There used to be a time when if you heard that someone was attending a college overseas, there was a natural assumption that they must be wealthy. However, as of late, there are actually many articles which indicate that some people are choosing to go to school abroad because one, they feel that they are able to get a more quality education and two, it is more affordable.
If you find that second point to be pretty hard to believe and you would like some reasons why more and more people are coming to that conclusion, we have provided you with five reasons why you should actually consider attending college abroad in order to save money:
Some international colleges actually offer free tuition. Did you know that there are international colleges and universities that offer free tuition? For instance, if you want to go to school in Norway, all state colleges do not charge tuition, even if you are an international student. The same goes for students of many colleges in Finland, Austria, Sweden and some schools that are in Germany. Also, the University of Hong Kong and the University of Amsterdam are reportedly offering free tuition to English majors as well.
There are lot of scholarships for international students. Just like there are millions of dollars in scholarship money that goes overlooked in the United States each year, the same applies to those who are interested in attending college abroad. For instance, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship gives up to $8,000 to those who have received federal Pell grants if they are willing to study languages like Chinese, Arabic and Russian. And there are plenty of websites that offer scholarships and grants to students who desire to study overseas. Two of them are International Scholarships and Scholarships (just go to the site and put “international scholarships” in the search field).
There are also international work-study programs. Just like there are work-study programs in America, there are also some at international schools too. And if you are already attending a school where you are paying a mere fraction of the tuition that you would be in the States, you could find that you are actually making money rather than spending it while you’re going to college abroad.
Host families can cut down your living expenses. Say that you’re looking into getting the University of Florida’s social media degree but you live out of state and the cost of living seems a bit steep. If you went to an international college that offered free tuition and you found a host family to stay with, you would only have to pay a few dollars for room and board.
Do some “comparison shopping”. In choosing a college that is best for you, one thing that you should factor in is tuition costs. This means that you should do some comparison shopping. Think about what you want to major in and then look at colleges both in the United States and abroad. For instance, did you know that to attend school at the University of Cape Town (South Africa), you only have to pay between $2,000-3,000 a semester? It definitely pays (or rather saves) to look to see how much different colleges cost—all over the world.