Overseas Education
A recent article in the New York Times discusses the phenomenon of American college students attending college abroad. While the percentage of students who choose to study abroad for a semester or a year has been increasing for several years, the article notes that American students choosing to spend their entire college career abroad is a relatively new phenomenon. Reasons listed for studying abroad include things such as international experience, prestige, less selectivity than some U.S. colleges and universities, and a “cost well below the tuition at a top private university in the United States” (though the article also notes that many foreign universities consider American students “cash cows” who pay less than their in-country students).
We’ve frequently written on this blog about the generation between 18 and 29, which we at Zogby call First Globals. Our data show that First Globals are the most likely generation to have a valid passport, the most likely to plan to travel overseas in the next five years, the most likely to have friends and family living overseas, and the most likely to have previously travelled abroad on service or educational visits. Do you think that First Globals’ willingness to attend college or university in another country is just another manifestation of this same globalness, or is it somehow different (maybe a response to high college costs here in the U.S.)? How much did location and price matter when you were choosing to go (or not go) to college? Would you do anything differently if you could make this decision again?
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Since business is now “global”, having a semester or year abroad is a plus when job hunting.
Unless you have a specific agreement with your “home” American school, there will still be mandatory course work which that year abroad would not cover. Consequently, I would guess that the students opting to go have additional reasons for doing it. Having a global outlook may have something to do with it.
Living at home and commuting to a local public university trumps foreign schools as a cost cutting measure, so I believe those students are hoping to have a unique experience which may enrich their outlook.
My choices of schools could have been cheaper, but I did not even consider the outrageously expensive options. A year abroad would have been great, however those programs were not as common in those days. Location was somewhat important.