Which would cost more?

Oh my god...$54,000. That is a complete rip off. Take it from me...I help students go abroad and get internships and do volunteer work for college credit. Companies like Leave UR Mark charge $1,450 per month which includes housing and food. Do not go through this program...it seems like your college will be making a lot of money from it. You should just move to Italy and apply directly however I'm not sure your college will accept the credits. Check that out beforehand. Or if you are just wanting to get a cool experience abroad, look into other destinations and other options of what you can do. There are a hundred other things besides studying abroad (which by the way doesn't really help your career although it is a good personal experience). You can check out the much cheaper programs that I use: a href="http://www.leaveurmark.com" rel="nofollow"http://www.leaveurmark.com/a Good luck!