Veritas University

Brochure 2012

Veritas University was founded in 1991 as a private art, design, and architecture university in San Jose, Costa Rica. There are 1,100 students enrolled, including international students. UNI students enroll in Spanish langauge courses as well as elective courses taught in English.

San Jose, located in the center of Costa Rica, is the capital of Costa Rica with a population of about 365,000 people. It makes up about 37% of the nation's population, therefore, giving you numerous venues of entertainment from nightclubs, casinos, and shopping malls to museums and restaurants. Costa Rica is an adventurer's palace. Travel outside the city, and you can go scuba diving, white water rafting, visit one of the many beautiful waterfalls or volcanoes, or take an exhilarating forest canopy tour.

According to the Pacific Business News of Honolulu, Costa Rica was the number one adventure destination in 2003. One can understand why, when you have a pleasant climate year round and beautiful views of lush, green mountainsides surrounding this bustling city.

Veritas offers a unique academic program, in that, while it is geared a bit more toward students interested in Spanish language skills, it also offers many English taught electives. Students may take intensive language courses with little to no Spanish proficiency as well as a myriad of English electives in areas such as International Business, Communication, Environmental Sciences, and the Fine Arts.

If you cannot break-away for a semester, consider the summer Language Immersion program taught by the university. Students may choose to study at any level of Spanish from 4-weeks to up to 12-weeks.

UNI course equivalencies (as of 2012) 

Semester participants attend the first or third session and normally add an intensive month before (fall) or after (spring) term.

In the summer, students can do as many back-to-back intensive month as they wish.

2012-13 Semester and Summer Dates

Please see the Veritas webpage for this info, HERE.

Students pay UNI tuition and fees (in-state or out-of-state) for semester and summer study plus the study abroad fee to participate. There will be additional costs for housing, food, books and supplies, round-trip airfare, and other personal expenses.

Note: An official program budget, for UNI Financial Aid purposes, will be given to the student in hard copy format prior to program participation. Please contact the Study Abroad Center in advance to allow time for your specific program budget to be completed as budgets often require updates relative to exchange rates and any program changes.

Watch Amber Dullard's video about her experience! She was abroad in Spring 2012.

I had a great month in Costa Rica. I was lucky enough to have only one other student in my class, so I was basically tutored for Advanced Writing in Spanish. Although my class was challenging, I had a great professor who kept class interesting and did everything he could to help when we had questions.

I was also fortunate to be placed with a fantasic host mother, who not only welcomed me into her home but welcomed me into her life as well.

I went on three weekend excursions to Playa Tamarindo, Puerto Viejo, and Arenal and Monteverde, which were a lot of fun. I took a cooking class and attended a dance class at Veritas, which I would recommend to any other student planning on going to Veritas. All in all, I had an excellent experience in Costa Rica and am so grateful for the opportunity. I am already thinking about where I want to study abroad next summer!

-UNI Student, Summer 2010