With over  college students studying abroad every year theres bound to be all kinds of tall tales urban legends and misinformation swirling around  While there may be grains of truth in some of these stories below are some common misconceptions about study abroad  Misconception  Studying abroad is very expensive  Truth In most cases it is actually cheaper to study abroad  Lets say the tuition at your school is  per semester and room and board is another   Now add in the additional fees you have such as health insurance books and laundry  You are now well over  for the semester  Well all but one of our programs in Spain is under  per semester and that includes everything except your airfare and spending money    Misconception  I cant use my financial aid to study abroad  Truth In almost all cases your federal aid Stafford loans Pell grants etc can be used to study abroad and in some states you can use your state aid as well  It is also not uncommon for your federal aid to increase when you study abroad since some of your school scholarships may not transfer   Misconception  Host families are all poor and just do it for the money  Truth The last thing any study abroad company wants to do is have an unhappy student on their program  The goal is for the students to be happy so that they will tell their friends what a great time they had  If we were putting students in bad families in dangerous neighborhoods then no one would ever recommend us to their friends  Since the number of universities that endorse our program doubled over the last year its a pretty sure bet that students are happy with our choice of families     Misconception  Ill be so busy with schoolwork that I wont get time to see the country Im in   Truth This one is hysterically funny since your average study abroad student comes home with about  photos from a long list of countries  Students have plenty of opportunities to travel and we even take our students on trips to give them a better feel for the country they are in   Misconception  I might not graduate on time if I go abroad  Truth If you have already used up all of your elective or general education courses then its true that you might need to bulk up on courses before or after you go abroad  If you plan ahead however and leave some electives open to you then you should be fine  The clear majority of students who study abroad still graduate in four years despite being away from their home campus for a semester or two   Misconception  Most of the world hates Americans so I wont be safe  Truth Theres no doubt that there are a lot of people who dont like the American government but that has nothing to do with the American people  If you compare the violent crime rate in the United States to that of European Australian or Asian countries you will see that the United States is actually far more dangerous  There are some areas of South America and Africa that are not especially safe but there are also many countries on those continents that are incredibly safe  Go to the US State Department website and check out the crime statistics on the country you are interested in to see how safe it is  Studying abroad is a onceinalifetime opportunity that every college student should take advantage of  Before dismissing it due to the bad experience of one friend or rumors you have had heard speak with your study abroad advisor and get the facts  I guarantee that once you look at all that studying abroad can offer you youll be hopping the first flight abroad  One organization that help ensure that you have safest unforgettable yet affordable study abroad experience is Academic Studies Abroad    Here are some of our very popular study abroad programsin the following countries   Study Abroad Spain Academic Studies offers study abroad programs in Barcelona Madrid Salamanca and Sevilla     Study Abroad England Academic Studies offers study abroad programs in London     Study Abroad Italy  Academic Studies offers study abroad programs in Florence     Study Abroad France Academic Studies offer study abroad programs in AixenProvence and Avignon    httpwwwacademicstu