Three-year diplomas, low tuition, and English lectures make overseas study appealing!
The US and the UK aren't the only schools with an academic reputation. As the representatives from Temple-Japan and Asia Pacific University have told us, there are schools as good (or even better!) much closer to home and many of the good ones cost less, too. Listen to what Kim Clark just wrote in US News & World Report. You remember them? Each year they publish one of the most widely read reports on college rankings.
By Kim Clark
September 21, 2010
As the sticker prices of elite American, British, and Australian colleges skyrocket, a few of their competitors in other countries are keeping tuition low and offering more courses in English to attract students from around the world. What's more, many of the elite international colleges award bachelor's degrees after just three years of study, further reducing education expenses.[See the rankings of the world's best universities.]Some highly ranked universities in Scandinavia, for example, charge no tuition at all. And a growing number of comparatively low-priced colleges around the world, including the University of Hong Kong, some of the top Korean universities, and the University of Amsterdam, are offering bachelor's programs in English.[Slide show: some of the world's best bargain universities.]The upshot: students with top qualifications and a willingness to live abroad can earn diplomas from elite universities for a total cost—including their living expenses and travel—of less than $70,000. Students who can become fluent in languages such as German or Mandarin can earn degrees for less than $50,000. Frugal Finnish speakers, for example, who gain entry to the tuition-free University of Helsinki, ranked 75th in the world in 2010, can survive on less than $1,000 a month for living and travel. That brings the total cost of a bachelor's degree to less than $40,000 including food, rent, books, and travel.By comparison, the annual in-state sticker price for the University of California—San Diego, which ranked 65th in the world this year, neared $28,000. And many students take five years to graduate, pushing the total cost of a degree (if students receive no financial aid) above $120,000.
Of course, there are some downsides to attending college overseas... Some Top International Colleges Offer Free Tuition - US News and World Report
