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This essay is based on a conversation with Tiffany Fitt, a graduate student at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My family wasn’t the most traditional: When our two sons were in middle school, we sold our house in Washington, DC, and took a two-year road trip around the United States.
We bought a camper, road schooled our kids, and worked part-time jobs to pay for the trip, proving that it was possible to explore outside of the typical American lifestyle.
So when it came time for our sons, now 22 and 21, to think about college, we were open to possibilities.
After graduating from high school, the boys took a gap year to decide on their future career paths. They considered everything from community college to trade school to the military. Ultimately, they decided that going abroad was the best option, as tuition was much more affordable and most bachelor’s programs were three years long.
My eldest son graduated in 2021 from the Anglo American University in Prague studying Business Administration. and My youngest son went to Hungary a year later to study archaeology at the University of Pécs.
My husband and I decided to do the same thing.
During our time in the US, I was working as a consultant in organizational change management, and my husband was working as a lawyer and contract employee for an energy company.
Both of us had non-traditional educational paths. It took me almost 30 years to graduate from high school because I went straight into the workforce. Instead, I took classes throughout my working life. I finished my bachelor’s degree in 2021, when I was 48 years old.
Similarly, my husband, now 51, was 33 when he earned his law degree.
Watching my kids go to college in Europe gave me the idea that maybe I could get an affordable graduate degree in a field I’m interested in. The cost of living in some countries is not that high compared to where we live in Idaho, USA, and I could live abroad for two years and travel around Europe.
Although we had no doubt that a graduate degree would be useful professionally, we saw it more as an extracurricular activity and therefore did not want to invest too much into it.
We ultimately decided on Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where tuition is 3,000 euros per year, or about $3,300, and did not consider American schools.
In June 2023, my husband and I quit our jobs and moved to Brno.
I decided to go on to graduate school in cultural sociology. My husband chose to study energy policy.
I enjoy learning as an older student.
Brno is a young and vibrant student city, and the postgraduate students are mostly older, with an average age of 32.
Yes, when I go to a doctor or government appointment and tell them I’m here on a student visa, some people look at me a little strangely, but once I explain it, it’s not a big deal.
But now that I’m older, I take my education more seriously than I did when I was 30 years younger. For the first time in my life, I’m sitting in a classroom and learning, and I’m enjoying the time I can put into it. To me at this age, it’s a gift, a real luxury.
I am also grateful to have an international cohort of people that I call my colleagues here, who come from all over the world. I have colleagues from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Norway, Poland, and it’s great to be immersed in a very international culture.
I’m living off my savings for now
Our house in the US is rented out, which brings in a little income to cover some of our expenses.
In Brno, I pay about $1,000 a month for rent, plus a little extra for a gym membership, and I walk or use affordable public transport to get everywhere.
Moving to the Czech Republic was a positive for us because it allowed us to live closer to our oldest son, who has graduated from college and is working full time in Prague.
One of the things we were worried about was being away from our elderly parents – after all, if something happened we would just hop on a plane and fly home.
It’s certainly a risk we took. Our family and friends would laugh and say, “That’s what you do. You rebel against the way things should be done. Good luck.” Well, we have the best cheer squad.
We are getting older and we know this is probably our last chance to unravel our lives and do this.
As long as we can be self-sufficient and keep paying the bills, we plan to stay abroad after we graduate next year. It depends on where my sons end up and what they do. We have our options open.
Do you have a story you’d like to share about choosing to attend college outside the U.S.? Contact reporter Erin at: email address.