After participating in an international study program, returning students often say ironically enough that their best semester at Notre Dame was the one spent in a foreign country. The experience is priceless. One learns a great deal about the culture, language, people and lifestyle of another land.

I spent a year and a half of my life in Monterrey, Mexico at the Tecnologico where I made lifelong friends, became fluent in Spanish and learned a great deal about Mexico and myself. I do not regret a day.

There is only one thing that I, and mostly my parents, wish I could have changed — paying full Notre Dame tuition my first semester there.

Let's do a little math. The tuition for one semester at the Tecnologico of Monterrey is $3,500. Add a university stipend of $500 a month, a dorm room for $1,000, one roundtrip ticket to Monterrey for $500 and one trip for spring break to Oaxaca for $500. The sum amounts to $8,000, which is just less than half of the cost of a semester at Notre Dame. My question is where the heck did the other $8,000 dollars go?

The only explanation that occurs to me is that this is the cost of making your grades earned abroad help your GPA. You see, if one were to study independent of the University programs, he or she would only earn the credits with no grades. But that logic makes no sense for anyone taking difficult courses that count towards their major.

So what I did for the following two semesters in Monterrey was to go as an independent student. Not only did I save around $16 thousand over those two semesters, I still received transfer credits for my Monterrey classes. I recommend to anyone considering any of Notre Dame's smaller international programs that he or she do so independently of the University. However, if one opts for a program in Europe like England or France, that may well be worth the high prices. Still anyone interesting in going abroad should investigate beforehand.

And if you are worried about orientation before going, I found that the mailings, information and orientation session given by the school in Mexico were much more helpful and well organized than Notre Dame's international study offices. Though I must recognize the excellent job that the Notre Dame program is doing in making students aware of study abroad opportunities and setting up numerous locations around the world.

Whatever you decide, get informed and continue to study abroad. I know that you will find that a semester spent in foreign land is indeed priceless. But why pay Notre Dame prices for it?

John Lauterbach

senior

Alumni Hall

Jan. 21, 2002

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