All U.S. universities are now required to provide net cost calculators on their website, which estimate what a prospective student can expect to pay using estimates of total cost and potential financial aid. But, here’s your friendly reminder that (like the Department of Education’s net cost lists) this tool is not optimized for international students.

In a previous post we analyzed the differences between average net costs for domestic and international students, and came up with our own estimates of average net cost at various universities.  There are also other resources to find average net cost for international students, like the College Board International Student Handbook,  and there’s a good analysis of the most generous schools for international students at internationalcounselor.org.

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We’re searching the web to find webinars and other online events of interest to prospective international students.  Check here each Friday to find out what’s coming up in the next week.

Your end of the bargain? If you attend, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com)

And please let me know if you know of other events I haven’t come across and should include.  The rules: They must be free to attend, of broad interest to international students (ie: not how to get into one particular school, not about one specific country, and not selling a product), and in English.

Coming up next week:

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I had the great pleasure today to join VOA Learning English for a live video chat about studying in the U.S. A lot of you submitted questions in advance on Facebook, and we took some Skype calls during the chat as well.

It was a great time and we covered a lot of topics, including what it costs, how to get scholarships, what you have to do to get a visa, whether international students are allowed to work, and how to improve your English.

Watch it again here:

UPDATE: The video’s now annotated to help you find the important parts and skip over the rest. Put your cursor over the thin blue lines to see what questions we discussed and navigate directly to what you want to hear.

I had a total “brain fart” (memory loss) on the question of what’s considered a good TOEFL score. We actually discussed that in the blog post “What are Typical Application Deadlines and TOEFL Requirements?,” so go there for the answer.

Did we answer your questions?  What other questions do you have about studying in the U.S.?

Cody, me and Nathan

Back and energized from an amazing fall break! With a busy college term and constant assignments all leading up to midterms, it was great to finally get a break. Although the vacation was short, it was a much-needed time to rest and get away from the routine of books and college activities. I was fortunate to get the opportunity to truly interact with an American family and walked away renewed, physically and in my perspective.

I visited the home of my friend, Cody, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Throughout that five days, I enjoyed a visit to Dollywood (a theme park by country singer Dolly Parton) and to Ober Gatlinburg (a hilltop resort), but more importantly I enjoyed the hospitality of Cody’s family.

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When I look back to earlier this year at my decision to go to the U.S., I remember how scary it was.  I was dropping my studies in my own country, Indonesia, to enroll at a college in America, and I had many worries before making this decision.  Questions suddenly rushed into my mind: Am I physically too short? Will people make fun of my funny accent? Will I be able to adapt to their environment?

Is 22 too old to start college in the US? This is Nola Ochs, who graduated Fort Hays State University at age 95. (AP Photo)

But what worried me the most was this question: Am I too old to enroll to college now?

Let me tell you about my situation at the time. I was registered as an accounting major at Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia. Earlier in 2010, I found out that my father would be posted to the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and he asked me whether I wanted to go too and continue my studies in the U.S.

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We received this request to our Glossary of Confusing Words:

I need to know about the academic title in a University, from bottom to top

Academic titles are truly some of the most confusing things out there.  Trying to define the difference between, say, an associate professor and a full professor can get fairly technical and can differ at different universities.  But here’s a general guide to the most common academic titles you will encounter.

And as requested, I’ll go roughly from bottom to top.

Students:

Teaching Assistant, Preceptor – A student (usually a graduate or Ph.D. student) who assists the professor of a class, often conducting tutorial or discussion sections

Part-time or Non-permanent Faculty:

Adjunct (or Adjunct Professor) – Someone who teaches at a university but is not employed full-time by the institution; often a scholar/practitioner who is contracted to teach a course

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Introducing myself always felt awkward at first

“Namaste! I am Abhushan and I am from Nepal.”

“Really? Have you ever climbed Mt. Everest?” “Do you live in the mountains?” “Do you pet Yetis back in Nepal?”

“Yes, I am from Nepal.” “No I haven’t climbed Mt. Everest because it is at a whopping altitude of 8850 meters.” “I live in a big sprawling city with a population of almost 1 million people.” “I definitely do not have a pet Yeti. I have a little yipper named “Sheru” who likes to stun and catch birds.”

A year back, these were typical questions that people in the U.S. would fire back at me when I introduced myself and my country to them. Whether it was a normal conversation or an email, such questions almost became inevitable. It was annoying at first, seeing people who have no idea about my country and my culture talk to me so stereotypically. Sometimes, out of rage, I wondered how these people who have no idea about geography are ruling the world right now!

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There have been more and more free online webinars and college fairs popping up on the internet recently.  We’ve shared a few on the Facebook page, but I want to try out sharing them here as well.

The idea: To post each Friday about the online events we know of coming up the next week.  We’ll collect from all the sources we know of and share webinars and virtual events about topics of interest to prospective international students.

Your end of the bargain? If you go, report back and let us know what you learned!  (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com)

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I was told an anecdote about Cornell when I first came here. People say there are four seasons in Ithaca: Orientation week, pre-winter, winter, and post-winter. By now I think I understand what they mean. Ithaca is gorgeous, and Cornell is definitely the most beautiful school that I have ever seen. The days before school started were relaxed and fun, filled with furniture shopping, campus walking, pictures taking and of course, food tasting.

For that week of orientation we enjoyed a beautiful Ithaca summer.

Then school started. And no matter how you wish you could just enjoy the weather and have fun, times flies. And I can’t believe right now 1/3 of the semester has already passed.

For most Chinese students who take undergraduate study in China, graduate study in America will be a challenge. You can no longer be fine skipping classes, partying or dating and cramming the night before finals. And college life here in the U.S. is not about Justin Bieber and ice cream as you might think.

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We are the 99% (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In a college town where around a third of the population is university students, the weekend of fall break was probably not the best time to start the spark of protest in Lawrence, Kansas.

But on Saturday October 8, Occupy Lawrence , a local group of people imitating and supporting the movement in New York known as Occupy Wall Street, gathered on Lawrence’s main downtown street.

Luckily, the weather in that first weekend of October was perfect, and town residents were out enjoying what threatened to be the last summery weekend of the year. So the protest found enough success in starting the “conversation” they desired to serve as the jumping off point for more demonstrations.  And the Occupy Lawrence protests have continued driving discussion and debate among people – students and townspeople alike – since then. [See photos from the first Occupy Lawrence protest]

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Mohammed’s post yesterday about the amount of coursework assigned in American classes got me thinking about some other differences about studying in the States. Here are 5 of the biggest academic adjustments you might face, based on what I’ve heard students talk about:

1) Assignments are due throughout the semester

As Mohammed warned, course grades usually don’t depend on one final examination, but on a number of pieces of work submitted over an entire semester.

Some have papers that you have to write every week, others have group projects you have to work on with your classmates, presentations you do in the class, or research you do by yourself to prove a thesis you come up with.

So, instead of being stressed out all at once at the end of the semester, you get to be stressed out in little bits all the way through. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say.

2) Participation matters

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There is an undeniable excitement about coming to study in the States – one reason why some international students do it – but it’s not all excitement.

You're about to hear the truth about schoolwork in the States...

Yes, it is America. Yes, it is the land of freedom. Yes, it’s the place where different cultures clash…and live together in peace. However, you guys might agree with me, it’s not easy to leave home, to leave the security of being surrounded by the family, friends and people who loves and care about us.  And doing it raises some questions:

Is it worth it? Can you rise up to the expectation? And are you competitive enough to survive America?

You might be sitting in front of your computer watching a show or a documentary about America, which tells you about the breathtaking view of skyscrapers in the Big Apple, New York City, the beautiful warm weather in San Diego, and the huge parties along the beaches of the Sunshine State, Florida.

Just so you know, it’s all true and they did not lie to you. I remember I had an adrenaline rush the first time I visited Times Square in NYC. I can’t find any words in the dictionary to describe how I felt at that moment. Someday, when you get lucky and go there, you will know what I mean.

Beaches are the best. We do party and we do have lots of fun with friends.

Unfortunately, TV and movies never show the other side of what students have to do to survive America.

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If you’re new to the blog, the Glossary of Confusing Words is where we help de-mystify some of the odd or baffling words you’ll see when researching or applying to American schools. You submit words that you’ve come across and struggled with, and we define them on the blog. Today the Glossary returns with a particularly confusing word – “Doctor.”  The person who submitted it asked:

I’m confus[ed] what’s the difference between Doctor degree and PhD. Could you help me? Thanks a lot!

You probably learned the word “doctor” as the name for a person you see when you’re ill or hurt.  A medical doctor has graduated medical school with an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree, and is referred to formally as Dr. + last name (surname).

“I think I have the flu.  I’m going to make an appointment with Dr. Smith.”

However, the term “doctor” also describes a person who has received a Ph.D. (Doctorate), the highest academic degree awarded by universities.  These doctors are experts in a particular academic subject – any academic subject.  Most full-time professors hold Ph.D.s, and this is why you’ll often hear professors called Dr. + their last name.

“Are you taking English Literature with Dr. Jones this semester?”

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I’m Chinese, but kinda American.

Since August 16, 2008, the day I arrived in the United States, I have been asked thousands of times, “Where are you from?” For most Chinese students studying abroad, the automatic answer would be, “Yea, China of course!” However, for some, it is not as simple as the nationality presented on their red, Chinese passports.

This summer, a Chinese friend of mine from Syracuse University visited me in Beijing after spending a semester studying abroad in Europe with a few American students. “I enjoyed my stay in Spain so much last semester,” she told me, speaking in Mandarin Chinese interspersed with some English terms. She showed me pictures of various parties with other American students, and said, “The American culture I adopted last semester was more than what I had tried for the past three years. I feel I’m so American right now and I nearly forgot how to speak Chinese when I just came back to China from Spain.”

I felt happy for her for feeling comfortable “being so American.” However, her words left me in deep thought as well; do we, Chinese students studying in the US, have to “act like Americans” in order to live comfortably in this country?

My freshman year, I had a culture clash with my American roommate and felt very isolated from the American students in the dorm. The reason was simple: I didn’t party with them, nor did I talk to them often.

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