Studying abroad is like a dream for students. While it’s not very difficult for the rich to finance the studies abroad, meritorious students may get scholarships to meet the bulk of the expenses that would lighten their financial burden.
However, for ordinary students, it’s very important to plan in advance to arrange money to study abroad keeping in mind the effect of inflation.
“When planning your finances for your child’s education, it’s not just tuition fees that you need to consider, but a whole lot of other expenses – from needing a computer, books, to coaching and living expenses. Hence, some of the key factors to consider would include understanding the cost of education today and saving up higher because what it costs today will not be the same tomorrow, owing to the inflationary environment that we are in, and also because you never know what specialisation your child will choose as a subject of study, the cost of which can differ,” said Anil Pinapala, CEO & Founder of Vivifi India Finance.
“It is thus important that your finances are planned in a manner that will allow you to save more by investing in places where returns beat inflation. However, there is help in the form of educational loans, but you need to make sure you keep your credit history clean so that your child can get the loan required, and since you are participating in that loan, your savings have to be in place,” he added.
Planning early and investing accordingly would make it easy to finance the study abroad.
“The first thing to decide here is domestic vs abroad education as higher education abroad is significantly more expensive. For domestic education, the top tier colleges (mostly Government run) have a very modest fee and generally your savings should be good enough to cover. If that is not an option, then a good private college will be around Rs 10-30 lakh cumulative degree fee, which implies that setting aside ~Rs 1 lakh every year (during a child’s schooling years) and investing in safe options like FD etc, should enable you to easily manage this expense,” said Abhishek Soni, CEO & Co-Founder of Upwards.
Studying abroad? Here is how to find a cost-effective, student-friendly accommodation there
Explaining the need for studying abroad, Mayank Goyal, CEO & Founder of moneyHOP said, “Higher education is critical to the molding of a child into an intellectual civilised citizen who can better shape the society. By the same token, several students aim to study abroad to avail opportunities that can bolster their skill-sets.”
Goyal explains how to plan your finances by narrowing down upon the following pointers:
Calculate the Estimated Cost of Studying Abroad
Once you finalise your choice of college/university, it is advisable to make a rough estimate of the variable costs like student visa, health insurance plans, cost of accommodation, to name some in addition to the fixed expenses (like course fees, transportation, and others) to get an idea of the budget allocation.
Understanding Forex
To have a sound knowledge about various foreign exchange factors like mid-market rates, remittance or wire transfer, and others is extremely important. A Forex card can be helpful at this stage since it allows students to spend without worrying about currency or cash issues. It is therefore advisable to look out for eminent Fintech firms like moneyHOP who provide One Global Account–One Global Card that lets real-time currency exchange anytime, anywhere.
Choosing the Right Instruments for International Money Transfer
Sending money abroad to your child can seem unnerving, especially when done through legacy financial frameworks that levy high service charges and have sloppy paper-works. A digital and paperless remittance provider like moneyHOP makes international money transfer seamless and solves the aforementioned problems through its best-in-class exchange rates and zero transfer charges.
