Student going abroad

tormilind

My student daughter will spend her third year split between uni in Germany and uni in Spain. What is the cheapest way for her to use her mobile for contacting UK and also friends in the country she is studying in. Do we get a sim card before she goes or buy it in the country she visits? How does she access her student loan and the "Bank of Mum and Dad", banks charge an extortionate amount to use cash dispensers abroad. Thanks in advance for all your help.

techno_geek

She'll need a Nationwide FlexAccount - this offers fee-free cash withdrawals abroad (and offers a great exchange rate, too!). It also offers an excellent online banking service, so she can keep track of her money.

For phone calls back home, she could get Skype: she can order credits to make outgoing calls anywhere in the world from her computer (as long as she has a broadband internet connection), and she can also get a UK geographic phone number linked to her Skype account so you can call her for the price of a local call, wherever she is in the world! Visit www.skype.com for more information.

In terms of mobile phones, she could get a cheap unlockable phone here in England (such as a Nokia 1100 £15 from Carphone Warehouse on Virgin Mobile - see on the Telephones board for unlocking details). Once that phone's unlocked, she can simply buy a pay-as-you-go simcard from a network operator in the countries she's going to be visiting, such as Telefonica Movil or Vodafone in Spain, and T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom in Germany. This is going to be the best way for her to communicate in those countries.

If she hasn't got a contract mobile in England, here's another deal to consider: Vodafone offer a service called "Vodafone Passport", which allows you to use your inclusive minutes while abroad for a flat fee of 75p per call. It's expensive, but it's a cheaper way of phoning the UK when she's away from her computer (and Skype).

Hope this helps!

tormilind

Hi, Thanks for the info, will send it all to my daughter. Not sure about Skype, we use it but youngsters seem to have a "thing" about it. We even bought her a phone to use instead of a microphone but it is still in its box!!

Oldernotwiser

Well, if she doesn't want to use Skype, then let her pay for her mobile calls herself. I'm sure she'll come round to the idea soon enough if it hits her in the pocket!

LegalEagle

I studied abroad in Denmark - Skype is essential to any student going away.

Ditto to Nationwide. Absolutely free to use abroad - I had a FlexAccount and a Credit Card.

It's also very easy and usually cheap to pick up a local sim card.

3plus1

Oldernotwiser wrote:

Well, if she doesn't want to use Skype, then let her pay for her mobile calls herself. I'm sure she'll come round to the idea soon enough if it hits her in the pocket!

You assume she'll have internet access. It doesn't always happen.

But yes, I definitely recommend getting a Nationwide card. It's sometimes worthwhile buying a new phone + sim, depending on the price, but if she gets her phone unlocked before she goes abroad, she could just pick up a sim card from the nearest phone shop when she gets there.

Is she studying or working abroad? If she does Erasmus for both terms, she won't have to pay any tuition fees AND she'll get free money. I worked in my year abroad, and I had to pay tutition fees back home in England. Can you tell I'm bitter? :rolleyes:

Make sure she takes a couple of different cards with her - it's a right hassle when one card gets swallowed, as it has to be reissued to the home address (ie mum and dad) and then forwarded on abroad. If she's in one of her countries for long enough, she may even want to open a local bank account.

Gingernutmeg

This is probably totally irrelevant but make sure that your daughter finds out about how this time abroad will affect the weighting/grading of her final degree ... Bear with me on this one lol. I say this because my boyfriend did a semester in the US, which was organised by our university, and he's only just found out that this will affect the way that his whole degree is marked. The standard policy at our uni is to work out your degree by taking an average mark from the top 200 credits of the 240 taken in the second and third years. However, my boyfriend has just found out that because of his semester abroad, the uni will now work his degree classification out by taking an average of all of the 120 credits he's taken in his third year, discounting all of his second year and semester abroad grades. Because of the way the third year is assessed (year long dissertations as opposed to single semester modules) it now means that my boyfriends whole degree depends on the 100 credits he hands in this semester, which is very, very stressful for him. My boyfriend would still have gone abroad had he known this before, but obviously he would have worked out the balance of his credits better. Every university is different so this may not be a problem for your daughter but it's something that's worth looking into, just so your daughter is prepared when she gets back.


Oh, and also make sure that you've arranged it so that you can deal with any problems with Student Finance/Student Loans Co - my boyfriend was left abroad without money for two months because of a problem some of his personal information. It was impossible (and very costly) for him to get in contact with these organisations and our uni from the States, and they wouldn't let any of his family deal with it. It was eventually sorted by both the UK and US universities, but it was very long winded and stressful.

3plus1

Gingernutmeg wrote:

because my boyfriend did a semester in the US, which was organised by our university, and he's only just found out that this will affect the way that his whole degree is marked.

How odd. A British uni?

Gingernutmeg

3plus1 wrote:

How odd. A British uni?

Yes, a British uni in London.

tormilind

Thanks for all your replies. Yes she will be an erasmus student, at uni for half the year in Germany and the other half in Spain, therefore she can't work but,the benefit is no fees, HURRAH!! We think she gets help with travel cost, but only a small amount. As you say,she may not get internet so a means of cheaply keeping intouch with family and friends is important. Any more tips would be appreciated.

LegalEagle

The Erasmus grant is quite substantial - for my 1 semester abroad I got £1,200