Financially-burdened college students who want to study abroad, may find relief, according to SF State’s Office of International Programs.

The Office of International Programs (OIP) offers study abroad programs to students in a myriad of global locations every semester. What most students don’t realize, however, are these programs cost the same amount of money as spending one semester at SF State. And a semester abroad can help students find better jobs after college.

“I think the tragedy is people think, ‘It’s not for me,’” said My Yarabinec, an associate director at the OIP. “And they don’t bother to check it out.”

Students also have misconceptions about traveling abroad, he said. They think one of four things: it’s too expensive, there’s no time to do it, speaking another language is necessary, and it’s not valuable, Yarabinec said.

International exchange programs are financially feasible, Yarabinec said, because the state subsidizes them. This means students pay their regular tuition costs at SF State for any given semester, and the state pays the rest of the students’ tuition abroad.

For example, an international program in Bristol, England costs $8,000 above SF State tuition for one semester, Yarabinec said. “That $8,000 is paid for by the state,” he said.

Students can also apply financial aid and scholarships to these programs, he said. And certain study abroad programs even offer perks like paid housing and extra grant money, Yarabinec added.

In one program, the state offers students an additional $4,000 scholarship to travel to Taiwan, he said.

Couple this state scholarship with the fact that Taiwan’s cost of living is cheaper, and Yarabinec said students end up paying a total of $2,500 per semester, which includes travel, tuition, housing, and food.

In Hong Kong where the housing is expensive, Chinese academic institutions pay for American students’ housing through their own state subsidized programs, Yarabinec said.

Yarabine added, research indicates that studying abroad makes students more competitive in the job market and study abroad students land higher paying jobs.

One SF State student, Kelly Campbell, 23,—now an alumnus—left her comfort zone and went to Spain last year through a study abroad program.

Campbell said people in the United States and in Europe were impressed that she left America, and she said the experience increased her confidence level overall.

“It’s kind of an amazing thing, and it’s kind of humbling to travel alone,” Campbell said. “It gives you a lot of strength…you have to problem solve on your own.”

The value of the U.S. dollar is dropping, said Dr. Sudip Chattopadhyay, an associate professor of SF State’s Department of Economics.

"It’s going to drop more," Chattopadhyah said, "because there's going to be an (interest) rate cut by the Federal Reserve Bank."

Although Chattopadhyay said he expects plenty of job availability in the U.S., particularly in the technology sector, he said students may learn how to better improve this nation’s economy, if they study elsewhere.

“I think...people in the U.S. need to travel more, so they can experience other cultures,” Campbell said. “Some people don’t even know what a visa is—they think it’s a credit card.”

Students currently interested in traveling abroad can go to one of the OIP’s daily informational meetings located on the fourth floor of the Administration (ADM) building, or they can visit www.sfsu.edu/~studyabr online.