With the rupee falling to record lows this year, Study Abroad student Hardik Dipal Parikh offers some cash-saving options you should consider during your stay at an international university

“Even though the money you earn from an on-campus job won’t contribute much towards your tuition, it will help ease some living expenses, such as eating at a nice restaurant every once in a while.” RAJIV NAIR, 19, COMPUTER ENGINEERING STUDENT AT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, WHO WORKED ON-CAMPUS AS A TECHNICAL SUPPORT ASSISTANT IN THE LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES DEPARTMENT

By the end of the first month of his freshman year, 19-year-old Rajiv Nair, a computer engineering student at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), realised that even with a 16 credithour schedule, which translates to 16 hours of class per week, he had enough time for other activities. Nair decided to use this spare time to rake in some extra cash, and applied for a job using the ‘virtual job board’, an online bulletin with on-campus and off-campus job postings.
ILLUSTRATION:
JAYANTO Within a week, Nair scored a job with the Advanced Technology for Liberal Arts and Sciences (ATLAS) programme, an oncampus institution, as a technical support assistant. His job involved data backup and giving technical advice to professors in the liberal arts and sciences department. A student is allowed to work for 20 hours per week as per the F-1 visa work restrictions and full-time during holidays. On average, an on-campus job can pay anywhere between $10 and $12 per hour.
“Even though the money you earn from such a job can’t contribute much towards your tuition, it adds to a corpus for living expenses, such as eating at a nice restaurant every once in a while,” says Nair. “Students can even use this money to buy a new computer, mobile phone or to travel to a destination nearby.”
Most universities help and encourage undergraduate students to pursue course-related internships, and even lab-research work. You can look for openings at the university’s ‘career services’ department, which organises career fairs and workshops about how to write a CV, mock interviews and other useful advice.

The research option
If you are inclined towards research, you can assist university professors in their work instead of interning with an organisation. The benefits of this work can be accrued in two ways—either you get free credit hours, or monetary allowances from the research-incharge. According to students, research helps not only in sprucing your résumé, but also keeps you engaged if you don’t want to spend money on flight tickets to come home for the summer.

Siddharth Sharma, a 20-year-old aerospace engineering student at UIUC worked as a research assistant to a computer engineering professor for two semesters. Now, Sharma will work as an assistant in the Aerospace Engineering Lab. “Unlike in India, studentprofessor relationships are casual in the west,” says Sharma. “In order to get hold of a research opportunity, you should maintain an intellectual rapport with your professors and prove to them that you are competent enough,” he adds.
While finding jobs and researchwork is relatively straightforward in the USA, the scenario in the UK is challenging. “In my freshman year, it was extremely difficult to find research work at my university because the domestic students had been trained to use advanced and expensive laboratory equipment right from their high school days,” says Pranay Shah, 20, biochemistry and biotechnology student at Birmingham University, UK. “My professor was kind enough to teach me the skills that domestic students had already learnt.” Shah is now working as a research assistant as well as a student ambassador and student mentor at his university.

Spend wisely
Shivani Shroff, fashion designing student at Nottingham University, London, offers a different perspective. “In order to get internships over here, you have to be at the top of your class. Otherwise, you are left with oddjobs, which are competitive and hardly contribute to your daily expenses,” she says.
Instead, Shroff suggests that students can economise on theirdaily expenses without making any major sacrifices. “If you are on good terms with your seniors, you can receive useful tips as to which callingcards to buy, where to shop for your groceries and clothes, which mobile contracts should be purchased and which areas are safe as well as inexpensive for your accommodation,” she says.


Another way to save money is to work hard and score well on the advanced placement (AP) exams that you can take before you begin your freshman year. Also, if you are a student of the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, a high score there can help, too. Most universities have a proficiency test at the start, and if you can prove with these scores that you are already well-versed with certain subjects, the university may waive classes worth an entire semester, helping you save on rent and living expenses for that time period.

Here’s how you can manage your money:
Take an on-campus job during your school days. Work restrictions are least stringent for on-campus jobs.
Sign up for research work

Score well on your AP or IB exams. With competent scores you can save on a semester’s worth of credit hours. Don’t worry if you just found out about the AP exams. Many colleges have proficiency tests at the beginning of the first semester of your freshman year. If you manage to score well on these tests, you can still skip a semester full of introductory courses.

If you want to save on the return tickets during the holidays, sign up for the summer school programme at your college. This will be an accelerated programme so make sure that you don’t sign up for too many technical courses. You can also register for summer school with another college that offers your course at a lower price, but first confirm with your own college if the credits are transferable.

Buy your stationery, furniture, utensils etc from Back-to-School sales, which are generally held at the start of your fall term

Learn cooking. It helps you save a considerable amount of money.