Studying abroad offers numerous indispensable benefits for a college student including personal development, intellectual development, and future career benefits; but a majority of students decide against international study due to fear and the costs associated with traveling and living in a new place with a different culture. In Michelle Obama’s speech about the importance of studying abroad she quoted an ancient Chinese proverb that says “It is better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books”, while speaking to both Chinese and U.S. exchange students at Peking University in Beijing China in 2014 (“The First Lady on the Importance of Studying Abroad”). This ancient proverb is now proven by studies that show these benefits. In the US, approximately only 1.5% of students enrolled in institutions of higher education studied abroad for credit during the 2014-2015 academic year (“Trends in U.S. Studying Abroad”). This shockingly low amount of students studying abroad is a product of the high cost associated with studying abroad.

The average price tag on a semester abroad is $17,785. Many students and parents of students have false pretenses that studying abroad does not offer benefits to outweigh these costs (Stansbury). These high costs make studying abroad seem out of reach to all but wealthy college students who can afford plane tickets and a higher cost of living in certain host countries, but with the help of scholarships and grants studying abroad is accessible to people of all walks of life. Many universities and independent partner programs offer scholarships and grants for students who want to study abroad, but cannot afford it. Study Abroad programs are not “one-size-fits-all” and certain ones may not be designed to suit the student best but, with reasonable research, one can find a program that suits their desires.

Just as all universities are different, study abroad programs all have differences in length and level of integration with the host culture and people. Semester long programs where the student either directly enrolls into a host university or exchange programs (where two students swap places for a semester) are the most common study abroad programs. Other programs may last between one to three weeks long and usually only count towards one or two credits towards the students major. Though single and multi-week study abroad programs may be a good introduction for some students who solely want to venture outside of their personal comfort zone for a shorter period, in order to reap the full benefits study abroad programs offer, one should participate in a semester or yearlong program. The length of the program is important as well as the level of integration with the host culture. Students who do not engage in the host culture will not receive the multitude of benefits that come with these interactions. Multicultural exposure allows for even more cognitive growth during college.

College is an important time for students to grow and develop into well educated people of value to society. Most students enter college with the values that their parents’ have taught them and are then challenged by their peers and what professors teach them in class. The growth and development of students is spurred by the freedom gained when they are released from under their parents’ careful watch and support. Up until students leave home for college, the level of challenge has been relatively low while the support has been very high. The transition into college can be daunting and stressful at times, but it is necessary for personal and intellectual growth as these developments are always spurred by challenge and support (McKeown 12). Overtime however, students become accustomed to living and studying in their new environment and the level of personal and intellectual development will have dipped back to baseline. Studying abroad offers challenge to students as they embark on an international journey to interact with cultures and people they likely never would have otherwise. This journey provides the eye opening experiences that lead to personal growth. This personal growth is proven by studies focusing on bilingual abilities, creativity, and other intellectual developments. Besides personal benefits, an increased chance of having a successful career is another.

With the large increase in technology, specifically the internet, the world is far more connected than ever before. Businesses in the U.S. are now capable of doing business in places they likely never would have been able to, such as China, due to the advent of the internet. The increasing number of multinational corporations and Americans investing in foreign markets makes college graduates with multicultural experiences an invaluable asset to companies seeking better relationships with future international business partners and markets. Becoming fluent in a second language while abroad is a very invaluable skill to these multinational corporations. These skills are so invaluable that studies show 90% of students that studied abroad found career-related employment within 6 months of graduation (“What Statistics Show About Study Abroad Students”). Students who study abroad gain these multicultural experiences thus giving them the upper hand in future employment. Including international study experiences on a résumé shows hiring managers that the applicant is open to new experiences. The applicant may also relay to the hiring manager how the international experience taught or enhanced their professionally useful skills. However, future career benefits are not the only important benefit of studying abroad, and more immediate and personal growths can be seen in students.

Personal development, while not monetarily quantified, is still a very commonly realized benefit of semester long study abroad programs. When students study abroad, a large increase in intercultural competence can be seen, even in students who may initially strongly dislike the culture and people they now must interact with. Intercultural competence is the successful collaboration of parties of different cultural or ethnic backgrounds to complete a common task. Students show this cognitive growth with “the development of several psychological traits including adaptability to different communication styles and behaviors or new cultural environments, both cognitive and emotional flexibility in selecting and using appropriate communication styles and behaviors, the development of an increasingly nuanced ethnorelative view, and an increased sense of empathy across cultural differences” (Palmer). These cognitive developments allow for students to make communicate and create friendships with students of the host country that they will be studying with. Students who have studied abroad also report that they have a more sophisticated world-view that weighs in to how they view their own culture. Additionally, they become better communicators not only with the people in the host culture, but also be able to share and relate these experiences to peers and professors when they return home. The challenge with studies done on any type of personal growth or change is that the data can be very difficult to quantify, but the use of pre and post-tests help quantify this data. Another study done on 233 students from Minnesota State University in 2006, showed that more than 80% of students reported that their study abroad experience caused them to reassess their personal outlook on their lives back home and an increased level of self-confidence (Sandell). 

Furthermore, links have been made between increased creative thinking and study abroad. “Researchers empirically examining the link between multicultural experiences and creativity have found that multicultural exposure is significantly related to greater creative performance” (Lee, et al.). The study continues to claim that cultural frame switching leads to increased “mental flexibility in detecting, processing, and organizing everyday cultural information in more innovative ways” (Lee, et al.). Some believe that creativity is only beneficial to the arts or similar occupations but this mental flexibility effects creativity in entrepreneurship, finding solutions to social issues, and even finding solutions to some of the humanities harshest struggles. An interesting detail from Lee’s study is that only actual immersion in multicultural experiences are linked to an increase in creative thinking, while a mere interest is not. Increased creativity will give students better problem solving skills which will help them in their career and their lives outside of work. As well as an increase in personal development and creative thinking, studies show that students also benefit in the field of intellectual development through studying abroad. 

As personal development is displayed in students who study abroad, features of intellectual development are also found to be instigated by study abroad programs. One common trend seen in students who study abroad in areas where English is not widely spoken, is that they pick up and learn the host language much quicker than being taught in classrooms. Studies conducted on American students studying abroad in China show an increase of sixty-six points between pre and post-tests based on language proficiency, with the subskill of speaking having the greatest increase between tests (Taguchi, et al.). While gaining skills in a second language is the most obvious and quantifiable intellectual benefit, students whose first international study/travel is through a study abroad program have the most benefit intellectually. Students who had never travelled internationally began at a lower intellectual level than peers who had previously, but by the end of their experience, they tested at the same level as those who previously had a notable international experience (McKeown 45). Researcher McKeown calls this phenomenon the “first-time effect”. The first time effect is so beneficial as many students’ experience culture shock for the first time. This culture shock is what challenges the student to cope with their new situation and learn a lot about the new culture and people of the host country in the process. This coping to the host culture not only has benefits in bilingual communication, but also intellectually and creatively as seen in studies concluded by both Joshua McKeown and Lee.

However, the fact remains that only approximately 1.5% of all students enrolled in higher education in the United States studied abroad in the 2014-2015 academic year. There are many valid concerns about studying abroad such as the cost. Many U.S. students are already putting themselves into tens of thousands of dollars of debt while obtaining their bachelor’s degree. As a result, going to a different country where they will need to purchase plane tickets and other miscellaneous costs associated with going to another country has been put on the back burner. Though this concern is off-putting for many, the number of scholarships and grants available for students in any program is astounding. Every university or third party study abroad program has scholarships to help those who cannot easily afford to study abroad. Generally, an essay or other factors such as ethnicity or race are used to determine eligibility for certain scholarships to be used while studying abroad. A fundamental problem with many parents’ and students’ ideas is that travelling internationally to study is seen as a semester long “party abroad”, but this notion cannot be more incorrect (Palmer). Students paying for their own education and parents who are funding their child’s higher education should see study abroad as an investment in the cognitive growth that comes with the experience, not a “party abroad” or a semester long vacation.

While the cost of study abroad may shy away many, students who further research international study options may find that some programs keep U.S. students isolated with other U.S. students in their classes and where they live, so these students would not benefit from integration with the host culture. This is true, but there are many programs that vary from complete integration that involves living with a host family that speaks minimal English and also attending classes in the host language, to more mild integration where students go to classes with students of the host country but reside with other English speaking U.S. students. The beauty of study abroad programs is that the student is able to find a program with the desired level of integration. Although for others the issue lies not in the cost or level of integration, but rather in the destination of choice.

The danger of going abroad to regions undergoing civil unrest or other cultural shifts will always be present, but universities do all they can to ensure the safety of their students studying abroad. Universities provide information to educate students about safety procedures and emergency services before embarking on their international program. Some argue that due to a lowered legal drinking age in most European and eastern hemisphere countries, American students studying abroad have a higher risk of alcohol or drug related consequences. These consequences can be even more devastating if one is not well adjusted to the host language and unaware of available emergency services. However, Giovanni Aresi, a Ph.D. who studies drug and alcohol use among young people claims that “Most studies indicated that CMSs (students studying abroad for a semester) increased their alcohol use while abroad and reduced it when they returned home. However, there is no evidence of an increase in the negative consequences associated with alcohol misuse while abroad” (Aresi). This study also concluded that different pre-departure drinking norms and level of adjustment to the host culture weighed heavily on the potential drug and alcohol misuse. However, drinking is a very common social undertaking in many European countries such as England and Ireland. While consuming alcohol safely is always advisable and should be taken seriously, in order to fully immerse oneself into a host culture and interact with locals, one should consider engaging in social interactions where alcohol is involved. These types of interactions may lead to many friendships and experiences otherwise lost by maintaining abstinence. This time spent socializing can be seen as both beneficial to immersing ones’ self into the culture while by breaking down barriers with the locals. Traveling and fully engaging in host cultures can potentially be risky at times but with common sense and a desire to broaden ones’ horizons, engaging in the social events of a host culture can be extremely beneficial to ones’ experience abroad.

Travelling with the purpose of learning is a long-standing practice of many advanced cultures used to increase their global mindedness (Sandell). This is with good reason as travelling in order to broaden one’s horizons while also being academically focused is a catalyst for personal, intellectual, and future career maturation. Research has shown that international study abroad programs provide the necessary challenge to allow for change in students’ minds and attitudes. This transformation is an invaluable tool for our interconnected world and will allow for more tolerance and collaboration between people of different cultures and languages, and also allow for more creative solutions to the worlds’ most arduous issues. Study abroad is not only an investment in ones’ personal and cognitive growth, but also an investment in success in our global economy. If taken advantage of, the experiences gained while studying abroad can provide for many future benefits and opportunities in ones’ career, cognitive functions, and personal maturity. With the benefits that studying abroad offers, and the scholarships and grants available to students to offset the cost, one should wonder why more students don’t study abroad. There are many resources available on university websites for students to research locations, programs, and scholarships available to them in order to study abroad. Administrators and faculty who coordinate study abroad programs should increase the availability of information about their study abroad programs and should urge students to consider an international study experience.
