Sending Your Kid To Study Abroad? What Parents Need To Know

Sending your child abroad for studies is a big step in a parent’s life. While you are proud and excited for your child’s bright future, you can’t ignore feeling a bit anxious about the big move. The very thought of sending your baby out into the world can be scary for any parent, but that’s not all that keeps you up at nights. Most parents are troubled by some legitimate concerns about studying abroad. From high programme fees, to safety, food and lodging to the company your child keeps — these questions can make any parent doubt their decision to send their child abroad.

Though a lot of these concerns are valid, they are not strong-enough reasons to shut the door on your child’s dreams. In this article, we aim to address some of these concerns and offer insights that might help put your mind at ease.

Safety
In a world where terrorism is a growing concern, it’s quite natural to be anxious about sending your child to a foreign country. Here are a few facts that can help allay your fears:

• The first step to ensure the safety of your child would be to choose a country that has lower crime rate or is at lesser risk of a terror attack.
• Learn about the host country. Educate yourself and your child about the local customs, laws and embassy locations. For detailed advice about the destination country, check out the U.S Bureau of Consular Affairs website, which lists country-specific health information, safety tips, travel advice, and any current travel warnings for citizens abroad.
• Choose a reputed university that has student safety on priority. A reputed institution will follow exhaustive measures and protocols to ensure students’ safety at all times.
• The probability of falling prey to theft or fraud in a foreign land is quite high. However, it can be prevented by educating your child about safe practices while using a debit / credit card, not sharing personal details with new acquaintances, and by investing in travel insurance.
• Easy access to alcohol is a huge concern for parents. Sensitise your kids about responsible drinking.
• If your child takes a certain kind of medication, make sure he / she carries enough for their stay abroad. In case of serious ailments, make sure your child carries all relevant files and prescriptions along with them.
• Create a list all important contacts and documents that your child needs to carry. In case of loss or theft of debit / credit card, they must have the number to report the loss or theft. Make arrangements for financial help in case of loss or theft of debit / credit card. Carrying the photocopies of your passport along with passport-sized photographs is a must.
• In case, you are still feeling anxious about sending your child abroad, you can talk to the international safety expert at your student’s university.

Finances
You were on cloud nine with your child’s achievement of making it to his / her dream university until you sat down to calculate the expenses. While studying abroad is a huge expense to bear for most parents, you can actually manage the cost with some smart tips. Try looking for programmes that suit your budget and your child’s career plan. Advise your child to apply for scholarships through his / her study abroad programme, local cultural organizations, and national scholarship funds. There are plenty of scholarship programmes that specifically cater to students looking to go abroad. You just need to find the one that fits your requirements.However, a scholarship alone will not cover the entire cost of your education abroad. Encourage your child to apply for a student loan. Begin the process right after they have finished applying to all the possible universities. Motivate them to use this free time to research about loan options.

Now we know how you feel about loans of any kind, but it’s not all that scary if you study your options thoroughly. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

• Maybank’s Overseas Education Loan can provide up to S$200,000 with a processing fee of 1.00% and interest rate of 4.88%.
• Maybank Education Loan — Interest Servicing can provide up to S$25,000 over 6 years. It charges a processing fee of 1% and 4.78% interest rate during school and 4.78% interest rate after school.
• OCBC Frank Education Loan can provide up to S$25,000 over 6 years, with 2.5% of fee and 4.5% of interest. It extends the interest only period to 4 years.
• OCBC Frank Education Loan — Graduated can provide up to S$25,000 over 6 years. It charges a processing fee of 2.5% and 4.50% interest rate during school and 4.50% interest rate after school.
• OCBC Frank Education Loan — Graduated Plus can provide up to S$25,000 over 6 years. It charges a processing fee of 2.5% and 4.50% interest rate during school and 4.50% interest rate after school.
• CIMB Education Loan — Interest Servicing Repayment can provide up to S$25,000 over 6 years. It charges a processing fee of 2% and 5.99% interest rate during school and 5.39% interest rate after school.
• RHB Education Loan — Graduated can provide up to S$25,000 over 6 years. It charges a processing fee of 2% and 4.78% interest rate during school and 4.78% interest rate after school.

(Source: https://www.valuepenguin.sg/best-education-loan#nogo)

Compare the interest rates. Once you start your research, you will notice that different banks charge you different interest rates. Involve your child in the process and take time to compare the different loans and the interest rates that are available. Most banks offer interest rates on a floating rate basis. Hence, be prepared for an increase or decrease in the interest rates. To avoid any last-minute surprises, go through all related info on the bank’s website carefully. A smart option would be to go for state-run banks as they charge a lower interest rate than private banks. Make sure you apply to multiple banks so that you have a backup plan in case your application gets rejected by one.

Choose the right remittance partner. If your child is heading abroad for studies, it’s important that you familiarise yourself with all the remittance guidelines applicable to your home country and your child’s destination country. The next step is to find the right platform. While it’s easy to trust the tried and tested money transfer methods like banks or popular remittance service providers, what you don’t know is that these traditional money transfer methods gobble up a big chunk of your hard-earned money. While banks add a lot of hidden charges to your overseas money transfers, most online remittance portals fleece you by adding markups on FX rates. Take time to compare the various remittance portals online. One such overseas remittance portal that offers you real-time rates, speedy and transparent money transfers is InstaReM. They boast of an user-friendly, easy sign-up process. Once your account is verified, you can start sending money using real-time FX rates and at a surprisingly low fee. Check it out right away.

Planning expenses goes a long way. Besides the tuition fee, another major expense is the cost of living. It’s best to choose a programme that covers lodging facilities for students. Also, you can choose a destination that has a lower cost of living. Take this as an opportunity to teach your child about the importance of managing finances. Talk to them about the importance of budgeting and planning expenses according to the money they have in hand. Encourage your child to take up a part-time job (not at the cost of studies) so that they can earn a bit of pocket money and also understand the value of money.

Keeping In Touch
The thought of your child being all alone in another part of the world can be nerve-wracking for any parent. But technology has made keeping in touch really easy. Here are some of the marvels of technology:

Though letting your child continue with your home provider abroad is very convenient, it’s fatal to your pocket. International roaming charges can be deadly. To avoid this, make sure they turn off their phone’s data roaming settings and email alerts. You can also purchase an international phone plan through your home provider, which will reduce international rates.

Advise your child to buy a prepaid phone for making locals calls once they’re abroad. They can also use Skype or a similar application to make cheap calls home. Another student-friendly mode of communication is pay-as-you-go phones abroad. However, these are not great for long-distance chats.

While you would love to chat with your child, it’s not always feasible to be available on call. So, here are some free applications that can help you stay in touch with your child abroad.

Skype: This easy-to-download application lets you make calls to other Skype accounts for free. You can make calls on landlines and mobiles at a very low-cost. Another marvellous feature is the video calls facility. If your student has a foreign cell phone, they can set up their Skype account to forward all incoming, international calls straight to their local phone.

WhatsApp: This free smartphone application lets you send messages to other phones that have this application. WhatsApp works internationally, and does not charge any SMS fees. You guys can text each other anytime absolutely free of cost. WhatsApp too has a video call feature. However, you would need a good internet connection for an uninterrupted call.

Facebook: Besides stalking your child on Facebook, you can stay in touch with them using the chat function. You could also try the “Facebook Messenger App” to smoothen the process.

Last but not the least — make sure you set up a communication schedule with your child. Keep each other informed about your travel plans or whereabouts to avoid unexpected calls and spare yourself the anxiety of “why was she / he unreachable.”