The New York Times’ series on study abroad is an eye-opener. You can send your kid to a prestigious, English-speaking college in Europe for less that it would cost at a U.S. private institution. Surprisingly, it’s different but not daunting. Large numbers are enrolling abroad, not just for a year of college, but for the whole thing.

Recently NY Times staffer Tamar Lewin interviewed a college administrator and five American students in Scotland. There are trade-offs, but the advantages seemed apparent in almost all she heard.

The first was a girl named Isobel from Bedford NY who is at Saint Andrews in Fife. It’s a venerable school with added prestige now because of being Prince William’s choice. Isobel had thought she’d made an original choice, but found herself part of a substantial American community.

The second, a young man named Ryan, from Annapolis Maryland, said he had applied to McGill in Montreal, and Trinity in Dublin, as well as St. Andrews. He’s studying international relations. The university is well-known for that, as well as in the sciences. Students are encouraged to specialize from the beginning of their college experience.

A decade ago a mere 200 Americans studied at St. Andrews, and now there are 1,250 among its 7.200 students. Among factors spurring the increase is the active recruiting being done by the institutions themselves: Recently, at the conference of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, representatives from schools in New Zealand, Ireland, England, and Canada mingled with the high school counselors who help high school kids make their choices. The advantages to the foreign universities are money and a more diversified student body.

The comments of the college administrator were enlightening. “If Scottish parents asked why their very talented child did not get into St. Andrews, when so many Americans did, I would tell them to ask their government, which encourages us to take international students, but caps the number of local students they will pay for.”

Students apply to the department they wish to study in, and present their high-school grades and national test scores. The University of Edinburgh wants a 3.0 grade point average and an 1800 SAT score. St. Andrews wants 3.3 and 1950 respectively. There is no admission essay, and no need for a record of community service. Students have no need to package themselves as well-rounded in sports and extra-curricular activities.

A student named Savanna said she’d been accepted by a couple of her American college choices, but not by her first and second choices, Harvard and Brown. “I thought my time and money would be better spent here, that I’d get more out of the experience, and it would be a better credential” she said.

A student named Lucea at the University of Edinburgh had transferred in from a small college in upper New York state. The small college had been fun for a while. She was in Edinburgh now because she wanted the international atmosphere and the ease of travel around the rest of Europe. But she remarked on the lack of “hand-holding” by the staff. Others told the interviewer there little help from professors; so for students to improve, they have to figure out how that can happen.

Nevertheless, to many it’s very much worth it. A girl named Lucy summed up her experience this way: “Last night I looked around our flat….there were some people speaking Swedish, others speaking Italian, and others speaking English; and I thought, this is wonderful”.

Of course, there’s the cost of travel; it will cost quite a bit extra for the student to be home for the holidays. Yet the overall costs are less than those of an American private institution. It may be the right solutions for someone you know…