How to Earn as an International Student in the USA? Every student can earn up to thirty thousand dollars while studying abroad, so why isn’t anyone doing this? I’ve never really addressed the total expense while I was studying at Cornell on my channel. I know that there are the big expenses like the tuition fee, which is already a large amount, but there are other things like living expenses, health insurance, and all that stuff that add up on top of the tuition fee to kind of sum up to a pretty big number.
Before I tell you guys what that number is and you guys shut this blog out, I want to let you guys know that I come from a middle-class family and I did not get any full ride or full scholarship to attend my master’s at Cornell. I found other ways, like taking loans and using some personal assets, and that whole amount was around 50 lakh rupees per year.
Financial Mindset Before and After College Admission
Now, this is a really big amount, and my mindset wasn’t just like this after I got admission and we took this loan. It was like that way before when I started applying to colleges. While I was thinking about what to talk about in this blog, I came across this cheat sheet that I had, tracking every expense of mine, from the college application fee to all the tests that I wrote. I even converted every dollar amount into rupees, so I knew exactly how much money went into my study abroad journey.
The Purpose of This Blog
Well, then, why did I take my time to tell you all of these? I realize that I’ve written numerous scholarship blogs and full-ride blogs, but the reality is, that there are limited scholarships that exist, and there is no way that every student can earn a full ride. Anyway, the point of this blog is to let you know that there are some methods and strategies that you could use to make money, save money, or sometimes both here and there. Earn as an International Student in the USA is an important topic to discuss.
Four Key Methods to Manage Finances
In this blog, let me discuss four things, two which you can do before you embark on your study abroad program to the U.S., and two which you do when you are in the U.S. as a student. You have to read carefully to Earn as an International Student in the USA.
1. CSS Profiles: A Financial Snapshot for Colleges
The first one on our list is CSS profiles. Well, this is an area that a lot of students have no idea about. It’s probably because it’s an optional form that you submit with your college application. Your CSS profile is your financial report of you and your family. It shows the loans, assets, liabilities, family earnings, and household size, and it gives colleges a very clear insight into your financial situation. You do have to pay a 20 or 25-dollar fee to submit your CSS profile to each college, but I would highly recommend that you attach this with your application. I know that the fee is a little add-on to your college application, but it can determine if you get that full ride or not.
2. Credit Score and Credit History: Building Your Financial Foundation
The second thing on our list is your credit score and credit history. Now, before I tell you the boring stuff like what it means, you know how the U.S. always advertises that you can get an iPhone for zero percent interest or you can lease a car for zero percent down payment and interest? All of that is based on someone who has a good credit score. So now that I have your attention, your credit history is a score out of 850 typically banks use to determine how much and whether you’re a good person to loan money to. This can be used for small things like electronic purchases (laptops and iPhones), bigger things like leasing a car, or even buying and mortgaging a house.
The biggest place where your credit history and credit score are used is for credit cards, and credit cards are important because they give you rewards. Now, on average, anyone can earn up to one thousand dollars per year just by using credit cards. That amount is worth almost two months of rent. Now, one of the big reasons—and the reason why I didn’t have a credit card in college—was because I didn’t have that credit score. As an international student, you never had any opportunity to build a credit score at all. Fortunately, we are not in those old times anymore, and just like any other business, Zolve has had to find a way around it.
Also
Zolve assists students and young working people studying in the U.S. The firm provides them with a credit card and bank account in the U.S.; a process they complete from their home country. The advantage of this is simple: you give the information on a form, if for example you are in India, and then once you are in the U.S. you use your credit card with no problem.
This means you can start earning rewards, which means you can start building that credit history from day one. The sign-up process is super easy and you can do it completely online, with no application fee or annual fee associated with it.
Since this is designed for students and young professionals, there’s no minimum balance required, and there are zero withdrawal fees through their partner ATM network. With Zolve, students can get a high credit limit of up to five thousand dollars, and working professionals can get a limit of up to ten thousand dollars. The cool thing is you get zero percent interest for the first 15 months, which is beneficial as a newbie in the U.S. The best part is you can get up to 10% in personalized rewards, which is crazy.
Since you guys are the crazy Medusa family, by signing up using the link in the description, you get a 50-dollar reward post your first transaction, and the best part is that through the referral program, you can continue to get fifty dollars by referring a friend. I would highly recommend checking out Zolve if you guys want to get started on the right foot financially in the U.S.
Ways to Make Money Once You Get in the USA
Now, let’s look at the two things you can do if you are an international student willing to travel to the U.S.A. Here is How to Earn as an International Student in the USA.
3. Part-Time Jobs:
Employment Bond: An Easy Method of Making Additional Money The first one is to get part-time jobs. I did mention this a little bit I think, but as an international student you can work up to 20 hours on campus and that’s always good for getting extra money. Now I remember there are many jobs you can get on campus, you could work in the library, you can work in the dining hall, or something like me—you know I used to be a referee for some of the football matches at Cornell University.
I pretty much messed up the offside rule almost every single time, but I had a fantastic time and got that extra cash. On average, you can earn about fifteen to twenty dollars per hour by working these on-campus jobs, which is about sixteen hundred dollars per month. Now, I know it isn’t enough to cover your tuition fee, but that amount is good enough for rent, food, transport, and maybe some extra cash for the party. It never hurts, right?
Furthermore
Besides these types of jobs, however, you also have some relatively well-paid jobs such as teaching assistant (TA) or research assistant (RA) which can earn up to $30000 per year. These jobs are a bit larger requiring a little bigger skill set and they are a little more competitive when it comes to landing a position. When I was at Cornell, I applied to tons of TAs and RAs but fortunately, I never got any. These positions could help one build more experience and, in any case, it does no harm to have on your resume. I think a part-time job is necessary to Earn as an International Student in the USA.
4. Student Job Examples: Real Student Experiences
I wanted to know what other jobs my couple of readers do so I decided to let them speak for themselves:
- Aditya Ravi: It is a pleasure to meet you my name is Aditya Ravi and I am in my master’s degree program at Cornell University Ithaca. Currently, I am pursuing a degree in engineering management at Miami University, and under specializing in analytics. As for my current campus, part-time job I am a grader in the negotiations and contracts course for graduate students in Ithaca. I mean, my duties are mainly confined to assessing the work in the form of assignments, quizzes, and exams for this course. I also get to help the professor in developing class notes because this is a new course offered by the professor.
- Daniel: “Hi, my name is Daniel, and I’m pursuing a biomedical engineering degree in biomechanics at Texas Monterey University here in Mexico. I work as a customer service representative where I do retention of clients by giving discounts on monthly services.”
Investing as a Student: Start Building Wealth Early
Before I move to this last point, which may be seen as a personal agenda, let me state that in no way shape or form am I an economist I don’t even have an economics degree. Though, investing is an aspect, which I believe students should practice while in college. You know, learning how the stock market works is inevitable. You’re eventually going to do it, maybe five or ten years down the road. Why not learn the ins and outs of this thing now? You guys are smart enough; you’re applying for colleges abroad, and that extra cash that you have every month, no matter how little it is, does not need to be a thousand dollars each month. You can invest in a variety of stocks to build your portfolio.
This can be from hospitality to ETFs to mutual bonds to cryptocurrencies, but the whole point is to learn and research about the growth of a company and see how that does, and generally invest in a company that you feel has some potential and some growth. I invest in companies like Apple, Tesla, Moderna, and Pfizer because I follow them, but you can invest in any field that you’re passionate about.
I also personally invest in cryptocurrencies, although I know it has crashed. But I’m on the “buy the dip” team. Now is a good time to invest. And you can use the apps that I use personally, just for the user experience. You can also use it as a passive source of income. In India or the U.S., it doesn’t matter—these apps are perfect for students who want to start building wealth. This is how to earn as an International Student in the USA.
Conclusion: Managing Loans and Graduate Jobs
So the point of all this is that if your performance is good enough, once you graduate, you’re going to get a good job. I ended up paying off all my student loans within three years of getting a job right after college. It isn’t so bad as long as you work on building your skill set and keep improving at whatever craft you’re here to study.
This was a completely new kind of blog which was about finances, money, and how I dealt with these things being a college student. If you liked this kind of post, let me know in the comments below and I will happily share more of this kind. That’s all for this blog. Bye!
Click here to read other ideas
Click here to see a detailed video
1 thought on “How to Earn Money as an International Student in USA”