National Student Exchange

The online NSE Directory is the place to start your search for the ideal exchange location.

This is where you’ll find information on all the member schools, their location, available areas of study, costs and term dates.

1. Click on "Campuses" in the bar across the top of the page
2. A text box will pop asking you to select your home institution from the drop-down menu. Select ‘University of Kentucky’ and click ‘This one!’
3. Another text box will pop up giving you the contact information for UK’s NSE coordinator. Close that box, and you’ll find a list of all the NSE locations (in alphabetical order by state) available to you as a UK student.
4. You can use the search menu to narrow your search by state, major, type of institution, and city or campus size.
   
   OR
   
   You can click on the name of an individual NSE institution to go to their program page on the NSE website.

We recommend you focus on finding the institution that will best fulfill your academic requirements rather than choosing a school or state based solely on its location. Many of us would pick Hawaii, California or Florida given a free choice but are the courses offered at those institutions going to keep you on track to graduate on time?

Pay careful attention to the information regarding:

• Chance of Placement (this will tell you how competitive the school is)
• the cost of accommodation and meal plan
• housing availability and housing contract obligations
• whether the school runs on the semester or quarter systems
• closed or restricted academic programs.

All this information is provided on the institution's program page on the NSE website.

Specific limitations are outlined on the institution's NSE page.

Review the campus description carefully to find out if the institution:

• accepts Home Payment (Plan B) students. UK is a Home Payment (Plan B) only member of NSE
• has majors closed to exchange students
• offers on-campus housing, or requires you to live on campus
• requires you purchase their meal plan
• has restrictions on the duration of exchange available.

It’s your responsibility to do this research on each institution you choose. There are some that require a full year exchange; others don’t accept students for spring semester only.

UK only participates in the Home Payment (Plan B) option.

This means you pay your regular tuition and fees directly to UK (out-of-state students continue to pay their non-resident rate) in the same way and the same timeframe as you normally pay your UK tuition.

You pay any course-specific fees, accommodation, meal plan and other fees (such as orientation, NSE program fee, parking fees) listed on the institution’s page on the NSE website directly to the host institution.

You will receive two bills - one from UK for tuition and fees, and one from your host institution for accommodation, meal plan and any other fees.

UK will enroll you in a 1 credit NES333 course for the semester(s) you are studying away. This serves to keep you enrolled as a fulltime student at UK and allows you to access your financial aid and scholarships. This is also billed to your UK student account.

You must be enrolled in full time student status at your NSE host institution (12 credits or its equivalent). The NSE host institution will notify UK if you drop below full time student status. There may be serious financial aid, housing and academic consequences if you do not maintain full time student status at your NSE host institution.

IMPORTANT

• As UK is a Home Payment (Plan B) only member, you cannot exchange to a host institution which participates only in the Host Payment (Plan A) option.
• Some NSE exchange institutions will not wait for you to receive a residual check from UK before requiring you to pay your fees to the NSE host institution. It is your responsibility to ask if your NSE host institution will wait for your UK financial aid to be processed.
• While an NSE exchange generally does not cost much more than attending UK, you must make sure you take enough money with you to get you through at least the first month (books, rent, food). Furthermore, you may need to pay in full or make a deposit in advance for housing and/or a meal plan.