Expenses
Approximate Program Costs
Please remember that Middlebury College only bills you for the tuition portion of the semester (and the study abroad fee for Middlebury students); the remaining expenses will be out-of-pocket, meaning that you will pay as you go while you are abroad. An estimate of program costs for full-year and semester-long students can be found here: Argentina expenses or Uruguay expenses. Figures may vary depending on individual lifestyles and situations. Please note that the “Personal” expenses cover some basic necessities (e.g. local transportation, cell phone, bank fees, program-sponsored excursions, etc.) and do not include students’ discretionary spending (e.g., entertainment, fitness, and travel).
Fluctuating exchange rates make advanced planning of costs challenging. We advise that you overestimate your costs to accommodate these fluctuations. Please be sure to confirm the exchange rate shortly before your departure so that you budget accordingly.
Expenses
Keep in mind that the amount of money you spend ultimately depends on the lifestyle you choose. One School Abroad staff member noted:
I would even make a direct relationship here: the less money you spend, the better and more authentic the immersion experience. Think of yourselves as sojourners or even better, ethnographers rather than tourists. Most often, the in-country facilities used by foreign tourists are not those used by the locals. The more money you spend, the more you alienate yourself from a demographically representative Latin American experience and will fail to achieve the main objective of the program.
Local university students, on average, spend far less money than U.S. students, don’t travel out of the country as much, and are not often found in bars and clubs on weekday evenings. That said, in general, you should plan to spend at least as much in a given month abroad as you would at home. Remember to budget extra if you are planning to travel before or after your program. Plane tickets are often more expensive than in the U.S., but bus travel has remained relatively inexpensive. In some cases, you can save more by buying your bus tickets in advance. If you are a big spender in the U.S., bringing more money would be a good idea. Some students have found that they buy a lot of books, as they can be inexpensive and easy to mail home, and spend more than expected on gifts, liquor, etc. Students who plan on regularly sampling the nightlife of their cities should budget extra money for taxis (USD $10 to USD $15 per taxi ride).
Another factor that will contribute to your expenses are the fluctuating exchange rates. You should keep track of these rates in order to become a more conscientious consumer. Students going to Argentina: While the XE converter will show you the official exchange rate used by banks, you can get an approximation of the unofficial exchange (used by many other entities, such as foreign credit cards and Western Union) by performing a web search for “dolar blue hoy” (“dolar blue” is an unofficial, but widely used exchange rate in Argentina). A reliable source for “dolar blue” rates is the Cronista newspaper.
