Author: Sarah Dunn
Sarah studied Spanish with us at Ecela and now helps students plan their course.
One of the best things about studying at a language school is that you really get the most for your money. Spanish class at universities in the States can be quite costly. It turns out to be about $20/hour for public, in-state colleges to upwards of $80/hour at private schools. But that’s not the case when you study with ECELA – here we’re looking at about $10/hour instead.
At ECELA we don’t have deans, presidents, or provosts sucking up our valuable money, nor do we have have chemistry labs or stadiums that require funding. And believe it or not, our teachers spend their hours teaching, not researching or publishing papers. In general, it’s more efficient, which makes it cheaper for our students.
Two semester-equivalent Spanish courses will cost you less than $1,200 at Ecela. The same amount of Spanish at a private American university can cost over $9,600, even with 5x as many students.
In addition to it being cheaper, our classes tend to be much smaller than a typical university class. Studying at ECELA was like having conversation lessons around a dinner table; it was far more engaging that the typical lecture hall classes I was used to. Another perk was the free daily snacks and refreshments. Sure beats the broken vending machine at my home university!
Not only are the classes cheaper, but also the cost of living is typically cheaper as well. When I studied at ECELA in Buenos Aires, my expenses were a fraction of what they were in the States. I took advantage of the peso exchange by going on weekend trips to Salta, Jujuy, and Iguazu Falls. I camped one weekend in Gualeguaychú to celebrate Carnival and took a day trip to the town of Tigre. On weekends I didn’t travel, I perused las ferrias in San Telmo and Recoletta for unique antiques. My money went much further in South America!