How I Planned My Finances To Study Abroad
My name is Juhi Shah (name changed) and I’m a graduate from a top tier school abroad and today would love to share my experience of studying abroad. It was a proud moment when I first received my admit, but there were definitely few thoughts that crossed my mind like the cost of living, available resources and access to finances for tuition fees, as well as day-to-day expenses
Let’s face it, international education costs can be prohibitive and adds up over 4 years or 2 years depending on you are an undergraduate or postgraduate student !! one needs to be careful and it is good to worry about the expenses… to manage this worry it is important to plan regular and expected expenses. It is good to understand the costs that can be reduced and avoided. Therefore, it is essential that one finds a bank that understands this well, is sensitive yet responsive towards parents of students and students themselves. Look for a bank that provides you with better benefits such as reasonable forex rates, less transaction costs and documentation assistance. I share this basis my real experience
Going back to my journey, I could recall the few early weeks of college where I faced all these challenges. That’s when I came across RBL, a bank, where I was able to get an understanding of how best to manage these costs and keep them in control yet get an experience which differentiates from my parents earlier bank. My trust and confidence in RBL Bank has soared high vs the earlier bank. For remitting my college tuition fees, RBL Bank provided me with a zero-fee transaction cost which helped me save more than a reasonable amount of money over a period of time due to repeated transfers. Here is an illustration to help everyone understand this better do read and share with your friends and parents and help them save money.
Since I was an undergraduate student, I realised the course usually lasts four years and costs can range lies between USD 1,00,000 and USD 2,50,000 which is considerably high. The number of remittances can range between 8 and 24. In my case it was 15, The value of transfers (bank charges), too, can cost anything between Rs. 1,00,000 and Rs. 4,00,000 over four years.
Potential Savings of Rs. 36,800 per annum for $40,000 payment in 1 year with 2 transfers minimum
Over a period of 4 years you can have pential savings of upto Rs 1,50,000
Cost of transactions for each money transfer
| RBL bank for Students | Other Financial Institutions | Remarks | Additional Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction Fee | NIL | 1000 | These are hidden costs mentioned in the fine print. The costs range between 750 to 5000 from bank to bank. You must check in detail from other banks while for RBL its documenthese costs range between 750 to 5000 from bank to bank. these acan also be based on amount of transfer or fixed. You must check in detail from other banks while for RBL its documented as fixed for students | The benficiary bank overseas can also have costs for crediting to your bank account. Be aware of these costs | |
| Correspondent / Internmediary Bank fee | NIL | 1400 | These are hidden costs mentioned in the fine print. The costs range between 750 to 5000 from bank to bank. You must check in detail from other banks while for RBL its documented as fixed. | The beneficiary bank overseas can also have costs for crediting to your bank account. Be aware of these costs | |
| Total cost | NIL | 2400 |
Savings calculated – RBL Bank vs most other banks
| Number of payments based on credits and terms / semesters for an undergraduate / post graduate | Average number of transaction in a student’s lifecycle | RBL Bank cost | Most other bank costs | INR cost for $40,000 - RBL Bank ( on July 19,2019 ) assumed for 1 year fee / 2 terms | INR cost for $40,000 - OTHER Bank ( on July 19,2019 ) assumed for 1 year fee / 2 terms | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Undergrad | 8 | 32 | Nil | 76,800 | 27,72,000 | 28,04,000 | |
| Grad | 4 | 16 | Nil | 38,400 | |||
| Undergrad + Grad | 12 | 48 | Nil | 1,15,200 |
Important Notes :
$ rate taken as of a particular day for illustration purposes
future $ rate can vary days to days time to time
The above is for illustration purposes only
