In the past tens years, student debt in the United States has jumped nearly 150%. About 27% of College students are likely to get a job post-graduation that is within their field of study, due to pressure to fulfill their loan requirements each month. If you were to go up and ask a college student in their first year of private or public undergraduate education about their feelings on loan culture, their responses would not be very different from those of a senior just a few months from receiving their diploma, the only difference might be the bloodshot eyes and impending doom in their voices.
College has always been a time for the youth of a nation to go out and experience other cultures in addition to receiving a certification in higher learning. Sometimes this means joining clubs on campus, engaging in the area they are in or even talking to other students who are on exchange programs from around the world. Exchange student programs have a very rich and strong history when it comes to higher education. The importance stems from doing exactly what we expect from our experiences, sharing cultures and traditions at a young age so that our global community may have a chance to be more interconnected which will, in turn, help our global economy, relations and also bring forth a better understanding for one another’s histories. In the era of heightened nationalism and xenophobia, exchange programs can be seen as a last-ditch effort to help with rising generations to ascertain a better understanding and keep arms wide open.
Now if we take a look down at the plate set in front of us, we might be tried to fit the pieces together. In order to cross international borders with a student visa, there a few obstacles that plague current students. The fuel market has so far maintained relatively stable for the past year and that seems to be allowing for cheaper airfare for the next year or so, but there is no guarantee a bubble will not burst. While colleges offer student abroad fairs and an abundant amount of resources, there is always a fear of what will happen with your scholarships and how will your credits transfer properly? The horror stories from friends, siblings, friends of siblings, who traveled abroad last year or their Junior semester, their credits didn’t transfer properly and they couldn’t get their diploma for the sacrifice of a 3 credit summer course. The unruly expectations of a four-year graduation date are an entirely different story and a much more gruesome one at that. In order to study abroad you have a few plans of attack, and to make things easier, I will consolidate them into the three experiences my friends have recently had, The James, The Verena, and The Gabe. The James method is one that might seem most appealing but the most rare, Verena perhaps the more common, and Gabe the anomaly.
James consists of the planning ahead where you want to go, having a support group to help you conduct research on how you should go about planning the application and securing funds and grant applications. Deadlines were all met, financial aid and credits secured and accepted from both universities and inexpensive direct flights booked. Health insurance transferred, vaccines injected and a cell phone plan selected that would allow for quick messages and tweets to be propelled into the ether. You were even given a passport holder by your friend. All the while, you were are able to purchase weekend trips because your perfect planning had allowed you to get a job and save up extra money for just that… experiences.
The Verena is one that you might see towards the top of the menu. You see something of yourself in it but want to keep looking because you never know what might catch your eye, but when the server comes up and asks if your ready and your hasty friend starts spouting their gastronomical wishes, and all heads turn to you, “The Verena” is what you say. Your dream of studying abroad is quickly evaporating as your last semester of junior year comes to an end. You have been telling your friends and family since you were in high school how much you looked forward to the opportunity and that you were determined to do it. Now that you are about to be a senior, what happens if you don’t go through with it? Are you ready to start using life as an excuse? “Life happened” is what people in their late thirties tell their friends when asked difficult questions about their lack of physical and mental health. So you get yourself to the study abroad sessions over the last semester of junior year and you dive in headfirst. You are not really sure what you are doing or how this will work but you know that it has been done before. You are set up with an advisor who is meant to help you throughout. But the process moves slowly and paperwork doesn’t get filled out properly. Then you have midterms and finals and there is more complication with your applications. There is no support from anywhere but your own spine and you start to have a bit of a panic attack over a sushi roll in the back of the library: “What do you mean you can’t take my full financial aid?!” The school over the border has accepted your application, your aid has been sent for review and you will hear back in a week or so. You’re told to be patient, there are a lot of other people trying to study abroad, give these people a break. So you go ahead and buy a suitcase, a big one, and maybe two because you don’t know what sort of luggage you pack for 4 months in a place that you have never been, and yes the Google search wasn’t super helpful. Your family, who have not been active in helping you complete any of the tasks at hand… still remain preoccupied. Your tickets are purchased, and you seemingly are all set to go. Just until you are a week before departure and the school that you attend informs you that there is a discrepancy with this year’s financial aid and $8,000 of the abroad fund will not be allocated after all. So now you have no choice but to take out another loan to cover the owed funds. The stress follows you all the way up to your gate and onto the plane. Your luggage you ask? Oh, of course, that is lost because your first flight was delayed out of JFK, the discount airlines bad rap with the airport has something to do with it, the captain grumbles over the intercom. A love affair with you and bad luck have culminated when the last cab ordered by your school does not wait for you at the destinations international airport. So there you are, luggageless in the country that you have worked so hard to get too, alone. Or so you thought, to your left is a girl named Claire who is wearing the same expression on her face as you. You make eye contact, comradery sinks in and then you smile and realize you were on the same delayed flight from JFK and you indeed are going to the same exchange program. The two of you split a cab to the school and so the journey begins.
In contrast to The Verena, Gabe is more like the maverick of the bunch. The situation that arises from a lost script, a deleted scene, a memory you are excited about when your friend reminds you. You decide last minute that you really ought to study abroad for the enjoyment of not only experiencing another culture but also sharing your own. You randomly choose the first table at the fare that you walk up to and go through the motions. No time for thinking about the consequences, all you really are feeling at this point is driven and motivated. You buy the ticket with what little money you have left in the bank, hopefully, the place you are going is in a recession. You hope for the best that you will be expected and everything will work out, and it does.
These three options might be limited in scope and perhaps much too specific for any chance of passing off as relatable. However, it is up for discussion whether or not it is viable for people to tack on the extra expense to their long rap sheet that a private company hired out by the Federal Government is holding on for you snarkily until your six months of deferment is up and you come crawling. The answer is yes, always yes, for those who do not chew, lose their teeth. In other words, The debt is coming, so make the most out of it while you can. It is speculated that in 18 years, a college degree will cost $500,000… that is more than twice the average cost of a four year degree in 2018. So travel while you can.
