Studying abroad may be cost-prohibiting
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By Sara Sies and Tara Williams
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One of the choices that seniors have after high school would be studying abroad. There are many places that one can choose from for this program. There are some requirements you need in order to be eligible for the program. Some requirements are you have to be 18 or older, high school graduate, GPA of at least 2.5 or higher, and it’s sometimes open for all language levels. It mainly depends on where you want to go. Sometimes you might be required to be at an intermediate level, have a higher GPA, or even have completed at least one year of college. Some places you might be interested in are: France, Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, England, etc. They all have different colleges to choose from and all have their own requirements.
IEFA (International Education Financial Aide) is a college scholarship with grant information for international students wishing to study abroad. There are also discounts on student travel, international student loans, and tax returns and refund centers.
Studying abroad isn’t cheap. Depending on where you go and how long you go the cost is anywhere between $3000 for a week to $30,000 for a year. They only way you can cut the cost is by getting scholarships, discounts, loans, and tax returns.
We think that studying abroad is a good opportunity but is very expensive unless you get a good deal or are rich.
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| Hostels a good option for a cheap getaway
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A hostel – what exactly is that one may ask; a hostel is, in short, a cheap way to travel. Up until a decade ago hostels offered a unique form of accommodation where rooms were dormitory style with bunk beds, where you might have had the pleasure of sharing bathroom facilities with up to 30 other guests, where you had to be in by midnight or face the idea of sleeping in the street and the noise of fellow room mates almost guaranteed many sleepless nights – you probably know what I mean. Today it has transformed into a budget type of hotel, in which you can stay alone or in a group up to 7 people for ease of travel. This is a less roughing-it version of backpacking...you simply travel from hostel to hostel. Which is a much better idea for some of us who are scared to death of the dark, or have never slept outside.
A German school teacher Richard Schirrmann started Hostelling in the summer of 1907. This hostel was held in his own school room, where every night straw was put down for mattresses and in the morning the people that stayed there the night before helped clean up the straw and put the desks back into place. Mr. Schirrmann’s philosophy of this was this: "Suppose that the thoughtful young people of all countries could be provided with suitable meeting places where they could get to know each other! That could and must be the role of our youth hostels, not only in Germany, but throughout the world, building a bridge of peace from nation to nation!" (From American Youth Hostels' "First Fifty Years: Young at Any Age") Hence became the era of cheap traveling world communication.
Hostels come in many shapes in sizes: there are hostels in castles, in teepees and in railroad carriages – practically anywhere you go you can find a hostel. Ranging from about $10 - $30, you can find a hostel using the online hostel booking system found at www.hostels.com. Also giving you maps, directions, and other people’s opinion about their hotel through a rating system you are sure to find a hostel located near the areas you are visiting. After much thought and consideration, this method of traveling causes the much needed “non-Americanized” form of traveling abroad, experiencing all the troubles, trials, and memories without those annoying tour guides. This proves to be a good choice of transportation in our own country as well as around the world, one should definitely try it if they get the chance.
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