you could go, as some people pointed out.
Instead, look for a grant program that you could apply to. You will need to do research, but I do know undergrads who got grants to study overseas for short periods, while working on a research project. Try looking at sites dedicated to graduate students in your academic field - sometimes an undergrad can apply for the same grants. You might get some help from a professor, if you have a really strong academic record and have gotten to know some of them.
If that's not possible, you should just finish your year at school and then look into teaching ESL abroad for a year after college. You can use this time to get a CELTA or similar certificate. I also know several recent grads who went abroad with church missionary programs - of course that's only for you if you're involved with a church.
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