Stop Charging Extra for Experience Abroad
The Office of International Programs must start playing fair.
For students who have not yet undergone the harrowing logistical process that is study abroad, all study-abroad students pay exactly the same tuition — for the 2008-2009 academic year, that would be $18,768 per semester. While this price makes sense if the student is studying at a place like King’s College London, where the tuition for a semester is about the same — $18,834, to be exact — the numbers don’t add up at many other universities, particularly those located in developing countries.
A semester at Peking University in Beijing, for example, costs a mere $4,395. Subtract this figure from the standard-fare tuition that Georgetown students must pay, and OIP has netted a hefty $14,373 per student in that program. The Universidad San Francisco in Ecuador and the University of Auckland in New Zealand similarly charge less for tuition than Georgetown requires from its study abroad students. (It is important to note, however, that universities in some more affluent countries could charge more in tuition than the Georgetown fixed rate in tuition.)
The cost disparity means that OIP and Georgetown make a considerable amount of money on study abroad programs through those students who study in developing parts of the world, where education tends to be much less expensive than in the West.
Furthermore, OIP offers less support to programs off the beaten path. Many programs, such as those run by the Council on International Education Exchange or those with a point person from Georgetown available on the ground require OIP to pay for support services. Meanwhile, the student who studies abroad in Ecuador can often pay thousands of dollars more than the host university’s price for that same education, and lack real support from Georgetown while abroad.
The price disparity is significant for students who already depend heavily on student loans to pay Georgetown’s tuition — which, even considering exchange rates, still ranks among the most expensive in the world. It is ironic, to say the least, that students must pay the study abroad tuition only to have a chunk of that money help to fund main campus in D.C. Paying tuition is a heavy enough burden as it is.
Executive Director of International Programs Katherine Bellows has expressed interest in listening to student concerns and a willingness to increase support for students who would not ordinarily receive it. Students who are considering participating in a low-support program are strongly encouraged to consult with OIP about funding and logistics while studying abroad.
Regardless, OIP should revert to its former pricing system, which was phased out in the fall of 2005. Under the former system, students were billed for the price of the program abroad, plus a student fee. This alternative is not only a fairer way of distributing the costs of studying abroad: It is far more transparent. Students abroad should not be forced to pay extra thousands of dollars for tuition, to be used at the university’s discretion. Particularly for students in areas lacking direct support from Georgetown, study abroad programs should not be saddled with excessive charges. Those who seek educational opportunities beyond our borders should be rewarded, not penalized.
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Nov 25 2008 at 2:32 p.m.
You're paying for the degree. Want Georgetown to give academic credit for your party time in India? Pay for it.
Nov 25 2008 at 2:38 p.m.
"Regardless, OIP should revert to its former pricing system, which was phased out in the fall of 2005. Under the former system, students were billed for the price of the program abroad, plus a student fee."
How would this work at roughly comparable universities, like King's College? Would they have to pay the British tuition $18,834, plus a student fee? This is also assuming we have the same conversion rate -- when I was at King's it was nearly $2.10 to the dollar, so the rate would've been nearly $24,000.
I agree student abroad tuition is a big problem, but a fair proportion of students would be penalized more under the proposed program (if it's as you describe).
Nov 26 2008 at 6:28 a.m.
An article describing the world's most expensive universities I found on Forbes.com says only that "Private universities in Europe can be as pricey as their U.S. counterparts," not more expensive. The example cited in this editorial, KCL, seems to be inaccurate. Their website (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ug/funding/overseas.html) says that *yearly* tuition is 12,020 pounds ($18,229) for overseas students, making their cost of attendance for one semester substantially less than Georgetown's. While some private universities abroad (American University of Paris is cited as an example) may have comparable tuition, I believe the emphasis here deserves to be placed on the majority of cases where OIP pays out less than they take in. At best, some students break even.
The justifications for this arrangement offered by Ms. Bellows in the news article that appears in this same issue of the Hoya are underwhelming.
First, perhaps someone can explain how the $145 "Chemistry Fee" on my student bill is reflective of a Georgetown policy that charges everyone the same no matter what their course of study. Or the $70 "Language Fee"? Moreover, I am not convinced that the $14,000 semesterly difference between Peking University and Georgetown tuition is comparable to the difference between Joe the Pre-med and Jane studying linguistics. Bellows may be the first administrator ever to want to argue that campus resources are distributed very inequitably depending on our field of study.
The second claim is just confusing. Does Bellows imply that OIP is paying more to the foreign university in "estimated costs" than the "fixed costs" that we can see? If so, for what? If not, then these are just items that the student foots the bill for on top of full Georgetown tuition. I'm lost.
The third claim has some merit. If the dollar completely crashed, and OIP had to pay even $25,000 per semester to send students to Europe, we wouldn't want to have to pay more to study abroad in London instead of Dakar, but I find it hard to believe that OIP would resist the urge to pass the extra cost along to students in those circumstances, which, it bears repeating, do not yet exist.
The claim that Georgetown financial aid covers all costs for study abroad, meant to ameliorate concerns that students might be discouraged from studying abroad for financial reasons is intriguing. I (and this is purely speculation) wonder if OIP bills Financial Aid the full Georgetown tuition or if they just cover OIP's costs. Because the logic is curious. If the money all ends up in the same place, then why would OIP suck an extra few thousand dollars out of the financial aid budget that could be used to support other students on campus? If they only charge OIP for the cost of attendance abroad, then their commitment to the above three claims must be only as deep as the pockets of the relevant Georgetown parents. If they charge them the full rate, then I am incensed to learn that money intended for Georgetown financial aid is going to support OIP overhead.
Which brings up another point. Why, pray tell, should students studying a university thousands of miles away be relieved to know that any extra tuition money will go toward the salaries of professors teaching classes they are not attending, bills for university services they are not using, or the maintenance of classrooms they are not setting a foot in all semester? While I wouldn't want Georgetown to suffer financially because its students are studying abroad, surely we could figure out how many empty places we needed to fill with more students to keep things even. I have heard that exchange students don't pay Georgetown tuition to go here and that the University takes a loss for every one of those, but since Bellows didn't mention it, I assume that is false.
The commenters raise the point that Georgetown makes you pay for the credit while you go play in India (?) or wherever else. Maybe so. But let's not forget how much money we're talking about here. $19,000 for one semester or $38,000 for a year. That's a used BMW and a new BMW, respectively. And for those students who genuinely want to learn a language, experience culture shock and cultural immersion, or step out of the Hilltop bubble for a semester, that matters. Georgetown generally gives students elective credit for study abroad, which many students don't need to graduate, though some do. Even if you do want to go just play, why shouldn't your cost be equal to Georgetown's? And if Georgetown wants to charge whatever it deems necessary for the name on the degree, that's a problem for them, not us. A university should not be in the business of exchanging large checks for diplomas...it should care first about educating its students and genuinely promoting their growth and development. OIP's attitude demonstrates a commitment to neither.
The alternative? Take a semester off, organize it yourself, and pay for what you're getting. But that takes guts, since OIP emphasizes (anecdotal evidence only here) how risky, extraordinary, and difficult that will be, perhaps not without some conflict of interest.
Personally, I love Georgetown, and I didn't want to leave to begin with, but I do feel like I (read: my family) would have been cheated had I gone. The Hoya is right to call OIP out on this, like the Voice did last year. One line from Bellows' interview sticks in my mind: "Whatever is in the university’s best interest is in [the] students’ best interest because funds go back into the university." Nope. If it can be conclusively proven that those two interests align, we can entertain that argument. But if OIP is taken as any indication of the University at large, I'll remain skeptical.
Nov 30 2008 at 7:33 p.m.
I'm studying abroad at a public university in Europe, and the local students only pay fees to attend. We're directly matriculated and Georgetown has two employees here, who in all fairness help us out and plan nice activities and trips (which are free to us because we've already paid for them in our "tuition"), but even with the slightly-improving dollar against the euro, we are definitely getting scammed because of the cost of living here.