Offshore your college student and save

By SmartMoney

Next year, Christopher Schuller, a native of Nashville, Tenn., will complete his law degree at Oxford University, and he'll qualify to take the New York State Bar exam.

Assuming he passes, he'll become a practicing attorney at age 22. Schuller didn't skip grades in high school or overload on his college coursework. Instead, he chose to attend college in England, where most undergraduate programs, including law school, are three years long and where students begin their major on the first day of classes.

"I knew since high school that I wanted to be a lawyer," says Schuller. "Once I realized that the Oxford law degree could get me straight to the bar exam, going there seemed like the obvious choice."

In addition to skipping four years of traditional undergrad education, Schuller saved big bucks. Tuition for U.S. students at Oxford runs about $20,000 per year -- or $60,000 to get a law degree. If Schuller had attended the University of Chicago, which was his first choice in the U.S., he'd have paid more than $93,000 for an undergraduate degree and then would have had to pay for a three-year law degree to boot.

As college tuition costs continue to rise at nearly double the rate of inflation, many parents and students are faced with the tough decision of taking out thousands of dollars in loans for a private university or choosing a more affordable state school.

But another option that students should consider is pursuing their undergraduate degree at a college abroad, says Tom Conger, the founder of Social Technologies, a research and consulting company in Washington, London and Shanghai. International tuition fees at top universities in the United Kingdom and Canada trim anywhere from a quarter to half the price of tuition at U.S. private universities and come neck and neck with tuition paid by out-of-state students at public institutions. And in many cases, these undergraduate programs are significantly shorter, saving students both time and money.

"As tuition costs continue to increase, more college-bound students will look for educational opportunities outside the U.S.," Conger says. "In many cases, it's in their favor to look at colleges abroad that have a worldwide reputation but cost just a fraction of most elite U.S. universities."

Universities in England are particularly well-suited to students who are certain of the major they want to study and especially for aspiring lawyers. Unlike the U.S. educational system, British universities don't offer a core curriculum of arts and sciences, which means that prospective students must declare their majors during the application process. (Otherwise, if an enrolled student has a change of heart, he or she will have to reapply for the following year.)

After three years at a British university, law students qualify for bar exams in the U.S. and for specialized courses in any European Union country, if they choose to practice law there.

Prestige at a lower price

In addition, tuition in England is more affordable than in the United States. The average annual cost of British universities for international students ranges from $13,000 to $20,000, according to the Institute of International Education. Compare this with the U.S., where the average annual tuition for a four-year private university is more than $22,200, according to the College Board. And, many coveted universities have surpassed this price tag. An on-campus student at New York University pays more than $48,000 a year for tuition and living expenses, while a student at George Washington University pays more than $53,000.

Increasing tuition costs led Mayer Grashin, 25, of Seattle, to attend McGill University in Montreal. During his senior year of high school, Grashin had planned to attend New York University, only to discover that the school wouldn't offer him financial assistance. "The financial burden to pay that tuition made it impossible for me to go there," he says. "Instead, I chose the same caliber school at a quarter of the price."

During his studies, between 2002 and 2006, Grashin's tuition costs ranged from $6,500 to $9,000, thanks in part to the U.S. dollar's strength at the time. He cruised through college with scholarships and income from his summer jobs and graduated debt-free. He now attends law school at Georgetown.

"If I stayed in the U.S., my loans would have been astronomical," he says. "I think my entire degree cost about one year's tuition at NYU and the Ivys."

Continued: Thousands study overseas

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