<p>Hello!
So I am planning on studying abroad in Fall 2011 in either Italy, Spain, or Australia. The only obstacle in my way of studying abroad is funding it. I was just wondering if any of you guys who have studied abroad could give me a rough estimate of how much you used throughout the entire semester for everything (food, shopping, night life). Also, for other students on financial aid, I am a student completely dependent on financial aid to fund all my fees for tuition/housing etc at my school. For other students who are rely completely on financial aid, did the financial aid you received at your home institutions cover your study abroad fees, or did you have to pay out of your own pocket?</p>
<p>Thanks !!!!!!!!
Any and all advice/estimates would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Sorry I can’t help with your precise question, but have you looked into directly enrolling with the foreign university, instead of going through your school’s study abroad programme?</p>
<p>Much more immersive experience, and probably vastly cheaper (especially in Europe). Probably be doing paperwork in the original language, though.</p>
<p>A few thoughts on this:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>At many colleges, your financial aid WILL transfer if you are going to one of “their” programs. The study abroad and financial aid offices get this question all the time, so your first place to start is to ask them.</p></li>
<li><p>My D did direct enrollment at a foreign university this year because no one had a program in the country she wanted to go to. It was cheaper… but the hassle factor is HUGE. It was literally hundreds of hours of work to arrange the various components, and her university would have taken care of most of it if she had gone through them to a different program. Housing is an especially difficult component in many cities, and while it might seem more “immersive”, my D actually had a pretty lonely semester because she was not housed with other students at all. She is super outgoing, too. She would have had a much more social experience if she could have gotten student housing. And some American universities will not let you direct enroll that easily (some of the colleges she visited said she would have to withdraw from the American college, then re-apply after her time abroad… with no guarantee of the transfer of credits).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Hi shasafrazz, my first suggestion would be to check with your study abroad office. I studied abroad at a university approved by my home college, so I paid the same tuition and room/board to my home college and received the same financial aid package, and they transferred the payments to my abroad university. There was a trade off because my home college costs roughly $50,000 a year while my abroad university only cost about $30,00, so I ended up paying the extra 20k; however, that extra money covered health insurance, an ISIC, and a special advisor at my abroad university, and they took care of all of the financial paperwork.</p>
<p>As far as spending, I was abroad for the entire year and I spent about $5,500. I was a little more conservative than the rest of my friends, but I was still able to travel all over Europe, buy plenty of souvenirs, and have an all around awesome time. I know people who spent a lot less and a lot more.</p>
<p>[The</a> Study Abroad Blog](<a href=“The Study Abroad Blog - Nate Nault”>http://thestudyabroadblog.com/)</p>
<p>For the program, I am planning on going through AIFS which is a program that my home college does approve of/will transfer credits from. I’m planning on going to my financial aid office to ask them all about my tuition/how much my financial aid will cover, but I was mostly just wondering how much people budgeted for themselves for personal expenses.</p>