Trade-offs: Oxford vs. the Local Regional

Oxford University. Photo by Tejvan Pettinger. 

My counterpart at the blog Frugal Scholar, a university professor who practices frugality, has an interesting thread looking at one young woman's very difficult decision: Go to Oxford and pursue what she loves (at Oxford!) or go the more local, more affordable route, as her parents would like, and graduate debt-free.  And is there an in-between option?

Lots of people have weighed in and it points to the various opinions and tactics -- even among the frugal. Look, learn or even join the discussion at http://frugalscholar.blogspot.com/2011/03/college-debt-once-more-worth-it.html.

Low Cost Spring-break Alternative

With a new spin on the "staycation," University of Vermont anthropologist Robert Gordon offers the advice to intrepid students who want to volunteer abroad during spring break.

Stay home.

Gordon, author of Going Abroad: Traveling Like an Anthropologist (also available at half.com), tells The Chronicle of Higher Education, that "you can 'go abroad' in your hometown by just walking around and engaging local people and by having a sense of enchantment."