Funding your study abroad education and managing your expenses

An education which changes a student’s future for good has worth its weight in gold. Studying abroad is a dream for many students considering the bright prospects ahead, but soon proves shattering for most because of the high cost involved such as traveling cost, college and tuition fees, living cost, day to day expenses etc. In fact students willing to study overseas, as a very first step, have to demonstrate that they have genuine access to sufficient funds to cover the associated expenses to be granted a student visa.

However, in spite of being a burly expense, students can still manage their funds adequately if aware of the possible options with proper planning done beforehand.

Mentioned below are few options available for funding your education:

• Scholarship: Government, education institutions, and a number of other public and private organizations provide financial contribution towards a number of scholarships which enable students to study overseas. Some scholarships cover the entire living expenses at the university where as some are partial and require students to arrange for additional funds. These scholarships and aids are largely provided on the basis of merit but are far and few and vary from course to course. Therefore, a thorough research regarding the institutions, type of scholarships, eligibility criteria and application deadlines and procedures is essential to successfully receive one.
• Financial aid from private institutions: Financial aid is provided by many private institutes and few state universities. Private universities can give discounts or lower the cost of tuition fee providing invaluable help. However, the tuition fees of state universities are almost half than the private universities. You can request it through sending application online or for more information, you can also contact the international school offices at the U.S institutions.
• Loans:
• Indian banks: Many Indian banks offer foreign education loans to students but only when the admission in the foreign university is confirmed and the student has enrolled for a full time course. The loan is not offered for distance learning or correspondence courses. Unlike scholarship students have to repay the loan taken with interest as per the bank’s terms and conditions.
• Foreign banks: Some U.S banks also offer loan to students. Such banks require sign by a co-signer who is a permanent resident of U.S or has a green card.
• Some international organizations also to provide loans to students.
• Personal or family funds: In certain conditions when a student can not avail the scholarship opportunity or is not interested in taking loan, a good option is to pay fees and expenses by arranging money from private or family funds. In this way, a student can also exempt from paying loan back with interest. Later, after 1st year or semester, students can apply for jobs like teacher assistantship (TA) or research assistantship (RA). Apart from working and gaining experience, students also gets stipend for such jobs which can help in bearing day to day expenses.

Managing your expense

The expenses involved in studying abroad are not limited only upto booking flight tickets and paying college and tuition fees. There are more expenses like house rents, phone bills, health insurance, travel, etc which can cause huge financial burden on students. Let’s look upon the possible solutions that can aid you in paying such expenses and saving money.

• Part time Jobs: Mostly the students go to U.S in F1 Visa which allows them to work for maximum of 20 hours per week. The student can apply for various job opportunities in the university campus itself or outside and earn money to deal with the daily expenses.
• Cutting down on the non-essential things: There are various other ways other than doing job through which a student can save his/her money and cut down on the expenses. For example-  
• A lot needs to be paid for housing rent but a student can save money by sharing accommodation with his/her fellowmates or friends.
• Instead of eating out in the canteens or restaurants, a student can choose to cook at home.
• Choose your accommodation at a place where public transport is easily available.
• Look for the call and data plans which don’t cost the student much.
• Student discount: Everybody looks for discount and what better if you are getting it at a country where saving every coin matters. Yes, for students studying abroad, ISIC (International student identity card) is available through which they can get discounts  for travel purpose, online purchase etc. Many countries accept ISIC student card including the U.S.
• Plan in advance: Planning and organizing in advance is beneficial. For example if you are planning to go to India for a visit then plan in advance when you want to go and for what time and book your tickets accordingly. Booking tickets early costs less and also reduce panic.

About Skill Maestro At Skill Maestro, We guide prospective students about the entire application process as well as suitable universities as per their profile/test scores. We have consulted dozens of prospective students for MIS across the globe. We have a physical presence in Indore where we also help students prepare for GRE, GMAT & SAT Follow Us  on Google+!