How to Budget for Your Semester Abroad

By Grace McGowan

Studying abroad is one of the greatest experiences you can have during your college years, but it often ends up being incredibly expensive. In addition to upfront program costs, you have to consider the cost of housing, food, drinks, excursions, shopping, and side travel during weekends and breaks. When you’re abroad, it seems like new experiences (hint: opportunities to spend all your money) are around every corner. It is possible to come back from your summer or semester abroad without draining your savings, but you need to plan ahead and budget your available funds in order to do so. Here are my tips for saving money while studying abroad:

1. Write everything down

This may seem simple, but writing all your expenses down is the easiest way to curb extra spending and to get an idea of where your money is going. This includes ATM withdrawal fees, costs of your data plan, and international transaction fees. Without tracking your expenses, especially the small ones that add up over time, you will likely think there’s more money left in your bank account than there really is. Also, having a record of your expenses makes it easier to anticipate future costs and possibly make some changes. For example, skipping your morning coffee every few days could enable you to buy bus tickets for a weekend getaway.

2. Use a budgeting app

The easiest way to track your spending is by using an app on your phone. You’re less likely to forget anything if you can add it to an app immediately. I use Expense Keep, a free app which you can find here. You can customize your spending categories, view a breakdown of your expenses as a pie chart, and add recurring income and expenses. I recommend this app as it’s easy to use and customizable.

3. Plan ahead for recurring costs

While you might not be able to predict the cost of five months worth of mojitos, you can decide ahead of time how much you will spend on recurring costs such as groceries, a data plan, and toiletries. Setting a limit on groceries is especially helpful, as is planning your meals before going to the store. Decide before you leave how much you will spend on these recurring costs, and you can calculate from there how much is left over to spend on non-necessities.

4. Cut travel costs as much as possible

You will likely spend the most money on traveling while studying abroad. If you look for cheaper options for transportation and lodging, you can put more money towards doing activities, eating at restaurants, and shopping. Travel on non-peak days like Thursday and Monday to find cheaper prices. Use websites like GoEuro and Kayak that compare the costs of flights, trains, and/or buses in order to find affordable options. If you’re studying in Europe, check Flixbus for inexpensive bus tickets (I’ve bought a ticket for as low as €0.99). Finally, staying at hostels is a low-cost alternative to hotels. Hostelworld is a great website where you can compare and book hostel rooms. The website allows past guests to review hostels based on factors like security, cleanliness, and atmosphere, so you can be sure that you’re staying somewhere reputable as well as affordable.

5. Always have money saved in case of emergency

This is general life advice, but I feel that it is especially applicable abroad. When you’re in an unfamiliar place and unpredictable things happen, such as canceled flights or theft of valuables, you need to be capable of financially handling the situation on the spot. Everything might go smoothly during your time abroad, but it’s likely that at least one thing will occur which requires an immediate financial remedy. This is where planning ahead and budgeting is especially helpful: when you set aside emergency funds ahead of time, you can take care of unexpected events without needing to reevaluate your spending for the rest of the semester.