Student exchange program to be tested at UA next Fall

Dan Hoffman Arizona Daily Wildcat Honors Center Director Patricia MacCorquodale is coordinating the UA chapter of the National Student Exchange. The program allows students to spend a year at other universities around the nation.

Now, a university exchange program will allow students to satisfy their wanderlust.

Beginning next fall, University of Arizona students will be able to spend a year at one of 150 universities across the nation for the cost of their current tuition, said Alice Stilwell, an Honors Center assistant.

"Students register for 'x' units here and pay here, but take classes at the other school," she said.

Dubbed the National Student Exchange, the program includes schools across the continental United States, along with Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii.

In-state students still pay in-state tuition and likewise with out-of-state students, Stilwell said. The only additional fees will be travel expenses.

Honors Center Director Patricia MacCorquodale, who will coordinate the program, said the exchange gives students the "best of both worlds" because of the opportunity to see other campuses without paying higher tuition.

"We are providing new knowledge for our students," she said. "Students may return on their own, bringing more people to the state."

Stilwell added the exchange could benefit students considering graduate school or moving to a particular area.

According to MacCorquodale, the National Student Exchange began in 1968, intended for smaller schools in specific regions of the United States. The UA only considered getting involved this year, after the exchange spread nationally to larger universities.

MacCorquodale said she expected most students would take a full-year during either their sophomore or junior terms.

Transferring credits should not be a problem because everything should be prearranged, Stilwell said. Students register for between 18 and 24 prearranged UA units, she said.

Participants must maintain a 2.5 grade point average and keep that GPA through the time they leave, Stilwell said.

The exchange is one-for-one, Stilwell said, adding that allowing an equal exchange helps curb the financial loss universities may experience by not charging incoming exchange students out-of-state tuition.

"It is a benefit to the student over being a benefit to the school." she said.

Stilwell added only 20 students will be allowed to participate during the trial semester.

"We are being extremely careful this year so we don't run into any problems," she said.

MacCorquodale said she expects the university to be "inundated" with requests from students who want to come here.

Although there is no formal deadline, Stilwell said the application process for next year should be completed by March 1.

"Everything I've heard from currently participating administrators and faculty says their students are 90 percent extremely happy with the experiences they were afforded," Stilwell said.

She added the Honors Center already has heard from students expressing interest in the program.

"A lot of people don't have the opportunity to go to a private school or a school where their major is better defined," said Fernanda Martānez, a sociology and psychology senior.

Sociology senior Valerie Swan agreed the program sounded like a good opportunity, but also said she had doubts about it.

"People in college think the grass is always greener at another university," she said, but added she would probably be interested in the program if she were not a senior.