Abroad or Exchange: What UCCS’ travel programs offer students

UCCS offers “adventurous and magical” opportunities for students to study at other campuses both within the country and abroad. 

While the UCCS Travel Abroad program and National Student Exchange program are similar, they offer different experiences for students wanting to get their feet wet in both international and domestic travel. 

“It was adventurous and magical. It sounds childish, but it really was,” said Brayan Montes De Oca about his 14-day travel abroad experience in France and England. His life-changing experience was a short-term program through the UCCS Travel Abroad program.  

Short term is just one of four different abroad programs at UCCS: 

• Exchange: a one-to-one trade where students study at a cost equivalent for either a full semester or a full academic year 

• Third-Party Provider: these are UCCS approved study abroad providers that students pay directly 

• Short-term: smaller trips, usually led by faculty, that typically happen in gaps between semesters 

• Internship: students work as an intern in an abroad location. 

According to a study abroad information session, the Abroad Exchange program is more popular because of the mostly financially equal trade students make as far as tuition goes. Additional costs students can expect to encounter stem from acquiring a visa (depending on the country), health insurance, flight costs and housing. 

The UCCS National Student Exchange, or NSE, only offers the exchange program, but unlike Travel Abroad, allows students a maximum of three semesters away instead of two, according to NSE Coordinator Heidi Wardell, who has worked in the position at UCCS for 11 years. The semesters can also be at different institutions. Students using the program can go to all of the U.S. states and territories as well as Canada. 

According to Wardell, there is an NSE representative equivalent to her at every school in the program, making the financial transaction much closer to a one-to-one trade. 

UCCS is one of four schools in the state that offers NSE. It is functional year-round, but it has more limited places for students to travel in the summer, and it isn’t offered at the CU campuses in Denver or Boulder. Unlike UCCS, many schools in the country do not offer it during summer semesters. 

On top of price barriers, travel programs at UCCS can present educational challenges. In both NSE and Travel Abroad, students must be meeting their academic credit requirements. Wardell cites the example that nursing majors must be at UCCS for key parts of their degree due to state licensing.  

Additionally, the study abroad information session made it clear that classes taken abroad must be applicable to a student’s major or minor. According to Wardell, it’s easier to travel abroad early on in one’s college career. 

The session also outlined that internal travel in places like Europe is much cheaper when you are already in Europe, on top of mentioning that traveling abroad presents students with an opportunity to learn new languages, impress future employers and step out of their comfort zones. 

Stepping out of your comfort zone is something MontesDeOca corroborates about the abroad experience. He said that even in England, where everyone spoke English, there was a culture shock. He felt like it opened different avenues of thought for him, and that he was encouraged to socialize. 

Despite NSE remaining mostly domestic, Wardell cites similar thoughts gathered from NSE students. “I get thanked every semester. They meet new professors, expand their horizons [and] they meet new friends; the growing and the confidence…” said Wardell, likening traveling away to a “light bulb moment” for students. 

In the event of emergency, students studying abroad are sent home. In the NSE program, students are contacted individually by Wardell herself. A student is currently doing an exchange program in Miami and was affected by Hurricane Milton.  

“What I received was an alert from the coordinator [in Miami] … they have a full procedure and protocol on students, on what they need to have … they have a whole list, and that was copied to me, and I personally called the student and said, ‘are you okay?’” Wardell said. 

Wardell herself participated in NSE when she was a college student, and she attended UCCS through the program. 

“Come talk to me! It is so fun. You will not regret it. It is one of the best experiences of my life,” Wardell said. 

NSE is free to apply for and is only for undergrad students.  

Students interested in applying for NSE can email Wardell at [email protected]. Information about other travel programs can be found on the UCCS Abroad website or at the Virtual Abroad 101 events that International Affairs host every Tuesday and Wednesday  

Photo by Suganth on Unsplash.