How Much Did It Cost?
How much did it cost?
This question was one I asked many times before taking my trip abroad. I searched for blogs that would spill their secrets, asked previous participants, and was left to wonder why it was so hard to get an exact answer. After studying abroad myself I ultimately realized that this question seems to be a little bit taboo because each experience is so different for each person. Different programs and travel agendas: they all make giving someone a straight answer difficult to do and numbers are sure to change every year!
I figured the best I could do was give an *almost exact amount for how much I spent on my particular experience.
On that note, isn't it funny how you can feel that you are being so organized when taking notes and then get around to actually trying to use them and only understand half of them?
It's also tricky when you are dealing with different currencies, in my case, the USD, EUR, & POUND. I converted everything to USD but this will result in some issues in being exact since exchange rates are always....changing.
Anyways, I did my best to keep up with all my expenses and the costs of each weekend trip will be put with their respective posts but, here is my overall summary of how much I spent on MY trip.
THE PROGRAM COSTS
Program Fees
Honors College Fee $50.00 (an honors cost, separate from program costs)
Airfare $1,029.00
Housing $2,500.00
Insurance $159.00
Meal Plan $600.00
Program Fee $1,541.00
App Fee $50.00
Tuition $3,000.00
Books (about) $100.00
Total $9,029.00
Scholarships
Housing $1,860.00
Challenge $2,250.00 (2012 HS Graduation)
Leadership $2,500.00
Honors Grant $1,029.00 (apply for this if you are in Honors)
Travel Voucher $500.00 (& this whether you are or not)
Repayment of Deposit $250.00 (you pay in advance but they refund you the amount the semester of)
Total $8,389.00
(Program Costs- My Scholarships =)Remaining Balance = $640.00
SEMESTER ABROAD COSTS (rounded numbers)
Transportation $1000.00
Housing $400.00
Food $1400.00
Activities $375
Souvenirs/Other $405
Total $3580
KEEP IN MIND that SPRING BREAK will probably be the largest chunk of money you spend. Luckily for me, my mom spent mine with me in Italy and I didn't have to pay for anything besides souvenirs ( I only spent about $120).
My friends Cecily, Madison, and Aubree spent their week in Italy as well and Cecily spent $1680.
If she ever decides to do her own post about her budget for Spring Break I will definitely link it here! I know some students spent much less than this (Cecily really indulged in the leather market in Italy.) You could really create a trip to fit any budget.
Transportation included Taxis, Buses, Metros, Trains, Flights. I used Easy Jet, Ryan Air, and Vueling, flights aren't dirt cheap like you may hear because usually the 20 Euro flight deals are only for certain dates and one-way but, every once in a while it may work out for you. Still, my most expensive round trip flight was $205 to another country and that's a lot cheaper than in America!
Housing was so cheap because HOSTELS are the bomb and I usually traveled with two other girls. Costs are normally by bed though so that wouldn't really matter but there were usually 3 or 4 person rooms available so we didn't have to share with strangers much which is either a blessing or a curse depending on how you want to meet people! Sometimes an 18 bed hostel can result in meeting cool people to hang out with as some of the others on the trip discovered!
During the week I usually spent no more than $50 a week on meals/groceries. With Lanjaron being a small town, it was easy to avoid spending crazy amounts of money on food. We would buy things at the grocery store to cook in the microwave or eat fresh, and the Hotel restaurant had special prices for food for us. There were also other restaurants you could eat at for pretty cheap as well. Breakfast was provided every day for us and we had one paid for dinner a week as well. On the weekends, sometimes we would eat at nice places and I would just order what I pleased without looking at the price and then sometimes we ate at Subway or McD's. Point being, I didn't have to live on Ramen Noodles or all fast food chains to afford it. Food is also a big part of experiencing new places for me so eating good food was a priority and worth the money! The weeks were sometimes difficult for me because I would get tired of the food or eating out and sometimes go hungry or have difficulty finding things to cook in the microwave that were filling when I didn't want to eat pasta all the time or sandwiches, but that was a choice I made.
Usually trips weekend trips were short, so we would pick one activity we wanted to pay to do and there were always plenty of free things to do and see!
"Other" includes the ATM fees ($10 a pop with regions) and souvenirs I brought home for myself and others or things I bought that didn't fit in the other categories like bathroom products, etc.
Group trips took up about half of our weekends and while we had to pay for some meals and were given free time occasionally to spend out time and money as we pleased, housing and transportation (besides the occasional bus/taxi/metro during free time) were taken care of by the program, making these weekends under $100 each! And we got the see so many great places in Spain through these.
So there you have it! I hope this post helps someone get a better idea of how much they need to have for their own trip abroad!
Lucky Lake Hostel - Amsterdam