For American Students, Study-Abroad Numbers Continue to Climb, but Financial Obstacles Loom

By KARIN FISCHER

The number of American students traveling overseas to study continued to rise in 2006, capping a decade of unprecedented growth.

The increased amounted to 8 percent, according to the Institute of International Education, which tracks such figures in its annual "Open Doors" report. Over the past 10 years, the number of students participating in overseas-study trips for academic credit has increased nearly 150 percent, to almost 241,800 in the 2006 academic year.

But some