For some Ohio State students, leaving the United States was a good idea.”It is an experience that stays with you the rest of your life,” said Phillip Neal, who studied in Spain through the OSU exchange program in 1995.Neal took history and literature classes while abroad. He paid his OSU tuition and the credits he earned were transferred to OSU.”I learned more there in more different ways than I have anywhere else or anytime in my life,” he said. “Even grocery shopping was a challenging and learning experience.”Studying abroad changed the way Neal looked at the world.”Even though I’m back in Ohio, I think about things that happen and things that I learn about in terms of the entire world more,” he said.Neal was one of about 700 OSU students who studied abroad in 54 different countries last year.The trend to study abroad is phenomenal at both the national and OSU level, Violy Hughes, a coordinator at the Office of International Education, said.In the last nine years, the number of OSU students who studied abroad increased more than six times, she said.”Students and parents are all realizing that in order to be competitive in the global market, you have to have an international experience,” Hughes said.In terms of percentage of the entire student population, OSU should send more students to foreign countries, she said.”One of the reasons for students hesitating to go abroad is that there has always been an impression that studying abroad is only for the rich,” Hughes said.However, it’s very affordable right now because many universities are helping students who want to study abroad through grants and scholarships, she said.At OSU, there are three ways to help students afford to study abroad. Grants and financial aid can be used. Exchange programs allow students to pay OSU tuition at other institutions. OSU has a 10-month exchange program agreement with 27 universities from 16 countries around the world, including Argentina, England, France, South Africa and South Korea.Just like Neal, students pay their tuition at OSU and receive credit for the courses they take at the partner universities.The program is cost effective, Neal said.”It does not cost as much as traveling on your own,” he said.Although the exchange programs are usually 10 months, there are also many shorter programs such as summer trips to Israel, Mexico and Swaziland. Elizabeth Kunz, a senior majoring in international studies, joined a summer program in Poland last year.Led by a faculty member of the social work department, the group of 12 OSU students studied about Poland’s welfare system in comparison to that of the United States, she said.For three weeks, they visited orphanages, prisons and emergency shelters, Kunz said.Kunz paid tuition for summer quarter and earned 12 credits by writing a report about the experience, she said.”It opened my eyes to lots of things that I haven’t been aware of,” she said.Kunz said she only knew a little Polish, but she enjoyed the program.”Learning the language is not necessary, but it will definitely be helpful,” she said.Language may not be a barrier in some European and Japanese universities because they offer courses in English, Hughes said.Students who want to join summer programs should start looking as soon as possible because the application deadlines for many programs are in spring quarter, Hughes said. The international education office will hold an informational meeting about the exchange programs today at 4 p.m. in Oxley Hall.