If you’ve ever had an 8:50 a.m. class on a Friday, you probably know what it’s like to fantasize about a professor not turning up. Fidgeting as we watch the clock, we pray for a natural disaster, a freak snowstorm – anything to avoid an impending test and to allow us to catch up on sleep.
Sure, it feels great when students get that occasional day off. But imagine spending more than two weeks on campus without scheduled classes convening. The novelty of having nothing to do would likely give way to the sense that you are wasting your time and money, with nothing to show for it.
I mention this because for one group of Georgetown students at Sciences Po Lyon, an elite university in France, this was a reality. For several weeks, professors at Sciences Po went on strike, leaving students in a lurch. Sure, the students may have traveled and continued to immerse themselves in French language and culture – but several of my friends, who were incidentally visiting me in London during the strike, fumed that they were paying money to Georgetown for services they were not receiving. At Georgetown’s tuition rate, that’s about $2,400 for two weeks of nothing.
Foreign students typically study without fees at Sciences Po Lyon, but not Georgetown students: Georgetown still charges students abroad full Georgetown tuition. That’s about an $18,000 premium (plus fees) on what a student would otherwise get for free.
This is not a new grievance for students. Prior to the 2004-2005 school year, the Office of International Programs charged students only the cost of their chosen academic program, not the regular Georgetown tuition. The rules were changed, however, and the university began forcing students to fork over full tuition for the opportunity to study abroad. In a recession, the unfair burden this places on students is all the heavier.
The experiences of my friends in Lyon are only one glaring example of the unfairness of a policy that takes advantage of students. Examples abound: Peking University in Beijing, for instance, charges $4,395 in tuition per semester. Georgetown’s price: $18,768 plus fees. My own program at Oxford University would cost thousands of dollars less if I enrolled as a visiting student outside of OIP.
All of this is a shame. Georgetown’s great strength is its global visibility, and I came to this school on the strength of that reputation. OIP offers wonderful programs and has relationships with outstanding international institutions. But the university rewards our enthusiasm by ignoring the actual cost of study, charging a flat rate and pocketing the difference. Its arguments for doing so amount to little more than an administrative sophism.
Defenders will argue that the university does the leg work by giving students access to these programs and providing information and support. This is certainly true, to a degree. In essence, though, we who study abroad are paying extra for a service that we could access ourselves. A friend of mine who studied in Syria two years ago arranged things on his own and spent a whole year there for a relatively paltry sum. As for the information and support OIP offers – I remember vividly going to two mass information sessions lasting an hour. Most of my friends confess that they didn’t get much from them.
There’s nothing wrong with Georgetown charging some fees, but no service OIP provides is actually worth full tuition – especially when, in some instances, tuition in other countries is small or even free.
Transfer of credit makes for additional headaches for many students. One friend who studied in Copenhagen last term received government credit for a sociology class which she had specifically taken to fulfill a requirement, a bureaucratic blooper that did not help her work toward a marketing degree. Furthermore, OIP’s rules on transferring credit often do not mesh with specific departmental policies, leaving year-long students in limbo until they return for their senior fall semester.
Georgetown’s study abroad program clearly needs reform. What should be a stellar example of Georgetown’s great international opportunities instead leaves students feeling frustrated and poorer than they would have been had they arranged things on their own.
Adam Kemal is a junior in the College currently studying abroad at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, England. He can be reached at kemalthehoya.com. This is the semester’s final installment of It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.
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