Studying Abroad: Mandatory or Optional by Hunter

Studying Abroad: Mandatory or Optional by Hunter - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

Studying abroad is an excellent opportunity for college students to advance into their field and gain a very impressive experience onto their resume. This is not something that should be required for college students though because it would add even more costs to a price that is skyrocketing, college tuition. I believe that studying abroad should not be required for college students because students are already paying thousands of dollars for college tuition.
Studying abroad is something that is becoming more popular in the last five years because job fields have become more crowded; thus, creating a more competitive job market where workers are trying to get the edge on the competition. Student loans also do not carry on from country into country causing problems for students, “Vivek Bhogadi, from Trinidad and Tobago, studies Medicine at the McGill University in Canada, and has had to overcome challenges related to the cost of living abroad: ‘Challenges I have had to face have included funding problems, as student loans in Canada do not completely cover tuition and board.’” (The Unipod). Students are already taking out massive loans to pay off college and if other countries are not giving the same financial aid then this just causes larger issues with studying abroad. Language barriers are something that coincides with studying abroad and most college students do not know how to speak more than two if not only one language. This would force college kids to take foreign language classes, which may be irrelevant to their major. This would be a waste of a class for a student that could be taking a class related to their major instead of a foreign language they don’t need. If language barriers aren’t enough to halt studying abroad, then the academic barriers should be enough to prove it should not be required. In a foreign country you may not be able to keep up with what is being covered in your lectures and this might result in students getting lower grades than they are used too. This hurts students studying abroad because although they are in a different country they may be learning barely anything due to the language and academic barriers. The additional cost of studying abroad, the language barriers, and academic barriers make it a poor choice to require studying abroad in college.
Studying abroad is an experience that most college students come away from with an incredible experience on their resume. Studying abroad is a good idea for college students who want to partake in studying a foreign country, but an awful idea for students who do not care about a foreign countries academics and culture. This is something that could be in the future but why would universities do this when they are already being ridiculed for the rising prices of college, it would only lose universities more students.