When studying abroad for education, it can be challenging for the students to manage their expenses according to their budget.
Several countries like the United States, Australia, Canada, and more are preferred dream destinations for many students, but they leave their dreams of pursuing education on a budget.
However, what if there was an easy way for students to plan their journey while still keeping their dreams of studying abroad intact?
There are loans, scholarships, and fellowships available to all students to pay for their tuition fees, and in between, students can work part-time or perform internships to cover their daily expenses.
The one prominent skill that a student has to learn is the art of managing money well and using it positively.
Students will learn from this article ten ways to manage their money when studying abroad.
Here are some great financial tips and tricks for international students trying to manage money while pursuing education
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Be careful of the College costs
The number one tip we can give to all of our students is to be careful and consider all the college costs. Do your research and homework ahead of time to check whether you qualify for any scholarships?
In addition to scholarships, some institutes provide rewards for outstanding students in the form of allowances. Moreover, the cost of books and supplies is high as well. Therefore, students should seek used or online books on sites like Chegg or Amazon.
In addition, a student can join the local library or local flea markets, where one can purchase books or used books at reduced prices.
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Learn about the foreign currency
A student while studying abroad should always grab and ingrain all the knowledge there is about foreign currency and foreign exchange.
Here, people frequently compare the price of a product in India and convert the amount in foreign currency incorrectly. But the issue is that the price doesn’t work that across the borders!
A student can’t expect the apples in India to be of the same price as apples in New York.
Some items are cheaper abroad than they are elsewhere, but the opposite is true as well.
Inflation can act differently in each economy; therefore, a student needs to know the basic financial and basic indicators of the country that they’ll be studying in.
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Habit of Making a Budget
When a student is exploring abroad, looking for accommodation, food, transport, the international student lifestyle and other things. The expenses from all that can consume a significant amount of money from a student’s funds when they go overseas to study.
This is one of the reasons that the amount saved by a student then seems to be substantial and most of the students then do not bother to spend it on the minor things.
It’s here that many students make one of the crucial mistakes. A student needs to understand their present financial situation and then create a realistic budget plan and they should always get into a habit of making a budget.
There are several things that a student has to include in his budgets such as monthly rent, groceries, transportation, energy bills, data charges, recreation, study materials and more!
It’s a good idea for a student to set aside some money at the end of each month for unseen circumstances or emergencies as well.
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Local Bank account
The next tip on how to manage money is for a student to open a local bank account in the foreign country where one is studying.
One should keep in mind that one shouldn’t rely on your home bank account for anything since all the bank costs will be quite expensive.
When you arrive, it’s a good idea for a student to create a local bank account to keep their money safe and make it easier for them to access their funds. It’s almost compulsory in many foreign countries.
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Learn Cooking
One of the most useful tips on how to manage money while studying abroad is for a student to learn cooking. For a student, it helps you introduce discipline to your lifestyle while also allowing you to save a significant amount of money.
While planning your every meal, ordering food and eating takeout each time is not an ideal solution for a student.
You can save a big amount of money if one can plan their dinner for the entire week by preparing a handful of recipes in huge amounts on the weekends.
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Use your Credit cards with care
Credit cards are one of the sought-after ways to save money for students while they also help establish credit with institutions. Although, the students should proceed with caution as this is a dangerous yet useful hack!
Every credit card has a spending limitation or limit that one can spend and then pay back to the bank.
So, here’s one among the simplest ways to save lots of money while studying abroad financial advice for international students: to get credit cards that pay you back once you use them.
These rewards can take the form of money or points, which may then be redeemed for wonderful deals and prevent tons of cash.
You may also acquire an airline MasterCard, which allows you to gather ‘air miles,’ which you’ll use to earn big discounts on your travel tickets.
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Looking for a Cheap phone call service
If you’re a student studying abroad, you’ll get to call both locally and internationally. As a result, if you don’t concentrate, your telephone bill will quickly skyrocket. While there are free online calling apps such as Google Duo, WhatsApp, Skype, et al., these apps require mobile data or WIFI, which isn’t always available.
The greatest thanks to economizing when studying abroad is to carefully use low-cost phone services and choose the best deals. You’ll be surprised at what proportion of money you save on calls to your home country once you use services like Rebtel, Google Fi, and others.
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Be smart and spend like a Local
This is probably one of the main things we tend to ignore while finding ways for a way to manage money while studying abroad.
Be aware of how the locals manage their monthly costs at a job, university, or your student residence. You’ll find out how to travel around the city without breaking the bank at farmer’s markets, and you’ll discover department stores that sell household basics at wholesale costs.
When it involves toiletries and cooking equipment, refill for the month because buying in bulk is typically more cost-efficient
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Use Cycles whenever possible
If you’re studying abroad, you’re probably living within a 2-kilometre radius of college, if not on campus. As a result, riding your bike to school makes it logical. You won’t need to wait for the bus, you won’t need to buy any cabs even if you do miss the bus, and you won’t need to walk the maximum amount.
In many foreign countries, bike parking and bike lanes are available on city streets. You’ll also be helping the environment as well by using bikes.
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Get a part-time job to manage your expenses
Our last and final pro financial tip on the way to manage money while studying abroad would be to urge a part-time job.
In most countries, you’ll work out to twenty hours per week during term breaks and full-time during the remainder of the year.
Simply determine whether your student visa allows you to figure and seek employment accordingly.
This additional money might assist you in better manage your costs while also improving your job abilities.
Just confine in mind that you simply could also be required to pay tax on your earnings, so verify the principles for foreign students in your new country. We hope this article has covered all the aspects for students of managing money while studying abroad. If you continue to have doubts regarding finances while studying abroad, contact us. We will help you out!
