College România College Us Comparison

Anyone who chooses to attend a college makes this decision based on what he or she likes and for social reasons. However, the benefits of college are different, from country to country. For instance, the differences between going to college in Romania and in US are varied. Romania is still a developing country, and its struggles to rebuild the economy after 40 years of communism are still present. After the Revolution, private colleges developed throughout the country but public universities remain most attended because of lower costs. That s why the majority of people go to public universities, where tuition is lower and more affordable. Financial aid is rarely used, because it is almost nonexistent. The government is unable to afford paying tuition for the thousands of students who attend public universities every year, because most of them would qualify for financial aid. The students expenses are supported in general by their parents. There are some scholarships available for students with disabilities and students with good grades, but there are no student loan programs.

Going to college in Romania is not easy. When the student is ready to enroll, he knows he has to go there in person several times. There isn t an on-line application process and because of this the student is required to travel at times, just to hand in his application. He goes back again whenever he s scheduled for the placement test, which could take several days, and if he is not accepted he has to return once more to get all his paperwork back from the college.

Once in college, a freshman can t be a part-time student, and he or she has to pass all the tests and finish all the classes to be able to attend the next academic year. If for any reason the student is unable to continue college, he or she may interrupt their studies for no more than two years, otherwise they may be expelled.

Because of lack of technology and a low budget, the teachers still use chalk and the blackboards to teach. There are no projectors in classrooms and internet access is very poor.

At Cluj-Napoca Technical University, (a well known institution in Romania) in the computer based courses, at times there were three students to every computer. They couldn t afford to buy a computer of their own either, so it was very hard to work on a computer thus many times their computer homework was done by hand on paper. Students in all classes have to take notes and handwriting is a very used method in college.

A good thing in the Romanian universities is that a student has the same classmates from the first day of college until graduation. He is able to develop good relationships and gets a lot of support from his classmates. They help each other during difficult times and they get to know the comfort of unity. This is an important factor, knowing that there aren t any tutoring or counseling centers. Being together in every single class for several years makes graduation dramatic. ...