Costs

Many of the costs listed below are, by necessity, estimates. In the past our estimates have always proved liberal (with the result that students finished the trip with more money than they anticipated). If you exercise some efforts toward frugality and we get a bit of currency luck, I suspect that some of the out-of-pocket costs will be lower than indicated here.

Payments to Ohio University
Type of Fee With 16 hours of
O. U. Credit		 Without O. U. Credit
O. U. Tuition and Fees $2969 (Ohio resident)
$6000 (Non-resident)		 $0
Program Fee (includes required insurance)
 $1325 $4625
O.U. Office of Education Abroad Service Fee $150
Total due to Ohio U. $4444 (Ohio resident)
$7432 (Non-resident)		 $4775

 

Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Round-trip Air Fare $1500(estimate)
Food $3300 (estimate)
Travel in Greece $1400 (estimate)
Textbooks $200 (estimate)
Site Fees $200 (estimate)
Total Out-of-Pocket Expenses approximately $6600
 
Gross Total $11044 (Ohio resident)
$14,032 (out-of-state)		 $11375 (+ tuition at home institution)

 

Offsets to Gross Total
Tuition and Fees $3000 (Ohio resident)
$6000 (Non-resident)		 (Tuition at your school)
3 months’ rent $1500(estimate)
Food (11 weeks @ $150) $1650 (estimate)
Phone $80
Textbooks $200 (estimate)
Car (gas, repairs) $200 (estimate)
Entertainment (11 weeks @$20) $220 (estimate)
Total Offsets $6850 (resident)
$9850 (Non-Resident)		 $3850 (+ your tuition)
 
Net Total ca. $4200 ca. $7525

 

Explanation of Costs and Offsets

These expense estimates have been revised upwards since they were first published in the summer because the cost of the euro is approaching $1.50, which was our estimated maximum. It seems prudent to raise the estimated maximum exchange rate during the period of our stay to $1.75. That revision has added about $700 to the previously estimated cost.

Program Fee (paid to Ohio University)
$1325 for students paying OU tuition; $4625 for students not paying OU tuition.
The difference in costs results from Ohio University’s liberal subsidy (about $2500) returned to the program from the tuition and fees of each OU student. Program fees pay the following expenses: rooms throughout the program in double and triple accommodations; salary and expenses for a contract tutor in modern Greek; and faculty travel expenses. (OU pays salaries for its own faculty, but faculty travel expenses are divided among the participants).
Round-trip airfare to Athens, Greece
$1500. You’ll probably be able to beat this price by several hundred dollars if you shop early and inventively (perhaps flying cheaply to London, then European cheapo flight to Athens).

In Greece, you will need to pay the following out of your own pocket:

Food
$3300 out-of-pocket expense. Food has become very expensive in Greece the last few years. Most of our hotel reservations will include a simple continental breakfast (though rooms in rooming houses will not). This figure is based on an estimate of 25 euros/day. If you need to save money, this line is the easiest place to do it. Since the trip is approximately 75 days long, a savings of even 2 euros/day in the food budget can add up to some money. You won’t make it on $25 euros/day if you buy lots of Cokes, ice creams, etc. You can economize by eating lunches of dried fruits and nuts purchased from grocery stores.

Domestic travel

$1400 out-of-pocket. To save money (and to enjoy the local flavor) we travel by public transport. Wherever possible we use public buses, trains, and ferries. Occasionally we have to resort to shared taxi rides.
Textbooks
$200 out-of-pocket. Since we have to carry everything we take, we don’t require a lot of textbooks. We will organize textbook purchases so that each person will carry one or two important reference books in addition to the few textbooks that everyone will be required to carry. I doubt that you will need to spend this much on books.
Site Fees
$200 out-of-pocket. The Greek government is traditionally very generous in granting free admission to bona fide students of Classical antiquities,but the policies vary each year, and we are never entirely sure that we can count on free admission. So, we urge students to bring $200 for this expense even though we do not expect them to need it.
Offsets and Net Cost
To calculate the net cost of the program, remember that if you don’t go on the trip, you will probably be spending money for tuition, housing, food, books, utilities, travel, and recreation here in the U.S.
  • If you go to Greece, you won’t be spending that money (unless you sign a contract for spring housing in the U.S.–so don’t do that). The money you don’t spend is what I am calling an offset: The money you would otherwise spend in the U.S. will be spent instead on your Greece trip. Calculate your own offsets (I have included tuition since I assume you would be paying it to study in the U.S. if you weren’t paying it to study in Greece). Subtract your offsets from the Gross Expense of the trip. The result is an approximation of your net cost. Especially if you pay OU tuition, the net cost turns out to be surprisingly small–roughly the cost of your flight plus about $300/week ($40/day).
  • If you are a student at a private college, run the numbers before you decide whether to stay registered at your own institution or transfer to OU for a quarter. You may find that (even as an out-of-state student) you can participate in this program for Ohio University credit, transfer almost a semester’s credit back to your home institution, and actually save quite a bit of money.
  • If your school is on the semester system, you should calculate the total costs of attending your institution for the spring semester–tuition, books, room, utilities, food, entertainment, automobile, etc. Then estimate the income you could earn working from January through the middle of March. Subtract that income from the total cost of the Greek-in-Greece program, and compare that figure to what your normal semester would cost you. You will probably find that you can participate in the Greek-in-Greece program quite economically.
Currency exchange issues

The value of the dollar can fluctuate unpredictably. A few years ago we were buying euros for $.80; now they’re pushing $1.50–just to give you some sense of the strength of the $US. These expense estimates are based on an assumption of $1.75 per euro.

In what form should I take pocket money?
Put your dollars in an American account accessible via your ATM card. ATM’s are everywhere, and most of them extract a relatively low exchange rate for converting your American dollars to euros.