As Global Costs Vary, Study Abroad Tuition Stays the Same
Across the many different countries in which Georgetown students choose to study abroad, there are great differences in the cost of living. For instance, a two-liter Coca-Cola in Germany will cost $4.06, while the same bottle of Coca-Cola in South Africa will run only $0.78. Although so many prices will vary depending upon location and exchange rate, one cost will remain the same: their tuition.
The tuition cost for a semester abroad, no matter where a student chooses to study, will cost $18,768 for both this semester and the spring 2009 semester.
According to Katherine Bellows, executive director of the Office of International Programs, the university treats study abroad program costs in the same way as the academic costs at Georgetown proper.
“We have students admitted [to Georgetown] in all different types of study. You have serious lab, science students with lab fees,” she said. “There are different costs for each, yet [the university] charges everyone the same thing. And we are doing the same thing with study abroad … we don’t want to distinguish and get into having someone pay this much more and this much less … We want them to have the full experience. So the tuition is paid the same way as if they go to school here.”
As a result, Georgetown students who study at King’s College in London or Trinity College in Dublin or at any of the other 120 programs Georgetown offers will all pay a fixed tuition cost of $18,768.
Bellows said financial costs for a student studying abroad are broken down into two categories when it comes to billing arrangements: fixed costs and estimated costs. Only fixed costs, which include tuition, insurance and, in some cases, room and board, are billed to a student’s account. The insurance funds in the fixed costs will be used for transportation in case of a health emergency, Bellows said.
The estimated costs, according to Bellows, are the approximate costs for personal living arrangements, travel arrangements and purchases while abroad. The university does not charge the student for these costs, as these estimates are only used to represent an approximate amount that each student will spend while abroad for personal purchases.
“Most of the ways in which we are billed, we’re billed by the institution overseas … They say ‘you’re bringing in so many people and this is how much it's going to cost you.’ And then we pay that bill,” Bellows said.
According to Patricia McWade, dean of the Office of Student Financial Services, students receiving financial aid will receive the same aid for tuition as they receive at Georgetown, in addition to aid for room and board and flight costs.
“The full cost of attendance [is paid for]… OIP gives us a unique budget for all students going abroad and we meet the full need. … It makes it possible for any student to study abroad, no matter their financial situation,” she said.
Students on scholarships will also get enough funding from the university to cover their abroad experience, McWade added. However, one student, Laura Fayer (COL ’11), said that paying the fixed Georgetown tuition is financially constraining.
“The Georgetown tuition, for the most part, is significantly higher than [that of] universities abroad,” she said. “In my opinion going abroad is a great opportunity for students, and it should be an opportunity, which is easily accessible. With tuition prices so high, many students decide against studying abroad.”
Another student, Christopher Dicks (COL ’11), said he is able to understand the reasoning behind the fixed rate.
“I can see the logic behind [every student paying the same tuition fee]. Students should be choosing the programs for their content and not for what they're going to cost and you wouldn't want to flood one program just because it's cheaper than another,” he said. “So, though it would probably be nice to have to pay only a few thousand dollars to attend a school in Egypt for just a semester, I think every student paying the same study-abroad tuition is alright.”
When tuition costs of individual universities abroad, which are based on academic years, are compared to the standard Georgetown tuition, there are significant differences.
For example, a year at King’s College in London, England, would cost international undergraduates studying mathematics, management or computer science 10,980 pounds, or $16,544.
A Georgetown student studying abroad at King’s College for an academic year, according to the financial information sheet offered at the OIP office, would pay a tuition rate of $37,746 for an academic year, $18,768 per semester.
For U.S. students studying abroad at Peking University in Beijing, China, an academic year abroad costs 26,000 to 30,000 yuan — $3,809 to $4,395. For Georgetown students, the tuition and room and board for a year abroad at Peking costs $42,436.
Although Georgetown’s set tuition fee for any student studying abroad can be more or less than the international university’s actual tuition, Bellows believes that in the long run, due to exchange rates and program costs, the money gained or lost by the university when dealing with study abroad programs equals out.
“So, overall, with a dollar that’s weakened over the past year or so, and [with] the euro rising, perhaps [this new payment plan] is not in the university’s best interest … now we have to spend more dollars for the euro,” Bellows said. “[But] I think over a period of years, it all works out. Whatever is in the university’s best interest is in [the] students’ best interest because funds go back into the university when dollars are strong and the euro is weak.”
Bellows said that unused funds are used to contribute to the development of the university.
“If there is money that’s left over after we pay the institutions, some goes to operation costs for OIP. The other money goes back to the main campus account to pay for overhead … which are the costs of keeping a campus open, maintaining it,” she said. “That’s what tuition is meant for — professors salaries, as well as university bills … and it goes toward maintaining classrooms.”
Before fall 2005, Bellows said Georgetown billed students based on the actual program cost of the university they were attending, along with an additional student fee. The student fee went toward overhead costs, including adviser salaries, dean salaries and other support services, such as aid with pre-registration, answering health insurance questions and using psychiatric services when abroad. Now, according to Bellows, these costs are included in the standard undergraduate tuition rate that each student is charged.
Maura Welch (SFS ’11) believes that reverting to the former, program-specific cost structure would attract more students to study abroad.
“I would prefer to go back to the old system and this would be more equitable for the student body as a whole. It would save a lot of people money,” she said. “I think it would encourage more people to go abroad because they would not feel like they were being cheated by the university, which really seems to be happening.”
Nov 25 2008 at 4:37 p.m.
the university is cheating people and profiting greatly from those who study abroad. the article makes it seem like there are about equal amounts of programs that have set their own tuition higher than georgetown's and lower than georgetown's and in the end it evens out. However, I cannot think of even a single example where the tuition abroad is more expensive than the tuition at georgetown. georgetown has one of the highest tuitions in the world.
Nov 25 2008 at 6:34 p.m.
Mr. Bellows obviously never took an intro course in Economics. "Bellows believes that in the long run... dealing with study abroad programs equals out." Ahh, Mr. Bellows, this is not correct.
It certainly doesn't "equal out" in the student's pocketbook when he's still paying off loans 5 years after graduation. Exchange rate fluctuations do not affect his debt. We all know the university ends up profiting off this scam, so why even pretend like its fare play. Everyone at OIP should be fired, not just bc they have no understanding of Economics but because they are underqualified for these positions.
I personally went through this process in 2007. I ended up being so frustrated at the incompetence of OIP that I made my own program. I took a semester leave-of-absence and enrolled directly in a Chinese university. I was in the same program as other gtown kids and I paid $5,000 for the semester as opposed to $25,000. I had the same cultural experience as everyone else, and those 5K paid not just for tuition and housing, but also financed a playboy lifestyle including high-end dinning, bottle service, first class travel, and basically everything I wanted.
Nov 25 2008 at 9:29 p.m.
i can say for the study abroad students in egypt that our academic experience should not cost us 18k. georgetown, as per usual, is sucking the money out of students.
Nov 26 2008 at 12:14 a.m.
Hoya Abroad,
out of curiosity, were you able to get the credits you earned abroad to transfer over to georgetown?
Nov 26 2008 at 3:08 a.m.
Not sure why the Hoya decided to delete this the first time, but we'll post it again:
What you pay for each year is academic credit from Georgetown, so Georgetown gets to charge you as it sees fit for the diploma that you eventually receive from Georgetown. There's an obvious cost to spending a semester or a year hanging out in some other country. Some study abroad programs may be rigorous. My impression is that most are far from it. So you pay a little for Georgetown to give credit for play time in some other country.
Nov 26 2008 at 3:11 p.m.
The price you quote for Beijing University is very misleading. That's the price an international student would pay to directly enroll in classes for foreign students. The CIEE program is considerably more expensive, but also provides many more services, including multiple full time staff to assist students at all times, not to mention prearranged housing, orientation, and language partners. The liability Georgetown could potentially face without proper support systems for its students abroad is much more than you can imagine. Sending OIP staff abroad to inspect sites costs thousands of dollars for programs that may only have a few students each year. Ensuring that students are sent to quality programs is a value added expense that neccessitates a higher overall program cost. Lets be real about true overhead expenses and their value.
Nov 26 2008 at 3:45 p.m.
Did The Hoya look into what the policy is at Georgetown's peer universities? I recall when I was studying abroad under the old policy, the other Americans in my program were jealous that I only had to pay the local tuition while they were paying the full boat to their home institution. Too bad we lost that perk, but pretty understandable for a cash-strapped place like GU, I say.
Nov 28 2008 at 4:59 a.m.
I greatly sympathize with the students voicing concern over Georgetown's pricing for its study abroad programs. Yes, it is a costly endeavor which sometimesdeters students because, in many cases, the out of pocket costs in certain locations (ie London/Paris/etc) exceed those of living in DC or on campus. While this is an unfortunate reality, let us all remember that the GU-imputed costs of study abroad and the policies determined by Georgetown are at the discretion of the university--it's analogous to an annual tuition increases, for example, if the University decided to raise its student activities fees, students have no choice but to pay the fees or forfeit their spot at the University.
The sliver lining in this situation is that student aid (financial) does apply to covering overseas costs, thus not inherently denying any students already receiving aid an opportunity to go abroad.
And, admittedly, the rationale the OIP uses for its charges are weak and seemingly unsubstantiated. However, students do have an option if they so vehemently disagree with the Administration and OIP's policies--either remain on campus, or, if the student has sufficient AP credit standing, take off a semester and study abroad independently, thereby paying the true cost of the program and not the GU-adjusted cost.
The author may disagree with the high cost of private education, and while it increases annually (for both on-campus and cost of abroad programs), it is a choice, not an obligation, to attend a school with the price tag of Georgetown.
Nov 30 2008 at 2:13 a.m.
That Bellows person is absolutely retarded. Even with the Euro at $1.62, which is as high as it was in the past year, Georgetown is making a ton of money. Even if we assume that in Europe Georgetown is breaking even, the fact that it is charging 40k a year in places like Egypt, China, South Africa, Morocco, and Argentina when these universities can't possibly cost more than 10k per year at most, means that GU is making a shitload of money.
Luckily I had enough AP credit that I was able to take a leave of absence and still graduate on time. Instead of paying GU tuition to go to Cairo, I went to Damascus for a year for less than 10k--living expenses, tuition, food, and airfare included. Georgetown never passes up a chance to screw its students for a dime.
Nov 30 2008 at 7:44 p.m.
What Bellows fails to mention is that until about 2004 or 2005, students did NOT pay the same tuition charges at each study abroad location. The fees were based on the program costs at the individual sites. For many locations, the costs of studying abroad were significantly lower than the new flat rate.
Dec 01 2008 at 7:26 p.m.
Has the policy changed so that students attending universities that cost MORE than Georgetown only pay the standard Georgetown rate?
I studied abroad during the 2005-2006 school year and was the first class to be subject to this policy. I attended the London School of Economics for the entire school year, and because LSE's tuition was higher than Georgetown's, my family was forced to pay about $5,000 more in tuition, in addition to having to pay room and board costs themselves, and take the exchange rate hit. While I did receive more financial aid, it was in the form of a student loan which would need to be paid back after graduation.
My year at the LSE was worth every penny, but there were a lot of those pennies. Also, I didn't really understand why I needed to send my payments via Georgetown at all - while I received assistance from the LSE support staff, I received very little help from Georgetown staff during that time. When I was robbed and lost my passport and student visa, OIP provided me with incorrect information which almost resulted in my inability to leave the UK until I completed exams - no spring break, no visits home, no traveling - from January to late June, with deportation risk to boot. My situation was so bad that friends who were forced into similar situations later chose to avoid contacting OIP at all for help.
If that was the case when I paid MORE than Georgetown's level of tuition, I can only imagine the frustration that students feel when they are forced to pay extra for "Georgetown tuition" when they aren't even at the school. Horror stories like mine are not uncommon, and I'm sure mine is mundane in comparison, especially when there is no common language. Until OIP's services are up to par, there is no reason that any student living away from the Hilltop should have to pay for anything above and beyond what they receive on a daily basis - the educational facilities, teaching, and support of the university that they are directly matriculated at for that semester.