Some students are taking advantage of a University resource that could make studying abroad cheaper than staying at home.
Through Academic Programs Abroad, students can participate in the National Student Exchange, a program that will send them to more than 170 schools in 47 states, seven Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Study abroad coordinator Marissa Baham returned from a conference in Albuquerque on Monday, where she helped place students in their new homes for the upcoming semester.
“You can study in Puerto Rico for a semester,” Baham said. “It’s $1,000 tuition per semester, so there’s some incredibly affordable options out there.”
Students can pay for these trips in one of two ways. “Plan A” allows the student to pay in-state tuition directly to the school they are visiting. Students who choose “Plan B” pay University tuition while attending their exchange school.
These programs don’t have program costs associated with summer or short-term trips over spring break or Wintersession, which also drives the price down.
TOPS can be used with both payment plans, and APA is committed to finding the right fit for students, Baham said.
Although the in-country programs may not seem as glamorous as study abroad options, Baham said there are a multitude of reasons students choose to participate.
Many students are not financially able to study at their dream school, but the NSE program offers them the option, Baham said.
“If their parents said, ‘you have to go to LSU because you get TOPS, and we get in-state [tuition] here, and this is what we can afford,’ you can do a National Student Exchange and say, ‘Well, I really wanted to go to Montana, and now I have this option,’” Baham said.
She said the list includes many state schools and schools with specialized programs or professors students may want to study under. Others may be thinking of attending graduate school in the area.
“Sometimes you might have someone go because he or she wants to check out the graduate school or wants to go to a graduate school in that state and wants to see how that works,” said director of APA Harald Leder. “Like going to the University of Minnesota to see if they can really stand the winter. “
The list of schools includes large, recognizable Southeastern Conference schools such as the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia. Programs also include schools such as the University of Minnesota Rochester, which offers three academic majors — all in health science.
Some of the more popular schools last year were the University of Montana, the University of Hawaii and Queens College in New York, Baham said.
Leaders in the APA office call the NSE program a “hidden treasure,” according the APA website. Outgoing students numbered 15 last year, and next year, the office expects 20-25, which is a small percentage of the total number of students who participate in their programs.
“It’s not something that automatically comes to your mind,” Baham said. “You think that studying abroad is ‘Oh, I’m going to study in France for a summer,’ which is really a shame because [NSE] is such a great program.”
The University also offers this opportunity to incoming students. Last year, 11 students from locations such as Guam, California and Montreal spent a semester at Louisiana’s flagship through the NSE program.
Besides the low cost, Leder said the NSE program offers other benefits. On these exchanges, students do not need a passport, can come home for the holidays and drive where they need to go.
“It’s a really good opportunity, but Louisiana is a little insular, so students are a little reluctant to go somewhere else,” Leder said. “But the National Student Exchange is a very nice thing.”