I used to think study abroad was something only rich people did when they were in university, but it's actually much more affordable that I thought. However a lot of factors play into how much the total cost will be. This is my experience as an American student and getting enough funding to study abroad on two different occasions.
Why South Korea?
I could list a hundred reasons as to why I chose South Korea as my study abroad destination, but one of the top 10 would be that the cost of living is cheaper than in the US. European countries tend to be the most popular study abroad destinations, but they are also the most expensive, so if you're trying to study abroad on a budget try choosing places in Asia or South America.
Program Costs(Tuition, Housing, Textbooks, etc)
Since my university has an exchange agreement with Yonsei Uni. I normal tuition to my home university. Paying regular tuition directly to Yonsei would be about $200 cheaper.
I used to hate the idea of living in dorms, but staying at I-house was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I met the BEST ROOMMATE EVER and it's location was really convenient.
As for textbooks, I think textbooks are cheaper anywhere that's not the US. The prices are different for different subjects, but they are nowhere near the price of a textbook in the US. School supplies in general are cheaper, and cuter at Korean bookstores than American ones.
For my Fall 2013 program I spent approx:
- $4,500 for tuition,
- $1,200 for round trip flight
- $1,300 for I-house dorms
- $100 for textbooks ( I needed 3. 2 for business that were $30 and $40 and my Korean textbook was about $27)
- $120 for insurance to cover me while I was abroad
- $110 for my passport application
- $45 for my Korean visa application
- $10 for my TB test
- $10 for my printing account, and I still had like $3 leftover when I left
That comes out to a total of $7,384
My dad paid for half of my airplane ticket, my passport application, and $300 of my housing, so that left me with $6,374 to pay.
For the Fall 2015 I have more exact number since I recently paid for these things:
- $4,574
- $1,406 for I-house dorms
- $503 for the flight there
- $323 for my mandatory insurance from my home uni -.-
- $45 for my Korean visa application
- $15 for my TB test
So far I've spent $6866, not including my return flight ticket cost, so I would say it's only going to be a bit more this time around since I haven't bought textbooks yet.
Other Costs
After paying for all that I had about $3,000 to spend for food and anything I wanted. I splurged at the beginning and at the end of my trip so I spent roughly $800 in the last few days of August and all of September. Around $600 each month in Oct. and Nov. and the rest during December and the first two weeks of January.
As of right now I'm not sure what my monthly budget will be, but it will be around the same as last time.
It's possible to survive with a $400 monthly budget. You will have enough to feed yourself three times each day, but not for traveling of drinking. The great thing about Seoul is that you can do so many things for free, so even if you don't buy anything, you'll be able to have a good time.
Food is cheap if you're eating at the school cafeteria, convenience store, bakery, or at Korean restaurants. I would usually spend $2-$5 a meal by eating breakfast and lunch from these places and would often go out for a nice $5-$10 dinner.
Where I got the money$$$$?
Back in 2013, I was a sophmore/junior and still got scholarships from my school, plus some financial aid. I got an additional $1000 loan from the school and my dad helped me with about another $1000. So I had a budget of roughly $10,400. That amount covered my entire trip, so I didn't work or apply to outside scholarships.
This time around my financial aid covered only 80% of my tuition. Since I'm a Super Senior now, I don't get scholarships from the uni, so I applied to 5 different scholarships.
- A scholarship from my school offered only to students that study abroad, and I got it
- The Gilman Scholarship, which is a government scholarship meant for study abroad, and I also got it.
- The Fund for Education Abroad, which is an organization that focuses on raising money for study abroad scholarships and raises study abroad awareness among ALL students, and again, I also got it.
- The Fund for Global scholars, of which I'm still waiting for the results to come out
- A business school scholarship that was just introduced to my uni. for International Business major students that are studying abroad. I'm also waiting for the results for this one.
I applied to these scholarships thinking there was no way I was going to get one, but I've gotten 3 so far! These scholarships are competitive, but not as much as other public scholarships. If you're in the US, please apply to them! There's a really good chance that you can receive one and that will help out a lot.
Study abroad is something any student should be able to do, so contact your university's study abroad office to get more information! Good luck!
