YSU partners with British school to lower cost of studying abroad

YSU students pay only $1,000 more in tuition at the University of Winchester.

YOUNGSTOWN — Cost is always a significant barrier that many Youngstown State University students face when considering studying abroad. The sticker price for some programs can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

A new YSU partnership with the University of Winchester in southern England offers students a break on those high prices.

Students can attend Winchester for one semester, and the cost for tuition is only about $1,000 more than what they would pay here at YSU, said Annette El-Hayek, international programs coordinator in the YSU Center for International Studies and Programs.

“It’s the least-expensive option that we have to study abroad in the English-speaking world,” she said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity, and students are taking advantage of it.”

The University of Winchester, founded in 1840, enrolls 5,480 students and is located about an hour’s train ride from London. YSU student Carly DeNicholas of Youngstown, a senior telecommunications major, studied at Winchester last fall — the first YSU student to participate in the new partnership. Four additional YSU students are attending Winchester during the spring semester, and El-Hayek said she hopes the numbers will continue to multiply.

The Winchester program is part of renewed efforts by the CISP to promote and advise students about studying abroad. This academic year, more than 30 YSU students will participate in study-abroad programs, which El-Hayek said is four times more than the previous academic year. She said her goal is to enroll 100 students in study-abroad programs next academic year.

“I know what a difference it can make in a student’s life,” she said. “With a pool of 13,000 students, there’s a lot of potential here at YSU.”

The Winchester program was kick-started last fall when Roger Richardson, director of international relations at the University of Winchester, visited YSU to promote the program.

Junior journalism major Elizabeth Boon of Hicksville, Ohio, who attended a Study Abroad Fair in Kilcawley Center after hearing Richardson speak to her class, is one of the students enrolled at Winchester for the spring semester.

“I was very interested in going to England, but I was concerned about how expensive it was going to be,” she said. “Annette assured me that this was an opportunity that I couldn’t afford to miss out on. Living and attending school in a foreign country is going to be a great challenge for me, but I’m positive that it will be a good experience.”

She added: “I feel that spending time in another part of the world is going to broaden my horizons, and I think that’s definitely important for me in my future role as a reporter.”