The Rising Price of Studying Abroad

When Lauren Harrison dreamed of studying abroad in Paris this fall, she imagined flying somewhere cool every weekend and tucking into crepes for lunch every day. But when she arrived, with the dollar reaching all-time lows against the euro, she began doing the math. Café au lait? Four euros—or $5.65. Cheese and mushroom crepe? More than six euros—or $9. Round-trip airfare to Berlin on a low-cost airline? Seventy euros—around $100. "The prices sound great, but then you convert," says Harrison, who studies African and international studies at Yale. "Going out, restaurants, shopping, food. Everything costs more. Basically, add 50 percent."

Like many tourists, American students living abroad these days are feeling pinched as exchange rates move in the wrong direction. A year ago, a U.S. dollar was worth 1.25 euros; this week, the dollar-to-euro ratio stands at 1.41. While the weak dollar is hurting tourism, it can be especially punishing to study-abroad students, who generally have tighter budgets than vacationers and who must make their money last for months, instead of weeks.

Many students are discovering new ways to stretch their dollars in smart ways. Some are arriving in their host country early and working at a summer job—both to get acclimated, and to earn money in the local currency, says Lee Svete, career-services chief at the University of Notre Dame. And as many cut back on what used to be the defining experiences of studying abroad (indulging in regional cuisine, hanging out in neighborhood bars and clubs, taking side trips) they're living more like locals—and picking up useful money-management skills, besides.

In Harrison's case, that means discovering some of the simpler pleasures of Paris, like living with a roommate in a relatively affordable neighborhood among Asian immigrants. She cooks at home, packs lunches, goes to free museums and says she'll wait for the biannual sales to hit the boutiques. And, sounding like a true Gaul, she says, "baguettes and wine are actually a great deal, honestly. It's so cliché." (Price tag: less than three euros, or $4.25.)

Adrienne Hamm, a junior from Wofford College in South Carolina studying in Ferrara, Italy, was a camp counselor this summer, and her parents add money to her account regularly. Still, she canceled a weekend in Vienna because at 300 euros ($425), it was way over her budget. She hasn't added any Italian shoes to her wardrobe yet, and in a region known for its world-class cuisine, she's gotten used to cooking in. "My roommate and I take note of dishes we like when we eat at restaurants and then we try to do our own (usually much simpler) version of the dish in our kitchen. We have a stove and a microwave but no oven, so we have to be creative at times," she writes in an e-mail.

To stay on track, Hamm checks her bank account online every day, uses toiletries she brought with her—a friend had warned they'd be expensive—and scopes out local bargains, like train tickets or cheap gelato, with a vengeance. "You have to do a lot of searching to find the best deals," she says.