Gen X parents quit their jobs and followed sons to Europe for college

We got an RV, “schooled” the kids, and got part-time jobs to fund our trip. Experience taught us that exploring things outside of the typical American lifestyle was possible.

So when it came time for my sons, now 22 and 21, to think about college, we were open to different possibilities.

After high school, both sons took a gap year to decide their path. They looked at everything from community colleges to trade schools to the military. In the end, they decided that going abroad was the best choice: tuition was much more affordable and bachelor’s programs were mostly three years.

My older son went to the Anglo-American University in Prague to study business administration in 2021, and my younger son went to the University of Pécs in Hungary a year later to study archaeology.

My husband and I were inspired to do the same

Back in the US, I worked as a consultant in organizational change management. My husband worked on contract as a lawyer at an energy company.

Both of our educational paths were non-traditional. It took me almost 30 years to finish high school because I jumped right into a career. Instead, I took classes throughout my professional life. I didn’t get my bachelor’s degree until 2021 when I was 48.

Similarly, my husband, now 51, was 33 when he got his law degree.

Seeing our children move to Europe for college sparked the idea that we could get a bachelor’s degree in a field we were interested in at an affordable price. The cost of living in certain countries is not very high compared to Idaho where we live in the US. It would also allow us to live in a foreign country for two years and travel around Europe.

While I didn’t doubt that a bachelor’s degree could benefit us professionally, we knew we didn’t want to invest too much because we saw it as more of an extracurricular.

In the end, we decided on Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where tuition costs 3,000 euros, or about $3,300 a year. We did not consider US schools.

In June 2023, my husband and I resigned from our jobs and moved to Brno.

I decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in cultural sociology while my the husband chose to study energy policy.

I love learning as an older student

Brno is a young and vibrant student city. We are older students in our graduate programs where the average student is 32 years old.

Yes, some people look at us a bit funny if we go to a doctor or a government appointment and say we’re here on a student visa. But once we explain it, it’s not a big deal.

Being older, however, I take my education more seriously than I would have if I were 30 years younger. I love being able to study and sit in a classroom for the first time in my life and just dedicate my time to studying. It is a gift and a real treat for me at this age.

I also appreciate having an international group of peers here, whom we call colleagues. My colleagues are from all over the world. I have Nigerian, Bangladeshi, Iranian, Norwegian and Polish colleagues and it’s great to be able to immerse myself in a very international culture.

For now, we live off the savings

Our house in the US is rented out so we earn a small income from that which helps cover some of our costs.

In Brno, we spend around $1,000 on our monthly rent and a little extra for a gym membership. We walk everywhere or take public transport, which is accessible.

Moving to the Czech Republic was a bonus because we could be closer to our older son, who has since graduated and is working full-time in Prague.

One concern we had was leaving our elderly parents. Finally, if something were to happen, we would immediately get on a plane home.

It’s a risk we’ve certainly taken. Our family and friends would smile and say, “That’s what you guys do. You people are rebelling against the way things should be done. I wish you luck.” With that, we have a few people who are our biggest cheerleaders.

We are getting old and we know this will probably be the last time we manage to do this in our lives.

As long as we can be self-sufficient and continue to pay our bills, we are open to staying abroad after we graduate next year. It depends on where our sons land and what they do. We’re keeping our options open.

Do you have a story about choosing to attend college outside the US that you want to share? Connect with the reporter, Erin: [email protected].