Exchange rates drive up cost of studies abroad

When Kristy Caltabiano traveled to Prague through Lehigh University's study abroad program earlier this summer, she was able to enjoy a historic city and a foreign culture.

She also got to experience staying in hostels instead of hotels, and traveling by train when she would rather have flown. "It was that exchange rate," explained the 20-year-old from Wayne. "It just got worse while I was there."

One of her fellow Lehigh University students, Kyle Flattery, anticipates a hefty dent in his savings when he spends next spring in Germany. "In my mind, it's OK if I have to spend a little more because I really want to go for the experience," he said. "But I'm going to have to live kind of frugally during the fall semester so that I can afford to be over there."

Living overseas is providing study-abroad participants a firsthand crash course in Econ 101. After all, there's no denying that travel is expensive. But for cash-strapped college students, unfavorable exchange rates - especially in Europe, where nearly 60 percent of Americans who study abroad go - are eating into budgets already plagued by a woeful economy.

The current exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro is a staggering $1.49 for each euro. For one British pound, the cost is $1.90. This means that a cup of coffee costing 5 pounds is actually almost $10. Add all the other living expenses at double their U.S. prices, and the cost of surviving abroad suddenly takes on monumental proportions.

"Even if students have some kind of financial aid, that doesn't help them with the cost of living," said Arcadia University president, Jerry Greiner. "Studying abroad is a transformative experience, but students really have to sock away money or count on the largess of their families to help them out."

The popularity of overseas study has been on the rise in recent years. The International Institute on Education estimates that the number of students studying abroad in the past decade has more than doubled, from under 100,000 to more than 200,000. The Institute's Open Doors report, which includes information on international students in the United States and on U.S. students studying abroad, lists more than 900 colleges and universities that currently offer study abroad programs, and that number includes only the institutions that responded to the institute's survey.

"It used to be that these programs were seen as an add-on, but increasingly, we're seeing campuses that are looking at study abroad as a key part of undergraduate education," says Brian Whalen, director of the Forum on Education Abroad. Currently housed at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., the forum serves as the standard-setting body for overseas study.

Whalen points to growing faculty support and greater partnering with overseas institutions to explain this expanded student interest.

At the same time, economic conditions could hinder future enrollment.

"We haven't had drastic pullouts, but there are some students who've had to change their plans," said Geoffrey Gee, director of Penn Abroad at the University of Pennsylvania. Although Penn, unlike some institutions, allows students to continue receiving financial aid while overseas, Gee recognized that students ineligible for financial aid or whose families must pay the full cost of their overseas experience would face an even greater burden.

"There's anecdotal evidence that the numbers of students studying abroad may either hold or decrease," said director of Lehigh University's study abroad office, Neil McGurty, who acknowledged that numbers are already a little lower than usual for this fall. "The euro is what's killing everyone, because about 70 percent of our students end up studying in Europe."

The upside: Students are taking a second look at locations where the cost of living is more manageable.

Just ask Hanna von Schlegell, a 20-year-old Grinnell College student from Chestnut Hill, who spent the summer studying Arabic in Tunisia through the Critical Language Scholarship Program.

"The dollar is slightly stronger than the dinar," she said, "and everything is less expensive than in the States. There's inexpensive fruit, 23-cent baguettes, and it's easy and relatively cheap to travel in-country."

At Pennsylvania State University's International Education Programs, director John Keller has noticed a "mini-trend" of students choosing Buenos Aires, which, he says, is European in feel, but not in cost.

While it's still too early to speak definitively about changes in student destinations, Whalen acknowledges that many students are now considering studying abroad in locations where the dollar is still strong. "They're choosing so-called 'nontraditional destinations' like Latin America, the African continent, and south Asia. That's been a silver lining of this process."

It's a silver lining that may soon see enormous growth if Congress approves the passage of the Sen. Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act. The bill, which has passed unanimously in the U.S. House and is under consideration in the Senate, aims to send one million American students to study abroad annually, especially to developing countries.

In a time of rapid globalization, "our national leaders are looking at this as something that we can't cut back on and must invest in," said Whalen. "It's an expensive academic program to run, but one that pays great dividends."

Thinking back on her time in Prague, Caltabiano agrees. "I figured I wasn't going back to Europe anytime soon, so I might as well take advantage of what it had. Sure, it was expensive, but the experience was definitely worth it."