Education in Abroad is expensive and many students, especially those from developing countries find it challenging to cope with steep costs. Scholarships help bring you closer to your dream. You can access exhaustive lists of scholarships (full and partial) from online resources and see what is best for you.

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that scholarships will not cover all your expenses. You will still have costs of books, boarding, food, entertainment, clothes, travel and a million other things to cover, so a scholarship will just do enough to ease your financial burden a wee bit. If you are lucky enough to get a full scholarship there will be far fewer things for you to worry about.

Here are a few tips for you if you are a foreign student and are looking to save some dollars as you enjoy your life in a college abroad.
1) Get Your Banking in Order

Overseas students in the US find it easier to conduct financial transactions when they open a bank account with a local bank or branch. The easiest way to find out is to check with the international student assistance center in your college. Your college may have tie ups with banks which will enable you to open an account without much hassle or paper work.

There are two types of accounts that you can have – checking and savings. Checking account allows you to withdraw and deposit money multiple number of times which is convenient for students staying away from home. This account will require you to maintain monthly balance and you will also have to fork out service fees. Before you decide on your bank, do shop around and pick out the bank that has the most favorable terms.

Another point to keep in mind is that you need to check what the clearing period for checks are. This can vary from a few days to even a week. It may pose a problem if your tuition expense is covered by scholarship fund that sends you money through checks.

A savings account might not be very useful to you because funds are to be held for a longer period in this account. This account allows you to earn interest on your fund and also may offer provision for automatic overdraft protection that allows money to be transferred from the savings account to the checking account.

Make sure that you can make online payments and access other essential features like online banking without any extra fee.

A credit card can make your spend more than necessary and even jack up late fee charges and other penalties, so skip on it until absolutely necessary.
2) Books Are Expensive

Gone are the days when you could shop for your books on budget. If you are studying advanced courses in medicine or tech, then the amount of money spent on books and course material will be very high.Wait for a few days before you buy your text books for the year. This helps because by now you would have made a couple of friends and found your way about your new ‘home’. Ask around and see if there are seniors who are willing to lend or sell you their old books. You can also hope to find a friend in class with whom you can share books and study material.
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