We’ve always been told that college is the time to explore new things: new interests, new people, and new places. There’s no denying that four years at the university of your choice is already providing you with plenty of unique and surprising experiences – remember Four Loko? – but when it comes time to branch out a bit, the best place to be is abroad, at least for a little while.
Unfortunately, flying across the pond and shelling out the big bucks for daily expenses (not to mention for tuition and room and board) is far from collegiette budget-friendly. It’s not impossible, though; Her Campus has compiled a list of cheap travel options for those of us who really want to experience life in a new culture but just can’t scrape up the funds to do it (or simply want to save some zeros in our checking accounts).
Pre-planned Group Trips/Travel Packages
If you’re dying to train-hop and backpack between your dream destinations (and aren’t really in the mood to study… or go to class…), a pre-planned group trip will give you the freedom you crave and will be much more cost-effective than any trip you could plan on your own with friends. Contiki, HC’s favorite travel company, offers vacation packages for people between the ages of 18 and 35 at a high discount, meaning you’ll get to hit up all of the best tourist spots with a group of people around your age (but still get as much free time as you want to enjoy some epic foreign escapades) for hundreds less than you would if you went on your own. Michelle Murray, Director of Sales & Marketing at Contiki, explains, “We buy all of our hotel accommodations and other packages in bulk, so we get great rates, and we pass those savings on to our clients.”
The secret? Book early! You can save up to $585 if you book and pay for your trip a year in advance or up to $325 if you book and pay for it six months beforehand. Depending on how far a distance you’re traveling, you might be saving yourself almost the entire cost of one of your plane tickets. Flying for free? Definitely HC-approved!
Contiki offers further discounts by destination. “We have savings throughout the year,” says Murray. “There are always different regions on sale.” Who knows? Maybe your dream spot will be on sale this time! There are even more discounts for those who reserve a spot with a group of four, seven, or 10, so grab your BFF, your BF, and heck, even your lab partner, and get going! An added bonus: if you go with a professional company and a group rather than alone, you’re guaranteed to avoid all of the “oh sh*t” moments from EuroTrip.
Academic Scholarships
So you want to study at the Sorbonne and tour the Louvre for your art history class? Even if you don’t have the cash on hand to pay your way to the banks of the Seine, you can still make it over there with an academic scholarship. These are the little-known treasures hidden in your school’s study abroad office, so go hunt for them! Consult with your study abroad advisers, the professors in your major, and some older collegiettes who have already used scholarships and grants to jet set in college.
“My school’s business program offers six full scholarships to study abroad in Amsterdam, which is a huge hub for foreign business,” explains Hofstra University collegiette Line-Ariel Bretous, a finance major who studied in Amsterdam. “Without my scholarship, I never would have even thought of going to the Netherlands [because] I always thought it was way too expensive.”
Makena Sage, a recent graduate of Bryant University and recipient of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, says, “I found out about [the Gilman Scholarship] by asking everyone in my school’s study abroad office, financial aid office, etc. about scholarships.” The Gilman is a grant that’s awarded to over 2,300 students each year based on a combination of merit and financial need. The $4,000 grant allowed Makena to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina for five months in the fall of 2010, but she had to work for it; aside from a lengthy application, Makena also had to deal with the challenges of actually finding the program. “Oddly enough, I had to keep asking before someone finally told me about the Gilman,” she says. “I guess they thought it was too competitive that it was unlikely [that] I’d get it.” Moral of the story? Be persistent and keep doing your research! Your effort could save you thousands.
To avoid the same struggles that Makena faced when searching for scholarships, you should do your own research online in addition to consulting with study abroad advisers. The Internet is the best place to discover the scholarship opportunities that your study abroad adviser might not know about (or might not share with you, for whatever reason). StudyAbroad.com, AllAbroad, and Abroad 101 all list scholarships that range from monthly spending stipends to textbook fee covers to full ride tuition coverage. Scholarships can be merit-based (based on your abilities as a student, athlete, artist, etc.), student-specific (based on race, gender, religion, etc.), destination-specific (offering an incentive to study in a certain country), subject-specific (based on your major), or program-specific (designed for participants of a certain program). With so many options, chances are good there’s one that will be right for you.
If you’re already receiving financial aid from your home institution, you should talk to the financial aid and study abroad offices at your school about potentially using this aid toward your tuition abroad. Most colleges allow your grants and scholarships to transfer like Makena’s did, so that any extra scholarships you apply for and receive can cover your airfare and living expenses rather than your tuition. If you play your cards right, you can essentially earn yourself an all-expense-paid trip to study in the city of your dreams… #winning.
Paid Internships
Before you get too excited, we have to warn you: paid internships are even more difficult to find abroad than they are in the U.S. Don’t stop reading, though – there’s hope for us cash-strapped collegiettes yet! Even though there are few foreign companies that will offer you compensation for an internship, you can apply to receive compensation from your own college. Salwa Muhammad, Assistant Director of Internships and Service Learning at Wellesley College, says that of the recipients of Wellesley’s Global Engagement Program – which awards students a $5,000 stipend to use on expenses while interning – about 40% intern abroad.
Muhammad explains that collegiettes can follow one of two avenues: they can either work with the school to find an internship and receive a stipend through Global Engagement Internships, or they can find unpaid internships on their own and then apply to Wellesley for funding through Global Engagement Grants. This same policy is in place at many American colleges – lucky us! – so your own study abroad office will be a gold mine of a resource. If you want to find an internship on your own, or simply want to do your own research while you continue to work with your study abroad office, GoOverseas.com can help you find available programs in each region.
$5,000 is a lot of cash, but as Muhammad explains, “It takes airfare into account, which is usually a couple thousand dollars, and the rest can be used for housing. It’s not like there’s a lot left over.” Translation: receiving a stipend for your internship doesn’t guarantee you the funds to pop champagne every night (or at least not the nice kind), but by negating the funds you’ll need for airfare and rent, you’ll be able to actually get to the place you want to go (and stay there) without having to scrounge for scraps.
Volunteer Abroad
Like the countries you’ll be choosing from, volunteer programs come in all shapes and sizes. The Peace Corps’ volunteer programs usually last 27 months and allow you to work in education, youth and community development, health, business, and technology. In exchange, they provide you with free travel, a monthly stipend for housing, and transition funds for your return to the U.S. GoGlobal.com can also help you find volunteer and service-learning trips abroad, some of which cover the same expenses as the Peace Corps does (though many also require a participation fee). Like internship stipends, the stipends you’ll receive when you volunteer won’t come close to covering first class plane tickets or retail therapy (sigh), but without them you might not have the opportunity to experience anything more exotic than the frat house around the corner.
Getting abroad doesn’t have to break your bank. Go to the study abroad office, go online, go to your friends, and ask about these money-saving (and life-changing) experiences and offers. You might just find yourself sitting in a window seat (possibly for free – fingers crossed!) before you know it!