Program allows students to travel and study within the US

One program at the University of South Dakota is allowing students to travel to new places without having to travel abroad.

The National Student Exchange (NSE) is a program that allows students at more than 200 universities in the United States to temporarily study at other participating universities for either a semester or a full academic year.

Eric Leise, the assistant director for the Center for Academic and Global Engagement (CAGE), said the program is a different option for students who are looking to travel without going outside of the country.

“I describe it as domestic study abroad,” Leise said. It’s an alternative option to going overseas for a semester or an academic year.”

Leise said there is a participating university in every state and U.S. territory. The NSE also has participating universities in Canada. Students who take part in the program can use financial aid and scholarships to pay for tuition at the universities they attend.

“The thing that we like most about NSE is that it’s really flexible,” he said. “So students can continue paying tuition and fees to USD and that would qualify them for any federal financial aid that they might be eligible for and any major.”

Leise said the program is a great way for students to access classes or areas of study that can’t be found at USD.

“A lot of students might use it to explore areas that aren’t available here. We’ve had students that have gone elsewhere to look at tourism and hospitality for instance,” Leise said. “Other students have used it to scope out graduate schools.”

Stephanie Jarrett, a senior majoring in communications sciences and disorders, studied for one semester in spring 2014 at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

Jarrett said she has travelled overseas before, but she didn’t want to go outside of the country to study abroad.

“I didn’t want to do something overseas because I like to go over there to travel, not to go to school,” Jarrett said. “It was cheaper to stay in the states and at the time my boyfriend lived in Texas, so it just made sense to go to Texas.”

Jarrett said the application process for the program was easy to go through.

“You basically go in there and you go to one of their sessions for studying abroad,” she said. “After that they set you up with an adviser just to see if you really are interested in (it) after your meeting.”

Leise said students have to have finished a minimum of one semester at USD before applying to the program.

“We help students figure out what the best option is and then we talk to the host institutions and the placement process to try to get the best outcome for the students,” Leise said.

Emily Roberson, a junior majoring in sustainability and anthropology, attended Stony Brook University in Long Island, N.Y. in fall 2014.

“I thought it would be a really good opportunity to learn about urban design and things that we really don’t have classes for here,” Roberson said.

Roberson said the experience made her appreciate South Dakota.

“It was definitely different,” she said. “I think it made me appreciate South Dakota and like the people here being so friendly a lot more.”

Jarrett said her overall experience allowed her to become exposed to other cultures and new surroundings.

“I really liked the takeaway that we kind of live in a bubble in South Dakota. There’s not a lot of different races and ethnicities and cultures and Texas is packed full of all of that,” Jarrett said. “I really thought it helped me communicate and be able to work with different populations better.”

(Photo: Junior Emily Roberson, third from the right, studied at Stony Brook University in Long Island, N.Y. in the fall of 2014.  Submitted photo / The Volante)