Spend with Me: Budgeting Tips for Study Abroad

By: Calie Champoux

If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for a way to save money. As a college student, especially one abroad where you can’t make an income, the money seems to dwindle faster and faster as the days go on. While this can be very stressful, trust me, there’s ways to make study abroad extremely affordable. You just have to prepare yourself to be more picky with what you choose to spend your money on. 

My first piece of advice is, go grocery shopping! It can be very easy to go to a cafe every morning to get breakfast, or stop at a place for lunch after class. While this may not seem like a lot when the prices are much cheaper than the ones in the United States, the small purchases add up quickly. The grocery stores are extremely affordable here, you’ll be amazed. And in my personal opinion it is better to buy your groceries to at least cook breakfast and lunch, so you can save that extra money when you want to dine out with friends for dinner. 

My second piece of advice is to try to book your trips in advance. While I definitely recommend waiting until you arrive at your program to see what your course schedule looks like, try to book your trips soon after. Prices will start to rise, and if a priority of yours is traveling, you might be deterred from going to the destinations you wanted to go if you wait to book. After receiving my course schedule, I made a plan of what weekends I wanted to travel and where, and then tried to book them all at the beginning of September. This also will relieve you some stress later on with planning, it only gives you things to look forward to!

My third piece of advice is to plan what your priorities are prior to arriving at your program. This will give you a sense of what you will want to splurge on, and what you might not want to purchase. If your priority is to travel as much as you can, maybe skip a few of the social events, I promise you won’t miss out if you skip a few! If your priority is to stay and explore your city, look to see what deals you can get on different museums and historical sites. Many of them have free days or student discounts! If your priority is to explore a lot of the nightlife, then take my first piece of advice seriously, it’ll help! 

I was very scared before coming abroad that I was going to run out of money mid way through. But by deciding my priorities early on, booking trips in advance, and shopping for food instead of always buying out, I’ve been able to stretch out my savings. And I know you can too!