Can Blacks Afford NOT to Study Overseas?

2007-04-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland, Esq. Blog, in the Afrosphere.

Studying overseas is often thought to be an upper middle-class or wealthy bourgeois privilege that Black students cannot afford. Don't believe that hype! Because tuition, housing and transportation costs are higher in the United States than in many other countries, and educational subsidies are often lower here, astute Black students may find that they cannot afford NOT to study overseas.

For example, the annual tuition at United States colleges and universities is rarely less than $5000.00 per year and often comes closer to $$50,000 per year. Meanwhile, tuition at some French universities is as low as $500.00 per year, including a comprehensive health insurance package that covers prescription medicine. Effectively, the cost of college health insurance in the United States may exceed the cost of health insurance AND tuition in France.

Comprehensive US financial aid may be available for American students to study overseas. Many United States colleges and universities permit students to remain enrolled in the United States, paying a nominal fee of perhaps $15.00 per semester for continued enrollment, while actually earning many of their degree credits at a foreign institution, and paying the substantially lower foreign tuition. Because the students remain enrolled at US institutions, they remain eligible for all available US financial aid, but they can spend it overseas in an environment where money goes much further.

Moreover, foreign schools and governments often offer education subsidies that are not available in the United States. For example, when I studied in France, the French Government paid 30% of my apartment rent, so that I paid only 70% of the market rate for my apartment. That is a substantial educational subsidy that is not available in the United States.

Another reason to study overseas, as a high school student or college student, is that knowing a foreign language and having inter-cultural experience is an excellent way for Blacks to gain admission the most prestigious American universities and graduate schools and to increase earning potential afterward. One Black student of my acquaintance, whose mother was on welfare and could not afford to help her financially, nonetheless spent a year studying overseas, after which she was admitted to and graduated from a top Ivy League graduate school. Now, she has a top-flight job in the private sector.

Studying overseas can lead to higher pay afterward. With America becoming increasingly multicultural and multilingual, a lawyer, teacher or accountant who speaks Spanish or French often can achieve a significant hiring and pay advantage over one who speaks only English, particularly because clients in the United States are increasingly from diverse linguistic backgrounds and the international economy is increasingly integrated. A year of study in Brazil, Argentina or Spain offers students the opportunity to learn a language that is in demand in the United States.

Black students can hardly afford to be stranded in monolingualism while the world becomes increasingly integrated linguistically and culturally. Studying overseas helps Black students to appreciate the immigrant experience and prepares them to deal more effectively with increasing diversity here at home.

So, if a foreign university offers our students the chance to earn credits toward US graduation, learn a foreign language while doing so, AND pay significantly less tuition, with comprehensive health care and significant housing subsidies, can Blacks afford to say "no"?

Black students wishing to study overseas should discuss it with their academica advisors, contact their schools’ foreign study offices, and research foreign study opportunities on the Internet.

Black Study Overseas Blog

Can Blacks Afford NOT to Study Overseas?