National Student Exchange enchriches college experience

TORI SCHULZ Reporter

The National Student Exchange is a program that allows students to study at another school in participating schools in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

NSE Home Coordinator at South Dakota State, Marj Thompson, describes the experience as an opportunity for students to study abroad domestically and enhance their education.

Students will first meet with Thompson and discuss the requirements and the schools that will help them reach their goals. Once that’s done, they will fill out the preliminary application and if approved, it will be sent off to NSE for placement.

The likelihood of getting into the program is dependent on the school and payment type. There is “home pay” and “host pay.” Home pay means students will be able to pay their SDSU tuition, and host pay is the tuition of the school they are exchanging to. The probability of getting into each school on home pay versus host pay is on the NSE website.

Once placed, an acceptance form will need to be signed and students will complete host campus requirements like applying for admissions, sending transcripts and signing up for classes.

Students can do an exchange for a school year or one semester. This can be during the fall, spring or summer.

Isabelle Hesse, a psychology major at SDSU, is doing her exchange at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

“This experience allowed me to learn that there is so much more to life and being able to be outside in a beautiful place makes you so much happier,” Hesse said. “I think this experience was definitely an adventure, but it made my mental health so much better, and I grew so much as an individual. I highly recommend doing this.”

Hesse says the program does come with some challenges though and says it has been a struggle to not have a car.

Kennedy Jaerger, a marketing and apparel merchandising and design