Exchange Tuitions Differ

In her maroon Boston College gym shorts, Celine Schoen looks like many of the other students working out at the Plex. She competes for a seat for lunch at Hillside, wears rubber boots when it rains, and goes to FiRE+iCE on college nights.

Yet, as much as she seems like any other BC undergraduate, there's a big difference between Schoen and her classmates: it costs her $1,031 a year for tuition, compared to the advertised BC price of $41,480. Other students, once room and board are added, are on the hook for $54,528.

It's not because of financial aid. It's not because of scholarships. It's because Schoen is one of about 200 foreign exchange students who pay only the tuition charged by their home universities—in her case, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in France.

"We pay the French tuition fees, and that's it," she said. "It's great for us, but it's so unfair. How much do you pay? $54,000 a year? That's crazy."

Jose Manuel Llorente Sanchez, a student at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, paid $5,000 in tuition to come to BC last year. "10 times less than a full-time student," Sanchez said. "How crazy is that? I'm not kidding, man. Five thousand dollars. Five-thousand U.S. dollars."

Meanwhile, under the same exchange program, the 900 BC students who study abroad each year are still responsible for the full cost of BC tuition, which goes into the university's general budget. The much lower amounts paid by international exchange students go not to BC, but to their home institutions.

BC students are paying for the grades and credits from their study-abroad programs on their transcripts, according to Bernd Widdig, director of the Office of International Programs.

"It's fair, because when students go abroad, the ultimate currency is whether a university allows the student to get credit," Widdig said. "That's the ultimate currency that counts because a university could say, ‘Hey, you can go abroad, but we don't give you credit for those courses because these are not BC courses.'"

In addition, Widdig explained that if international students had to pay full BC tuition, "it would be extremely difficult for students around the world to come to BC because it's a very expensive university."

However, BC students say that the system makes it difficult for them to go abroad by charging full tuition, even when host universities charge much less.

"BC puts on programs for us that are really nice—tea time at fancy hotels, soccer games, tours, trips to the English seaside, seeing a play in the West End," said Thomas Kolman, CSOM `12, who went to Queen Mary University, part of the University of London, in the spring. "While these programs are nice, they are not worth the $40,000 price difference."

Kolman explained that, because he was a double major, he needed to go through a university-approved program. "I absolutely had to have all my credits transfer," he said, although paying full BC tuition while studying abroad "was actually pretty annoying."

Another student, Erika Morton, LSOE `12, chose to study in Madrid through a program offered by another provider rather than going through BC because it was cheaper, although these programs don't qualify for BC financial aid.

"I saw a huge opportunity to save a ton of money while studying abroad," said Morton.

She said her program turned out not to be as rigorous or comprehensive as the courses at BC, something she believes is also true of study-abroad opportunities for which other students pay the full BC tuition.

"Paying equal tuition for less-prestigious courses is a bit harsh," Morton said.

Drew Shaw, A&S `13, is going in the spring to Royal Holloway, part of the University of London, which charges just under $22,000 a year to international students.

Shaw didn't know that international exchange students coming to BC pay much less than he will to go abroad.

"It really doesn't seem that fair," he said. Still, he added, "There is something to be said for the convenience and confidence that I'll have everything paid for and I won't have to deal with a completely different financial department."

Shaw suggested a compromise.

"Maybe it would work that when people exchange between BC and another school, the tuition is met in the middle."

This story was produced by students in UN2301, Advanced Journalism with Professor Jon Marcus.