If I had to pick the biggest regret from my undergraduate years, the answer would be simple — not studying abroad. I can come up with plenty of valid reasons why I never did it — the classes I needed weren’t offered, my girlfriend wouldn’t be there, and it was too expensive — but there’s always this small thought stuck in the back of my mind that I should have done it anyway.
Photo by Christopher Chan
I really feel like I missed out on something that should have been part of the whole college experience, and here are a few reasons why.
Experiencing a new culture.
It’s easy to feel isolated once you go off to college, because many college campuses are setup where you never have to leave it. Suddenly, the only news you hear about is stuff that’s happening on campus. Studying abroad breaks you out of the bubble and allows you to experience a completely different culture.
Traveling to foreign lands.
Most study abroad programs try to give you long weekends, so you have time to travel to other cities and countries that you want to see. What other time of your life will you have the opportunity to do this without the pressure of responsibilities like a job or children?
Learning independence.
While I ended up going to college hundreds of miles away from my parents, a lot of other students don’t. For these students, studying abroad is the first time they truly have to do everything on their own. No trips home every other weekend to do laundry and eat a home cooked meal.
Meeting new people.
From the friends I’ve talked to who did study abroad, they made some of their closest friends during the semester they spent studying abroad. Of course, you also get to make new friends from a different culture.
I was surprised to find that a couple of universities have made studying abroad mandatory for their students. I think this is a great idea and think it’d be awesome if more universities followed their lead. Without a doubt, the biggest obstacle is money.
College tuition has skyrocketed at a faster rate than healthcare and energy costs over the past two decades. You would think that the universities could offer some of the money back to their students to help them pay for studying abroad, but I know it’s more complicated than that.
With the average college student graduating with over $20,000 in debt, there doesn’t seem to be a way to make this idea financially feasible right now. Sadly, the only way I can think of to justify the cost is to say, “What’s a few more thousand dollars of debt for the opportunity of a lifetime?”
Have you studied abroad? What was your experience? Do you think studying abroad should be mandatory for college students?
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I studied abroad through an exchange, paid regular tuition and room and board, plus got a $5000 scholarship. I still ended up borrowing extra money to do so, because the ticket alone was 1k, and I took vacations pretty much every months.
It was probably the best thing I ever did in college–amazing experience and amazing friendships. And really, what was a couple extra thousand? I don’t regret it for a second, even though I graduated with 25k of student loans.
I don’t think it should be mandatory–it just isn’t for everyone–but it should be more accessible and encouraged than it is.
I don’t know if it should be mandatory, but studying abroad should definitely be encouraged in the strongest way possible. My exchange experience was perhaps one of the most enriching and educational aspects of my entire education.
Far too many young people never get to see the world outside their own country, and I can’t help but think that this contributes to many of the problems we face. There is no better way to expose yourself to different cultures than by studying and living in one as a student.
I am an international grad student in US (I have been living here almost 6 years now), and I do agree all the points you have listed, being in another country, and experiencing other culture(s) makes you a totally different person. Plus as you said teaches you being independent and responsible. I do recommend studying abroad for college kids, but if you decide to live in another country or end up living in another country, always take in to consideration of loneliness, limited vacations you will have to visit your parents and family. For me it is not a deal breaker but it is not easy either.
I’m on the same page as the previous comments. I spent a semester of my junior year abroad and it was one of the best decisions I made in college!
Should it be mandatory? No. The culture shock and homesickness could be too much for some.
However, my university made it very easy for students to study abroad. You paid the same tuition to my home university- so all the grants, loans, and scholarhips still could be used AND all my units were guarenteed to transfer! I know not all schools do this for their students, but they defineately should!
My study abroad experience was the absolute best thing I did during college. I had to stay another semester to finish my degree, but I literally could not put a price on the adventure I had. Not only was it a fun, totally new experience, but navigating the streets of a completely foreign city, staying in slightly sketchy hostels, and eating foods you can’t even pronounce will make you better friends with people on your trip than any normal college experience could. It’s opened my eyes to a whole new world of culture, language, and history that I knew existed but seemed to have little impact on American college students stateside. It is truly worth the cost (and it’s a significant cost, especially in Europe, so be ready for it!). My life has been forever altered by the things I said, did, and saw during my four months abroad. I’m most definitely a better person for it.
I’d go as far as to say the opposite – students should be made to study at the closest applicabel University to the family home. There is no argument above that couldn’t have been satisfied 20 miles down the road, never mind 2000 miles across an ocean.
Pardon my spelling!
I am all for studying abroad, it is one of the biggest regrets I do have from my undergrad years and I hope to change that with my graduate program.
The main goal I would want to get out of studying abroad would be trying to experience life outside the comfort zone. being in a different country, having to make new friends, earn money, study in school, and learn a different culture, all combined would really help define you as a person and make you realize who you are. Sounds like I am preaching but I think more young people today (myself included since I am 25) need to have an experience like this to help them make a difference in our society here today. I will leave it at that. GReat post.
Eye-opening post! It’s a great reminder to college students to take full advantage of their college years because you can never get them back again.
Sadly, like many things, these great opportunities are dashed because if finances (like many things in the adult life). I was wondering if there were programs, grants, or tuition services that promote study abroad finances that is not related directly to a student loan. Are there any foundations that help kids study abroad?
Thanks for the great post!