I’ve filled it in from September to January (or from your first loan instalment to your second). All you need to do is open it up and take a look at what I’ve done. It will also work in Excel if you prefer using that. My example is in Google Sheets, which is free and easy to use. So, whether you’ve just started university or you’re close to graduation, it’s never too late to start budgeting. It’s a fantastic way of highlighting where you’re spending too much, and how much of your income you’ll actually be left with before your next instalment comes through. Creating this spreadsheet shone a light into how vital budgeting really is for students.
I know from personal experience that living off your minimal maintenance loan and overdraft isn’t easy, so I’ve put together a super simple student budget sheet just for students! I’ve used my own (slightly embarrassing) student finances as an example for you. My study abroad section shall grow over time with more and more impressions and stories of study abroad programmes all over the world.Thanks to the success of our household budgeting blog, this week the Choose Wisely team have been focusing on student budgeting. If you are interested in sharing your experience with My Travel Emotion’s readers please also leave a comment. I am looking forward to comments of any study abroad students out there: What are your key take aways regarding budgets and costs? Did you stick to your planned budget? Did you face unexpected costs? In case you have any detail questions or need an adapted version please just leave me a comment. You will get an overview of the automatically calculated overall budget, separated in following sections: Delete rows you do not need or add new ones in case you identify additional costsĪttention: if you do so please check the underlaying formulas. Otherwise you will find an overview of open and settled payments in the header. If you are in a very rough planning and estimation stage you can also use the placeholder „-„. Give a status „outstanding“ or „paid“ to your budgets Differentiate your costs in travel related and study related costsįill the yellow spaces with your budgets (either in your own or destination’s currency) What is the exchange rate? (fill in „1“ if you calculate in your own currency)Ģ.Fill the yellow spaces in the header for your personal overview
Just click on the pictures to download the excel sheets: I attached two templates in an user-friendly excel format:An empty one as well as my own budget sheet for New Zealand, where you can see and overwrite a completed calculation. I am happy to share this template with you to make your life a little easier. These include for instance:įor these types of cost I put together a calculation sheet, which I used myself for planning and monitoring my study abroad budget (I spent 5 months in New Zealand). On the other hand your calculation is influenced by different types of costs, which are the same for every student. On one hand you need to take into account the above mentioned key influencers on your budget, which have to be observed individually. In either case it is important that you plan your budget thoroughly in advance.
There are many factors influencing the costs. The budget for a study abroad experience is one of the most important factors for every student.