There was something about the small children in Ghana that changed Lashunda Hill’s outlook forever.

Ms. Hill, a 21-year-old political science major from UTC, went to the West African country to study for five months and found herself teaching English to street children.

“It broadened my horizons, being with the children and seeing their eagerness to learn,” Ms. Hill said. “They taught me to be appreciative of the things we take for granted.”

Almost a quarter-million American college students travel abroad each year for academic credit, and being exposed to new languages, cultures and learning environments, according to the Institute of International Education.

For the University of Tennessee system, the number of students who travel abroad has remained around 3 percent for years, far below the stated goal of 10 percent.

“I think we are behind,” said Hugh Prevost, director of cooperative education and international programs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “There are a lot of things that go on at university campuses, and study abroad can be put on a back burner.”

But in a changing global economy, college counselors and teachers encourage students to leave the United States and forge an international perspective and broader understanding of the world. Employers look for study-abroad experience on resumes, experts say, and some colleges even require overseas experience for graduation.

“Students and their parents realize that careers are going to be global and skills acquired are going to help them be better professionals,” said Peggy Blumenthal, chief operating officer at the Institute of International Education based in New York.

Study-abroad departments within the UT system are struggling to recruit as family budgets are pinched by rising tuition and living costs. UT administrators also are working with limited funding since state funding cuts have squeezed overall operating budgets.

Staff Photo by Tim Barber
Hugh Prevost, director of International Programs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, lower left, talks with students Endia Kendrick, center, and Bhumy Patel about the benefits and credits earned by traveling to Spain.

Dr. Prevost said the International Programs department budget has remained around $50,000 for 10 years.

“The funding hasn’t been there to grow the program,” he said.

Dr. Prevost said he had hoped to draw about 180 students this year for study abroad, but 150 signed up.

Most study-abroad programs cost upward of $12,000 per student and include tuition, room, board, spending money and travel costs, he said. For a single semester at UTC, a student would spend around $8,200 on tuition and living.

For the past 12 years, the University of Chattanooga Foundation has provided $45,000 for study-abroad scholarships, but Dr. Prevost said many students must borrow for the experience.

Kimberly Hooper, a 20-year-old UTC student majoring in early childhood education, said students must balance the benefits of travel with the expense.

Ms. Hooper wants to go to Ireland this year to take classes on teaching across cultures but said she can’t afford the two-week trip, which will cost around $7,000.

“I would have to take a loan out and scholarships are limited,” she said. “I think it is a great experience, no doubt about it. I just don’t know if I want to do that to myself financially.”

Ms. Blumenthal said schools and students are working to develop less-expensive options for travel. At UTC, the International Programs department is offering a variety of shorter trips, Dr. Prevost said.

Ms. Blumenthal said private schools have historically had a greater emphasis on study abroad than public universities. Travel is sometimes required for specific majors or for all students, and is integrated into the curriculum overall, said Beth Thompson, director of Global Perspectives at Lee University.

At Lee, all students have been required to go abroad since 1998 and the standard is intended to globalize the student body, she said.

“We want our students to have a holistic view of what’s going on around them,” she said. “It sets them apart for graduate school and jobs.”

Private schools are often successful in recruiting for study abroad because families are already paying a higher cost for their education, said Larry Jones, coordinator of study abroad at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where 42 percent of students study abroad before they graduate.

The total cost of tuition and room and board at Sewanee for a semester is $21,000.

“If they can afford to come to school here, then they can afford to study abroad,” he said. “It is more a challenge at state universities for students to study abroad.”