Outsource Your Child: Forget the Local Community College- Send Your Kid to School in Africa or Asia
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It’s that time of the year again: high-school seniors around the country are anxiously awaiting the news that will change their lives — early admission to the university of their choice. But while junior checks his email and the school’s website 15 times an hour, parents are checking their savings account statements. As the recession bites into American families’ incomes and makes the job search for recent graduates that much trickier, an increasing number of people are beginning to question the cost of attending colleges and universities in the United States.
And consider that cost: Colorado College, for example, has an annual tuition of $39,900 — and once room, board, and supplies are factored in, that rises to a whopping $52,000 for non-Colorado based students. You have to pay top dollar for a top-ranked school, of course: Colorado College is No. 1 in the nation for being “marijuana friendly,” according to test-prep agency Princeton Review.While Colorado College’s fees are at the upper end, it is hardly unique. The College Board suggests that more than two-fifths of full-time undergraduate college students attend a college that charges less than $9,000 per year for tuition and fees — but, at the other end, more than a quarter are in schools charging $36,000 or more. Some of those students get a scholarship, many get federal aid — but plenty don’t, or don’t get enough. Across the United States, college seniors who used loans to help fund their education owed an average of $25,250 upon graduation in 2010.So, perhaps it is not surprising that a Pew Research Center study suggests that 57 percent of Americans think college is of only fair or poor value for the money. And three quarters argue that college is too expensive for most Americans to afford.
There is a simple answer to such concerns: Shop around for a better deal. If junior is willing to travel a little bit further — to colleges overseas — the world offers some incredible bargains for quality tertiary education, with the option of free language and culture immersion thrown in. Tuition costs for foreign students at some of the best universities in Asia, Europe, and Africa can be as low as $4,000, well below half the median cost of college in the United States.