COLUMN: Study abroad is possible
I am part of the 3 percent of students who have studied abroad. While I understand the privilege that it takes to go abroad, I also think it’s important that low-cost programs are highlighted.
This past summer I took a faculty-led course in the Hague, Netherlands, where fellow students and myself learned about peace, justice and human rights. While my experience cost quite a lot, there are other programs available for any student who wishes to go abroad.
An editorial published on Monday, Feb. 2 in Central Michigan Life proclaimed that most programs are too expensive and inconvenient for schedules. While the price can be difficult to work around, there are options for those who wish to study abroad without breaking the bank.
If one were to explore the study abroad website, they would find that many of the programs are tuition exchange programs, meaning that the tuition paid abroad would be the same as Central Michigan University. While there are plane tickets and other fees, these programs help students find an affordable way to learn and travel.
Some countries that participate in tuition exchange programs are Germany, France, Korea, China, Singapore, Japan, Italy and the Netherlands.
Albeit these countries are not like my dream experience in New Zealand (where one semester abroad there is about a year’s worth of tuition at CMU) any location would provide an incredible learning experience both in and outside the classroom.
One of the other sections of the recent editorial harping on study abroad was that there are limited opportunities for students who are juniors or seniors. While it is more difficult to adjust credits, it is not impossible for some who have flexible majors or minors. I studied abroad during the summer between my junior and senior year, and the majority of students in my class were also upperclassmen.
One has to be on top of it from the get go, communicating with advisers and professors. It’s even possible to modify a major or minor, with an adviser’s permission, to allocate the study abroad credit in place of other courses on campus. Of course, I am strictly in the social sciences, so I might be lucky, but I know it’s not impossible.
Study abroad is an incredible opportunity that more students ought to take advantage of. There are scholarships, internal and external, to help fund the experience, and in return students gain an understanding of life and the subject they are studying in a new perspective.
Attending a university is all about learning and experiencing, and study abroad is a perfect opportunity to do both.
