Program gives students chance to study elsewhere

Greg Johanson

Since it was founded in 1968, more than 60,000 students have used the National Student Exchange to take advantage of financial savings and the experience of traveling to another part of the country while continuing with their studies, according to an information pamphlet on the organization.

This year, more than 3,000 students will use the NSE to spend up to one year attending college in another state without paying out-of-state tuition, according to the NSE.

Approximately 97 percent of all eligible students will be placed this year for exchanges, according to the NSE information. The process to become eligible has become easier since the first applicants applied.

“NSE is the ultimate college experience. Going away not only creates a sense of independence, but every door of life is opened – culturally, academically and socially,” said Michelle Ankenbauer, who is from the University of South Carolina.

This year the students coming to Utah State University as part of the NSE program are from 15 universities around the nation, including Florida International University, the University of Maine, the University of Arizona, the University of Georgia, New Mexico State University and North Carolina State University, among others.

Students from USU going elsewhere as part of NSE are heading for destinations like California State University at Pomona, CSU at Fresno, CSU at San Bernardino, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of New Hampshire, Mississippi State University and many more.