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Wuz314159 t1_iuknh2h wrote

mon dieu. Don't do it. Everything is expensive. I don't know of any Erasmus style programmes here.

PA is as good as anywhere in the US. State College is safe, but it's in the middle of nowhere. Hours from any city. (and transit sucks)

I'm biased, but many Americans are heading to Europe for uni because things are too expensive here.

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Patari2600 t1_iukq3rl wrote

The amount of Americans who are heading to Europe for college is miniscule. College in Europe is not free nor cheap if you are not from the country. It would be cheaper to go to Penn State than go to Europe for College.

Edit: I looked into this when I was applying to undergrad, I know things are different for masters degrees and it is actually cheaper for those. When I was in undergrad most European English Speaking Universities were charging between 10k-15k, For Penn State at the time it was about 16k, so when travel costs and COL was factored in, Europe was not cheaper than the US.

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dean84921 t1_iulu713 wrote

I'm an American with two degrees from Europe, and what you say isnt true at all.

Germany provides tuition-free education for all students accepted to university regardless of citizenship. Many programs require German language proficiency, but mine didn't. I paid a grand total of about $700 per year in admin fees, and that came with free public transit across the entire state, high quality subsidized meals at the dining hall for $2.50 a piece, a subsidized student bar where beers were $1.90, and all textbooks and class materials provided free of charge.

College in Germany was basically free. And it's not even that hard to get accepted.

Ireland is "expensive" for Americans compared to EU/Irish citizens, but it was still only ~10,000 for a year-long masters degree. It's an expensive place to live, but even so it was far cheaper than anything equivalent I could have done in the US. Ireland also has a similar uni culture to America. Germany was more barebones thought.

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nardlz t1_iul56ks wrote

Not entirely true I have several former students going to school in Europe. They all could have easily stayed local but are saving a ton of money even accounting for flying back and forth. Right that it's not necessarily free for them, but it's so much more affordable.

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TrueLoveEditorial t1_iulbh2x wrote

A friend of mine attended college in Belgium. She paid about $1800/semester. Maybe per year. Absurdly low-cost compared to what she would have paid back here in PA.

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queengingerr t1_iulb0ba wrote

Not exactly true. I studied in Ireland for my masters degree and it ending up being far cheaper than attending a university in the states.

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Patari2600 t1_iumcllv wrote

I was referring to undergrade, masters degrees in the US are way more expensive and there are far fewer scholarship and financial aid options.

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webauteur t1_iuktm1t wrote

State College is more representative of the United States than a big city, like New York City, in my opinion. It has your typical middle class suburbs. State College is very ordinary although the college dominates the town more than other college towns.

However, there is probably less support for moving there from abroad than in New York City which has a French expat community.

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[deleted] t1_iukwaow wrote

The transit within state college is great. The CATA system will take you anywhere you need. It's the only thing I liked about that place. For leaving the town it really isn't that bad either. There's lots of buses like greyhounds etc. But yeah. It's not as efficient as high speed rail etc.

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