Studying abroad bargain at UH

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Max Lee was a junkie, a Study Abroad junkie.

Shiloh Richardson, Sadie Yi and Heidi Sakuma, visiting Stonehenge in England, capitalized on the opportunity to study abroad. Adam Brooks

Three foreign languages under his belt: Spanish, German, French.

And he did it all through the University of Hawai'i.

Lee even graduated on time, getting his bachelor's degree in language from UH-Manoa in four years. Then his master's.

With college costs rising across the country, UH students are increasingly figuring out they can continue to live in Hawai'i and still get the polish of an international education — all at a fraction of the price of highly touted Mainland universities.

"Once they figure out they can do a program and be successful, they'll do multiple programs," said UH-Manoa Study Abroad director Sarita Rai. "Vanessa Chong, for instance, sped up her master's in Spanish with a semester in Seville. Then she did the French program in Annecy in the French Alps. Now she, like Max, is one of our advisers."

Spend a year in Japan through UH, Rai said, and it's about $18,000 for everything, including health insurance. Sign up for a semester in London and you pay $8,800, including airfare, accommodations, classes, excursions, book deposit and insurance coverage. A semester in Paris at the Sorbonne for UH students is from $10,000 to $12,000.

"We go to high schools to advise students and parents about these programs," Rai said. "Hey, if your kid is going to Princeton or Harvard or Yale, go for it, but if they're going anywhere else, go to UH instead because they can get an overall fantastic experience with Study Abroad."

For Hilo-raised Chanel Galario, who spent spring semester last year at the Sorbonne in Paris, it wasn't just a financial bargain and a broadening experience, but a way to conquer homesickness and a fear of traveling. Rainy days found her at the Pompidou Center marveling at an art piece consisting of a wall filled with old coats and sweaters hung on nails, or another wall painted entirely blue. Spring break saw her flying off to the Canary Islands with new friends.

"It was the same cost for a semester tuition at a school in another state," she said. "And financial aid covered most of the cost."

After low-cost student loans, Galario has been left with just $1,300 to pay back this year, and she's paying it off at the rate of $100 a month through her December graduation.

"Now I could go to another country where I don't speak the language and be fine," she said. "I've learned so much culturally, and about my own identity. Now I'm so much more creative."

The Study Abroad program at UH has grown since its launch in 1990 with 49 students and three programs. Today it has up to 325 students a year attending programs in 20 countries, all of them assessed for safety in the post-9/11 world. Participants are required to have a 3.0 or better grade point average, and about one-third are eligible for financial aid.

"We want them to handle living overseas, but it's not for everyone," Rai said. "Somebody who is teeter-tottering and doing poorly in school in their own culture, chances are when they go overseas they're not going to do well either."

While some students choose to go away for a semester or a year, others at UH have made studying abroad a major part of their college career. A few, like Chong, used it as an opportunity to go back to school and change directions. She had her master of business administration when she quit her job at Bank of Hawaii, and simultaneously signed up for UH and Study Abroad in Spain.

"I had been out of school for seven years," Chong said. "I literally left my job on a Friday and the next day was on a plane to Madrid for my first semester back."

The program offers tremendous flexibility, Rai said, but prefers students in their second year of college.

"On the Mainland they encourage juniors and seniors," Rai said. "But we encourage sophomores to go, primarily because they have more options in terms of courses they can take. By junior year you're supposed to be specializing. And we want to give them flexibility. If they go off and find they like botany or art, for instance, they tend to come back and specialize in these areas later on."

Shiloh Richardson took semesters in both Germany and London, then lined up one in New York as part of the National Student Exchange program. "If you're going to a Mainland college and paying out-of-state tuition," Richardson said, "this is better and way cheaper."

UH sends some teaching staff with each group, and classes are a combination of courses taught by UH faculty and faculty from the institution abroad.

"It's an opportunity for us to partner with very, very different institutions," said Karl Kim, UH interim vice chancellor for academic affairs. "It's a gem of a program — something the faculty love doing, and a transformative experience for the students who go away and spend time in another culture."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.