A lesson in sticker shock

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Amanda Smay, an English major at a Pennsylvania college, longed to go to London next month with a study-abroad program.

Then sticker shock set in. The 10-day trip would cost about $2,800, or 75 percent more than two years ago. The Pennsylvania State University-Altoona sophomore is sitting this one out, along with a few of her classmates, after the program was canceled because not enough students had signed up.

"Most of the people I talked to couldn't afford it," Smay said. "I couldn't afford it. I'm just putting money aside now, and hopefully I'll go my senior year."

The weak dollar, a sluggish economy, and a tougher time getting some types of student loans are making it harder for some U.S. college students to study or travel abroad this summer.

Study-abroad programs have set records in recent years, with more than 223,000 U.S. students participating during the 2005-06 academic year, according to the latest annual survey by the Institute of International Education in New York. Most universities expect overall participation to keep rising, but that growth could be limited within some programs by the struggling dollar and other economic factors.

Universities with large study-abroad programs are making changes to keep specific destinations within budget. Some smaller programs, however, are struggling to find enough students to make the trips feasible even after adjusting to cut costs.

Some recent trends are becoming more pronounced at many universities. More students appear to be opting for shorter programs of eight weeks or less, at least partly for financial reasons. And more are picking less-expensive destinations such as Mexico, Costa Rica and China instead of Western Europe, where the mighty euro reigns.

"Part of that interest in other destinations is for career-related reasons," said Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the Institute of International Education. "But also, these places are less expensive to live."

Colleen Whately, a Central Michigan University student, wanted to study in Italy this school year. Then she discovered that a four-month program in the Czech Republic would cost about half as much. Prague was in, Rome was out - and Whately figures she saved about $6,000 on the four-month program that ended in December.

Her advice: Budget and scout locations carefully to get the most bang for the weakened buck.

"It doesn't make that much difference what country it is," Whately said. "If you have to change your plans around a little, it's still a valuable experience."

Michigan State University has one of the nation's largest study-abroad programs, with more than 3,000 students participating in 2007-08. Overall numbers could continue to climb. But the university has had 136 students drop planned study-abroad trips in the last month, compared with 20 in the same period a year earlier. A third of them said finances were the main reason.

The struggling U.S. economy is another factor. Students face higher bills for tuition, food and gasoline. And the credit crunch that first hit the nation's housing market has filtered down to some types of loan programs that students might use to help finance an overseas-study program.

Add it all up, and students and universities are faced with some tough choices - including how to scale back programs to keep them affordable.

On the flip side, it can be a good time financially for international students to head to the United States. Foreign-student enrollment at U.S. colleges, universities and other academic programs grew 3 percent - to nearly 583,000 - during the 2006-07 school year from the preceding year, according to Institute of International Education.

Most are full-time bachelor's and graduate students, with many coming from India, China and South Korea seeking a U.S. degree. Relatively few are here for short-term study programs.

Find out

more about international study at

http://go.philly.

com/study,

Web site for

the Institute

of International Education.