How to save money by studying in America?

Let me talk about my habit of spending money and saving money in college. The concept of saving money here is partly how not to spend unnecessary money, and partly how to maximize its value if I spend money. I am not an expert in investment and life finance, and some small summaries are for reference only.

1. About the card.

I have three cards now.

A BOA tuition card contains part of the tuition I saved when I was at school, and the rest was spent when my parents came to the United States to attend the graduation ceremony this summer and bought cars and furniture. This card is usually kept at home, not for external use.

There is also a card called Chase (checking account+savings account), which is a salary card. The account linked to direct deposit at work will deposit 15% of the monthly salary into the savings account (generally, 25-70 yuan will be deposited in a month at school, and less money is also money).

There is also a Discover credit card, which usually travels and spends money, but will transfer money in time to avoid debt.

2. Bookkeeping habits.

Personally, I think it is a good and necessary habit to keep a diary. Whether it's in a notebook or an app in a mobile phone, whether it's a big purchase or a daily grocery, you should record it. Even if it is not accurate to the decimal point, you should probably know how much money you have spent recently and what you have spent on it.

Personally, I like to jot down this application. It takes 2 seconds to write down an account and 3 seconds to write a note. The key is that there are many cute little icons and small analyses.

apply for a scholarship

Generally speaking, American scholarships are divided into three categories: service scholarships, non-service scholarships and school loans.

Non-service scholarships have the largest number of applicants and the largest amount, including college grants, scholarships, tuition-free and other specific incentives.

Service scholarships, including assistantships and research grants, usually need to help teachers complete research and development tasks or teaching tasks. But there are three kinds of scholarships that don't strictly require you to get excellent grades.

The first is demand blindness, that is, when enrolling students, once they think you meet the admission criteria, they will make a judgment according to your family situation, and the school will take the initiative to provide students with expenses that they cannot afford. Even if students don't ask for scholarships, the school is willing to provide them voluntarily in order to attract outstanding students.

The second is based on needs, according to the economic income of students' families to determine the standard of scholarships.

The third kind of scholarships are teaching assistants (TA) and research assistants (RA). Usually, as a teaching assistant, I need to give classes to college students and correct my homework, and the workload is usually more. As a research assistant, the workload depends on your professor.

There are also some famous American universities that have strong requirements for applicants' own learning ability and comprehensive ability, but most famous American universities, almost 100% of international students have the opportunity to get scholarships. The following is a list of scholarships from some famous universities in the United States. We can see that the proportion of scholarships awarded by these schools is very high, and some even exceed 80%.

part-work and part-study (as a way to receive one's schooling)

There are not only many famous universities in the United States, but also many opportunities for students to take part-time jobs. Usually, American students are reluctant to take these part-time jobs, which also gives China students more opportunities to fight for it.

Students can get these part-time jobs through the campus network or the recommendation of their tutors. Working on campus for about 20 hours a week, the salary is low, but it is safe enough to subsidize students' living expenses, such as school library, campus restaurant and computer room. , can not only meet the learning requirements, but also solve the problems in life.

Another way of work-study program is to participate in the Course Practice Training Program (CPT), which is equivalent to graduation practice in China, and the school provides internship opportunities. After completing the course tasks, international students can take part in holidays. During CPT, you will enjoy the same treatment as your employees, which will not only meet your needs financially, but also help you find a job after graduation.

Of course, if you meet the following two conditions, you also have the opportunity to go out to work on your own: you encounter "serious financial difficulties" after entering school; Go to school for at least one academic year, get good grades, and you can't get "on-campus job opportunities" or "on-campus job opportunities" wages to pay for your economic expenses.