American students are increasingly looking to Europe to go to college.
Attending university in the U.S. can set back families $100,000 a year, and millions of Americans are struggling to pay off their student loans. So, to shave costs and still get a quality education, more families are turning to schools in Europe, Canada and Asia.
While costs for universities abroad are much lower—a college in France costs a mere $3,300 a year in tuition—it takes more work to navigate tuition, scholarships and visas in foreign countries. This article is a tipsheet.
Close to 300,000 U.S. students studied abroad in the 2023/2024 academic year, up 6% from the previous year, according to the nonprofit Institute of International Education. Italy, Spain, the U.K. and France are the top destinations.
U.S. students abroad are already getting savvier about their finances, said Mandee Heller Adler, founder of Florida-based consulting firm International College Counselors. “They seem more familiar with colleges outside the U.S. and are aware of the cost differential,” she said.
Besides the currency fluctuation and the rising cost of living in some large European cities, Adler says that students should pay attention to hidden costs such as visa fees and trips flying back to the U.S.
“Studying abroad will be more expensive than going to a community college in the U.S., but for a middle-class family with some means, it’s a great option,” she said.
Catriona Formby, a freshman from Stillwater, Minn., agrees. The 19-year-old moved to Germany last year to study mathematics at the University of Bonn.
She pays €345 ($407) per semester for tuition and lives on less than €900 a month, including €420 for a bedroom in a sublet. Her health insurance costs €140 a month, a fraction of U.S. prices.
“It’s all so cheap,” she said, “There’s no way I could live on such a low budget in the U.S.”
The one major expense for her has been flights home. Over Christmas, it cost about $1,300 for her to fly back to Minnesota, a bill her parents footed.
She also had to prove she had a minimum of €12,000 saved in a bank account to get her student visa. She worked retail for nine months to afford that.
“It’s all been worth it,” she said.
Pieter Funnekotter, senior vice president at the global education platform QS, said studying abroad usually works out cheaper, including at elite colleges such as the UK’s Cambridge University or Switzerland’s ETH Zurich, which enjoy the same prestige and academic ranking as top U.S. schools.
Students will look for these colleges as they allow for similar career paths as those afforded to students graduating from a U.S. Ivy, he said. “Graduates from strong international universities usually have no issue securing good jobs back in the U.S.,” he said.
That’s what Gavin Baxa, 22, is hoping. The college senior from Jackson Hole, Wyo., will graduate this year from Technological University Dublin, Ireland, where he studied culinary entrepreneurship.
He’s now looking for manager training programs in Houston, where he has family, and in coastal cities such as Boston and San Francisco.
His decision to study in Dublin was in part financial: His tuition cost €13,500 a year for a four-year degree. His rent is €1,000 for a house share. He spends about €180 monthly on food and €450 yearly on health insurance.
“In the U.S., housing prices and tuition fees are ridiculous,” he said.
While generally lower than in the U.S., the cost of university overseas varies broadly, with English-speaking destinations such as the U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia often more expensive than Western European nations such as Germany, France and Italy, said Funnekotter.
In the U.K., a year at Oxford as an undergraduate starts at £38,000 ($52,000). Other European universities, like the Sorbonne in France and Bocconi in Italy cost around $5,000 a year. In Germany, tuition is either free or in the low-four digits.
In Canada, McGill has slightly cheaper tuition to the U.S., between 30,000 Canadian dollars and C$70,000 annually, and a more straightforward admissions process. In Hong Kong and Singapore, it’s closer to $25,000.
A lot of students are attracted to colleges with lower price tags, said Adler. Some also prioritize Europe as undergraduate degrees there usually last three years instead of four, costing less overall.
Scholarships are harder to get than in the U.S., though, warned Adler.
Aid is often reserved for local or European students. And U.S. financial-needs-based grants, such as Pell grants, are only for youth studying in America.
Still, considering the cost of tuition in the U.S. and the worsening jobs market for recent graduates, studying abroad is alluring.
“A lot of kids in the U.S. are struggling to get jobs,” said Adler, “So if you can get a good experience abroad for good money and a good education, that’s appealing to a lot of families,” she said.
Cost is one of the key reasons why Cristi Viera encouraged her children to study in Europe.
From Newark, N.J., the 50-year-old teacher who now lives in Alicante, Spain, said she wanted her kids to avoid entering the workforce loaded with student debt.
“It’s not fair for someone so young to start their adult life in such significant debt,” she said.
Her encouragement worked: Viera’s oldest daughter, who’s 21, is planning to do her master’s in marketing in Spain after finishing her degree in communications at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She relied on benefits from the GI Bill—her father is a veteran—and a scholarship to afford college, but wants cheaper options in Europe for her master’s.
As for Viera’s younger daughter, 17-year-old Mia, she’s looking to start college next fall either in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain or Italy.
“Ultimately, the No. 1 criteria for university selection is financial,” said Viera. “We’re really lucky that our children are not limited to the U.S., the world is their oyster,” she said.
Write to editors@barrons.com