How to Intern Abroad on a Budget

Once you learn how to afford an internship abroad, there’s no stopping you! International internships are great resume boosters. Also, they’re fantastic opportunities to improve yourself professionally and personally.

Now, you just need to figure out how to afford interning. You’re in luck—there are plenty of ways to find affordable internships abroad.

When you intern abroad on a budget, it’s more complex than packing your bags and leaving without a care. You need to prepare, research, and learn how to intern abroad on a budget to be successful. Fortunately, you’re not alone in this!

There are plenty of tips and tricks that will save you from going broke while abroad. If you plan the right way, you may return home with more money than you thought. Plus, you will have a great international experience that you can put on your resume. You’ll (usually) get academic credit for an internship, too.

How to intern abroad on a budget

Learning how to intern abroad on a budget is your ticket to a resume-boosting experience.

Interning abroad can be more affordable than you think. There are scholarships, grants, financial aid, paid internships, and more affordable internships abroad that can help you get a foot in the door in your chosen industry. Now, let’s get into some tips to teach you how to intern abroad on a budget:

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1. Make a budget.

Deciding how much you want to spend while abroad is important. You can easily budget for different parts of your trip when finding your desired program. Internship expenses include housing, meals, transportation, health/travel insurance, and extra costs such as travel and entertainment.

Set aside time to outline what you will be spending while you’re interning. Write down expected costs such as money for housing, public transportation estimates, phone plans, health insurance, and how much you want to spend on weekly living expenses such as food and drinks.

2. Save money before you go.

Depending on how long you prepare before you leave for your internship, you can start putting aside money each week for your adventures abroad. Even saving a small amount each week or so will add up and you will notice how helpful some extra cash can be once you are away. If you need to, consider taking money out of your savings account to pay for necessities.

3. Look into financial aid support, scholarships, and grants.

There’s free money out there—make sure you apply!

Get some free money by applying for scholarships, grants, and financial aid. Check in with your university’s study abroad office to learn about scholarships and grants that might be available for your study abroad trip. Also, while you are there, ask about financial aid. Oftentimes, financial aid transfers over to study abroad programs.

You must keep track of the deadlines. The deadlines to submit applications for financial aid, scholarships, and grants may come before your standard study abroad application is due.

4. Get a side gig or part-time job.

Start earning more money and start a side gig or get a job, even if it’s part time. Every little bit of money coming in can help! You can start freelance writing, become a tutor, dog sit, babysit, become an Uber or Lyft driver, and so on.

For a more consistent paycheck, you could get a job in your field or something related to your field. Take entry-level retail positions, for example—you can get experience in customer service and sales while earning and saving money for your study abroad adventure.

5. Choose an affordable destination.

Not all countries and cities cost the same. Make sure you do your due diligence to research the living costs of each city or country where you are considering interning abroad.

Just a tip, if you are set on working and living in a specific country, consider working in a less expensive city within that country. For example, instead of living in Barcelona, Spain you can go to Granada, Spain instead, because it is more affordable.

6. Research reasonably priced programs and providers.

Do your research to find an affordable program in your field.

There are so many providers and programs to choose from! Start your search for providers—you can narrow your choices down by country, field, and/or duration of your stay abroad. Once you start narrowing down your preferences, you can read up on reviews for each program and provider.

Go a step further in your provider research and go to the study abroad office at your home campus. There are advisors and coordinators in the office just waiting to help you find a study abroad program that works best for you and your academic plans.

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7. Research your housing options.

Studying and interning abroad comes with a variety of accommodation options. The options vary for each program, so do not forget to look into this before applying to a program.

A homestay is a great option to save money and get to know locals. It’s an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in the host family’s culture. Also, oftentimes, some meals are included! This can make your daily costs living abroad go down.

If a homestay doesn’t seem right for you, staying in an apartment or a dorm is another option. Costs are probably a bit more than with a homestay, but you can be more independent and be closer to new friends in your program. Any of these options work great for interns abroad, you just need to calculate which option is more affordable and worth it for you.

8. Consider a remote internship.

A remote internship is another way to gain international experience.

If you really can’t seem to get the money together, you can try remote internships. These grew in popularity during the pandemic out of necessity, but you can still do a virtual internship from your own home.

You will still get international experience because you will be working with an international team. Also, you can still put this on your resume. Bonus, you may be able to find a paid internship, then you can save money and go abroad later!

9. Use student discounts.

You can use student discounts for a limited amount of time in your life. So, take advantage of that!

Bring your student ID with you and use student discounts to go to all types of museums, movies, amusement parks, and even when you go shopping. You can use your student ID to get discounts and save money in many ways.

10. Track your expenses while abroad.

This is basic: Make sure you keep track of your spending while abroad. Factor in meal costs, transportation expenses, groceries, take-out food, and so on.

On top of this, you’ll need to track your phone expenses, shopping spending, health insurance, and more. As a tip, use Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or a finance app to keep track of your spending.

11. Purchase your flight ASAP.

Grab those flight deals when you find them.

Plane tickets go up the closer you get to the date. As soon as you have the go-ahead to purchase your tickets, go for it!

For discounted rates for students, try looking for flights at Student Universe. Also, take a look at Google Flights, Skyscanner, and Hopper. These are great resources to track flight costs so you can get the best deals.

If you book directly with the airline, don’t forget to sign up for rewards to start collecting airline miles. This could give you more discounts for any future travel!

12. Stay for a shorter amount of time.

Short-term programs are popular for their quick turnaround and lower overall costs. Since you won’t be staying abroad as long, you can plan on not spending as much money as you would if you stayed for a longer length of time.

For example, instead of an entire academic year, you can stay for a semester or a quarter. Doing this will bring down your overall costs.

13. Share and split costs with roommates.

Living with roommates has its pros and cons. On the pro side, you are saving money!

There are several ways you can save money by living with a roommate. First, you can split common costs for necessities like toilet paper, dish soap, hand soap, cleaning products, and so on. Also, you can split meals and take turns making meals with roommates.

14. Go on the included excursions.

You can save big while seeing the sights by going on excursions that are part of your program!

The cost for included excursions has most likely already been factored into your program fee, so don’t let your money go to waste. Providers often offer one or two weekend trips and fun cultural activities during the week. Taking advantage of these planned excursions is a great way to engage with the culture while saving your cash for other activities.

You don’t have to break the bank to intern abroad!

Now that you know how to intern abroad on a budget, it’s full steam ahead. Start your research and take the next steps to finding affordable internships abroad. By practicing basic personal finance techniques and keeping an eye out for opportunities to make money, you can intern abroad on a budget!

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