Financially Preparing for Your Trip Abroad

The most stressful part about studying abroad is being able to afford it! One of the biggest factors that constantly kept me a little hesitant about going abroad was being able to afford it. During my four years at UCSD, I didn't really receive much help from my parents because they didn't have the finances to help me. During my final two years at UCSD, I was working three jobs and still wasn't making enough to ensure I had money for my personal needs and for my post-college savings. Trying to squeeze in a study abroad trip seemed like a very expensive decision but I don't regret doing so at all. By preparing for this trip in a timely manner, I was able to fund over 80% of my trip with the help of scholarships, grants, and a small amount of loans. I had an additional advantage of studying abroad during the time I was also graduating so graduation gifts were also extremely helpful.

As I mentioned in another post, I started preparing for my study abroad trip over a year before the program began. In preparing, I was saving as much of my paychecks as possible to ensure I had money for my trip abroad and left over money to move back to San Diego and being preparing for post-college life when I returned. I decided that doing a study abroad trip over the summer, specifically a global seminar, was my best financial option because I would be able to take advantage of the summer grant. During the end of fall quarter and throughout winter quarter, I explored various scholarship opportunities to help me fund the trip. There are a TON of scholarships out there (both at UCSD and out there publicly) that can help you fund your trip and I do know of a few people who completely funded their trips with scholarships and grants. For myself personally, I only applied to three scholarships that were available at UCSD. Because of the fact that I was graduating and had to complete almost all my upper division major requirements during my fourth year, I was extremely mindful with which scholarships I wanted to invest my time towards since I didn't have a lot of extra time to work on applications and essays. Because I was an OASIS student, I applied to their global seminar scholarship and because of my decision to participate in a global seminar, I applied to their scholarship as well. Since I was also a Marshall student, I applied to their scholarship as well. I applied to scholarships that I fit requirements to and spent a lot of time on the essays and applications to increase my odds of being selected for the scholarships.

I was extremely fortunate to have received all three of the scholarships I applied to and with the help of the summer grant I only had to pay roughly $600 out of pocket to fund the remaining academic portion of my trip. I decided to play my cards right and took out the last of my student loans to pay off the remaining money so I could get a large refund that I could either use towards personal spending and travel during the trip or for post-college expenses when I returned. Prior to leaving for my trip, I also explored my credit card options and applied for another credit card that I could use during travel. The particular credit card I applied for had no international fees and gave me $150 back after spending $500 which I knew I could easily do on this trip. The credit card was extremely helpful in saving me so much money I would have wasted on foreign transaction and international fees that definitely would have added up if I was using my other cards. Another tip to help you save a bit of money before traveling is converting your dollars to the foreign currency you need thru your bank. Your bank will give you the best conversion rates and will sometimes help you avoid paying conversion fees you'll have to pay if you wait to convert abroad.

Overall, planning ahead for your study abroad experience can help you save more money than you think. Doing your research far in advanced can really help you save so much money and I'm glad I did so. UCSD paid a large portion of the academic part of my trip and I am forever thankful for all the financial resources I had available to be able to afford this trip. I hope anything I did is able to help someone else be able to fund their own trip.