The International Student Blog

Being an international student is more than just attending school in a foreign country. Part of this experience is traveling within your host country (or even continent!) and experiencing its culture. We understand that as an international student you maybe on a budget and this is no reason why you’d need to miss out on traveling! To help you along, we have put together some basic tips to help you explore the world without spending a fortune!

The first thing is, of course, your transportation cost. Whether you are taking a plane, train or car, it can be one of the largest expenses. If you plan on flying, try comparing your flights on multiple websites to find the lowest price. Some discount airlines serve a specific region so it is important to know your airlines and compare this to aggregate airline searches. Some discount airlines include Ryan Air and Easy Jet in Europe as well as Air Asia and Tiger Airways in Asia. You can also try searching for cheap student airfares on the InternationalStudent.com travel center where there are specific discounts for international students. Also, depending on where you are located, consider taking a train (instead of plane) as they can be much less expensive. Once you are in a city, it may also be cost effective to consider what kind of public transportation is available to you. Taking taxis, for example, can be expensive, but taking the bus or subway can potentially save you money.

The next consideration is where to spend the night! You have many options from hotels, to hostels to couchsurfing, check out our blog about alternative places to stay while traveling for additional helpful hints. What’s more, consider traveling during the off-season since many accommodations have two prices: high season and low season. When there are not as many tourists, you’ll find that many rates are lower. Also, consider staying on the outskirts of your main attraction area, the extra bit of time you need to commute may save you money and even give you the opportunity to stay in nicer accommodations!

Additionally, don’t forget about saving money when withdrawing or exchanging your money! When you’re traveling abroad and need to exchange money, there are exchange booths at the airport where you can get the local currency. Often times you will get one of the worst exchange rates by doing that. Instead, exchange your money before you leave or withdraw directly from an ATM if you are already in your host country (keep in mind that you may incur an additional ATM fee).

Not to be left out, the phrase “pack light and pack right” can also save you money. Know the climate where you are traveling to and pack accordingly. Packing light can save you money on all the luggage fee the airlines may charge you. Packing right also means that you will not need to buy things later on (i.e., rain jackets or sweater)

Lastly, consider getting an international student ID card. You can get discount on many museums and attractions in major tourist cities around the world along with some discounts on the occasional services.

This is a guest blog post that originally appeared on the International Student Insurance blog on  September 7th 2011

After international students have made their decision as to what American states and schools will best meet their individual needs or interests, their next major concern is usually figuring out how they will finance these academic dreams and ambitions.

Besides the sometimes substantial financial aid packages offered to international students by U.S. colleges and universities dedicated to creating a culturally diverse learning experience for their student body, there are many other forms of financial aid and scholarships for international students that are worth checking out!

So before you start thinking colleges and universities in major cities such as Chicago, Miami, New York, and Los Angeles are not within your financial capabilities, make sure to try and do some online research on specific scholarships for international students studying in New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles or other major U.S. cities.

While the majority of international students studying at post-secondary institutions in the United States are funded mostly by their own families, approximately 1/5^th of them are able to secure the majority of their financial funding through their universities and by applying to different scholarships for international students.

Some online resources on financial aid opportunities and scholarships for international students studying in New York and other U.S. cities include: eduPass The Smart Guide to Studying in the USA, FundingUSStudy, International Scholarships, The Fulbright Program, International Student Loan, Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, GrantsNet, The Foundation Center, The International Education Financial Aid, The Soros Foundation Network, Mobility International USA, and National Collegiate Athletic Association.

We have had a number of requests from students who are looking for scholarships and asked if we could post some awards on here that are available to international students. Of course, there are literally hundreds of different scholarships out there that are available to international students – and really the best advice we can give you when searching for awards is to spend as much time as possible and to search, search, search!

To help you get searching yourself, check out these resources we have created which will set you off in the right direction:

1. Excellent forum post detailing where to look online http://www.internationalstudentforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3883
2. How to use twitter to find scholarships http://blog.internationalstudent.com/2009/04/using-twitter-to-find-scholarships/
3. Scholarship search tips from IEFA http://www.iefa.org/resources/scholarship_search_tips.html

Selection of Scholarships Available

ASA Scholarship for Armenian Students – Deadline March 15th

ASTA Scholarship Foundation for study in the Travel Industry – Deadline July 31st

Wabash College International Merit Award – Deadline 1st February

East Tennessee State International Students Academic Merit Scholarship – Deadline June 1st/ October 1st

World Press Institute Scholarship for Experienced Working Non-US Journalists – Deadline 31st January

Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Programme – Deadline March 31st

HH Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Open Scholarships Competition for Postgraduate Students – May 22

As you can see there are many scholarship opportunities available, not all scholarships will be appropriate for you, however there will most likely be something available and just from a bit of time and work searching online and using the resources available to us we could find a good starting list here.

If you want to get searching here are some places to start:

http://www.internationalscholarships.com/

http://www.iefa.org/

http://www.internationalfinancialaidblog.com/

http://scholarships.goabroad.com/

….and remember to keep an eye out for scholarship scams! Good luck!

In order to study in the USA, a large part of the application process will be showing the consular officer at your visa interview your finances. You will need to show proof that you have the necessary funds available to cover the time you spend in the USA studying.

Your I-20 form, given to you by your school when you have been accepted, will include most of the information you need concerning your estimated cost of attendance at that school, and they are often very accurate. During your visa interview you will need to show the consular officer that you have enough funds to cover this amount.

However, the I-20 Form only shows the main lines (Tuition and Living Expenses) and does not provide any further clarification. Although these amounts are usually accurate, it is always advisable to create your own budget where you list out all the main items you think you will need. Its much better to do this before you come to the USA, so you can make sure you do not run short of cash once stateside.

To get started, here are a few things you will need to consider in your budget:

1. Tuition – set by your school
2. Rent/housing – can you find off campus housing cheaper?
3. Meals (board) – can you cook for yourself, or use the school facilities?
4. Health insurance – if you can shop around and find a cheaper alternative (if your school allows)
5. Books/technology fees – do you really need that new iPad? But think about what you will need computing wise
6. Transportation – if you live off campus, will you need to travel to school?
7. Communications – use skype, or low cost sim cards to lower your costs
8. Clothing/personal items – try and get new clothes before you leave for the USA
9. Family expenses – do you need to support your family?
10. Personal expenses – personal hygiene products, etc…
11. Recreation and travel – cinema tickets, days and nights out, etc…
12. Taxes – make sure you are paying your taxes correctly (if you are earning)

You can also download the InternationalStudent.com Budget Help Sheet, which will guide you through some of the more common budget items you will need to think about. Of course, not all the items on the sheet will apply to you – but it will get you started:

Your school will also help you with finding out a lot of the information you need about their local area. Things like housing, electricity, etc.. will vary depending on where you will be based in the USA – so be sure to ask for guidance from your school when creating a realistic budget. They should be more than happy to help you with that type of information.

Hopefully this will give you a good starting point to get your budget up and running. If you need further help or advice, please be sure to visit our Study in the USA Budgeting Help Center for more information.

The tax season is right upon us, and for international students navigating the complex US tax system is not an easy task. The first thing to note is that ALL international students who were in the USA during the last year will need to submit and file their taxes – even if you received no income!

So now that we are clear that all students will need to file their taxes and submit at least one form, the next step is to work out what forms need to be completed:

Form 8843 – Must be filed by ALL international students present in United States to exclude the days of presence from the Substantial Presence Test.

Form 1040NR-EZ – Must be filed by all international students who have received any type of U.S income other than interest received from U.S. banks and credit unions.

Social Security and Medicare Taxes - International students nonresident for tax purposes are NOT subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. If your employer has withheld Social Security and Medicare tax in error, you can apply to get a refund for the taxes withheld in error by filing Form 843 and Form 8316

To help you completing these forms and to work out what forms you need to complete, you can use our online system to enter in your personal details and information. The system will then put all this information into the correct forms for you to print off and send to the IRS. Unfortunately international students are not able to submit and file their taxes online – so you will need to mail them in.

There is a wealth of information about taxes for international students that is available on our website, plus you can also visit the official IRS website which has more detailed information. You can also call the IRS and talk to a representative and ask them questions about your taxes, they can be found at 1-800-829-1040.

If you are an international student who needs more complex tax assistance, then we highly suggest you opt for a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) – two resources who past students have used and recommended to us are:

1. LBF Tax
2. The Tax Guy

Good luck with filing your tax returns!

As highlighted in our post back in 2008, the Swedish government was looking to change a long standing tradition where international students are not charged to study in Sweden. Throughout much of Europe and the world, international students typically have to pay full tuition to attend a University – and Sweden was one of the few remaining countries where this was not the case.

However, this is all about to change and with 2010 right around the corner the changes are looming – but there has been backlash from some of the countries top academics who are calling on the government to delay the introduction of the new fee structure for international students. The pro-rectors of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Lunds University and Gothenburg University have come out saying:

“Look to Denmark which lost 90% of its international students when introducing fees without a proper preparation by the universities,” the pro-rectors declared. “Many courses in English at masters level will have to be cut because that is where the foreign students are, and Swedish students will prefer other courses.”

So far there has been no response from the Swedish government which is aiming to reduce its budget allocated to higher education in 2011 by up to SEK 500 million (EUR48 million or US$72 million) – and the fees from international students were expected to compensate for this cut.

For more information about the changes in Sweden for international students please check out the following article which provides more in depth news and views:

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20091127125048259

and post your comments about the changes below…….

We all know that Twitter is growing in popularity and fast becoming one of the hottest things in the social media world – and a place to get information, help and advice quickly! For international students, it represents an goldmine to gather information advice and help from not only schools who are twittering, but also from organizations.

One very big use of twitter that has been uncovered by our good friends at the Financial Aid Podcast is utilizing the powerful twitter search function to find scholarships. The following is their excellent posting about how to use twitter in this manner:

Start at Twitter Search. Look for the basic term first to see what’s available:

Our familiar friends, the words deadline and application, show even more insight:

Now, to take action, we should start to look for URLs:

And don’t forget to search for document types, too, like PDFs:

Kick it up a notch and subscribe to any or all of these Twitter searches in Google Reader (or any RSS reader you have)

So as you can see, just like using Google Search, you can also use the Twitter Search feature to find things you need. The main example here is to look for scholarships, but for internatonal students you could try and search for things like:

• “International Scholarships”
• “Study USA”
• “Study UK”
• “Study Abroad”
• and so on……..

The possibilities are endless to find current and up-to-date information – so get searching!

Once again – don’t forget to check out the Financial Aid Podcast and their scholarship site Scholarship Points. You can also follow them on twitter @winscholarships and @cspenn.

Of course, you can also follow up on twitter @intstudent

A topic that was brought up in our international student forums a while ago titled “Sweden – Seriously Free”, was the subject of obtaining an international education in Sweden and whether this was in fact free. After a lot of talking back and forth, it was discovered that for non-EU international students there are in fact no fees to study as an international student at Universities in Sweden.

However, that is all about to change if the Swedish government has their way and a bill is going to be put before the Swedish parliament this fall to discuss and implement fees for international students. But, do not worry if you are planning to studying this year – the bill (if it comes into law) will not come into effect until 2010.

For more information about this please see:
http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/10403/a/107816

If you cannot read Swedish, please try the online website translator at:
http://www.systran.co.uk/

One question that is always asked when I open the International Student Mailbag each day is “How can I apply for an international student loan?” or “How do I go about getting funding for my time abroad?”. So, I thought I would dedicate a blog post to give a brief overview of who is eligible for an international student loan and how you can apply for one.

The International Student Loan is available to any international student who wants to study at one of the approved schools in the USA or Canada. The approved schools list is also available online so you can check to see if your school is part of the program.

To apply for the loan program, you will need to have a cosigner to complete the application. Your cosigner must either be a US Citizen or permanent resident for at least the last 2 years. Once you have that you can apply for the program and the best way to do is either online (where you can walk through the application step by step) or you can phone our customer support team who will go through the application over the phone.

If you have all the information with you when you apply, and your cosigner has a good credit history you can receive your funds in as little as 5 business days – and even get a preliminary approval in 15 minutes.

Of course, there are many students who do not have a cosigner, and unfortunately without a cosigner the loan program is not available to you. However, there are many other resources and means to obtain funding – for example there are many international scholarships around that providing funding for students all over the world, plus you should get out the international financial aid blog which has updated listing of financial aid information.

If you have any other resources or comments about funding, post them below.