5 tips for students to manage money while studying abroad

1. Plan ahead

Spend time understanding the costs associated with a semester abroad before deciding on dates and a host country. The average cost of a study abroad semester is more than USD$14,000, but the specifics can vary depending on where the given program is located.  

Factor in more than the cost of the program’s tuition. Other expenses you might face during study abroad include:

• Transportation, including flights, trains, taxis/Uber, etc.

• Travel insurance to ensure personal items, flight costs, and other expenses are covered in case of an emergency

• Health insurance that works where you’re living during your studies

• Food not provided by the study abroad program

• Tourism, including museum admissions, sightseeing, excursions, and other sources of entertainment

It’s a good idea to include a little padding in your budget to allow for extra or discretionary costs. Planning ahead like this will enable you to feel comfortable and empowered while you study abroad, and ensure you’re managing your money wisely.

2. Actively manage your funds

It’s easy to underestimate spending or conveniently forget about transactions made on impulse. But those little purchases can really add up over the course of a semester.

Use your bank’s mobile app to manage your money by keeping an eye on account moves, charges, and changes on a regular basis.  

To monitor your spending, it’s a good idea to set yourself a budget, whether this is daily, weekly, or monthly. Once you’ve set the budget, make sure to check your spending is in line with it to stay on track.

You can also break down living costs on a weekly or monthly basis, working to a set amount of money for the period you set.

3. Pay attention to fees

Make note of the fees you may get charged to use your money while studying abroad. If you’re still using accounts based in another country, you might have to pay a foreign transaction fee on card purchases or an ATM fee each time cash is withdrawn. Before travelling, inquire with the bank to see what fees you might expect, and learn about any credit and debit card options for your upcoming trip.

4. Use credit only when necessary

An easy trap to fall into is spending on credit when studying abroad, and it’s not uncommon for students to come back with a high credit card balance as a very costly souvenir. 

If a parent or family member is providing an allowance for travels, they can send a remittance to your account rather than have the student charge items to a credit card, then pay it off. Remittance fees are far lower than credit card interest rates, so families will be able to use more of their money with this method.   

Seriously consider some alternatives to using credit, such as:

• Remittances

• Finding a part-time job

• Applying for grants or loans from your school or government

5. Send and receive money safely

As mentioned above, parents and other family members can use remittances to transfer money to you while you’re studying abroad. A wide variety of institutions offer remittances but it’s crucial to make sure that the transactions are safe and secure, and that the costs aren’t too high.

To protect yourself and your funds during these transactions, use a secure device (avoid publicly shared computers and open WiFi networks if possible) and a strong password. At WorldRemit, we incorporate biometric technology, like face or fingerprint recognition, to provide an added layer of security for your transactions.

Along with ensuring the safety of transactions, make use of any available tools to ensure you and/or your family are being as efficient as possible with funds. For example, most services have transparent ways to check exchange rates and provide a pricing calculator to evaluate transactions before sending a remittance.

Where you can, set up alerts in your mobile app so you can take advantage of any promotions or offers specific to either your home country or your study abroad destination. Within the WorldRemit app, you can easily set up daily notifications for exchange rates and make a more informed decision on when might be the best time to send.

Hopefully, these five tips have given you a better understanding on how to manage money as an international student, and now you can fully embrace all the challenges and opportunities that studying abroad has to offer.

"The contents of this blog post does not constitute financial advice and is provided for general information purposes only. If you require specific financial advice you should contact a financial advisor."