subject: Saving money while studying in Australia, a guide for Australians and International students [print this page] Saving money while studying in Australia, a guide for Australians and International students
Studying overseas can be expensive, particularly in a rich country like Australia which has a high cost of living. There are some simple things you can do to reduce the cost of living. Some of them rely on having intimate knowledge of how universities operate in Australia and that's what this article is designed to provide.
One of the biggest costs of studying in Australia is textbooks. Textbooks often cost between $140 and $160 (AUD). If your are taking a full-time course load, this will mean that you will have to pay almost $600 every semester! But, these prices are the prices quoted in the university's bookstore. All universities have a bookshop on campus which stocks textbooks and you will be directed by your teachers to purchase books from this bookshop. But textbooks are in fact available for much cheaper through online bookstore.
The way to take advantage of this is to email your lecturers for each subject before the semester begins and find out the texts you'll be using. Then you can shop round online. Often you can find books for less than 50% of the price they sell for in the university's bookshop. This can save you hundreds of dollars each semester and perhaps thousands in the course of your degree. The drawback is that texts may take a couple of weeks to arrive, this is why it is important to email lecturers as far in advance as you can.
Many students get their textbooks second hand from students selling theirs from previous years. This will save you some money but such is the market for textbooks that second hand purchases often only save $20 off the bookshop price. A much greater saving can be made by shopping around online.
Another way to save money is to only buy food from large supermarkets, avoiding small shops and convenience stores. The two largest supermarket chains in Australia are Woolworths and Coles and both have reasonably cheap prices. You can further discriminate by going these stores in poorer neighbourhoods. A Coles store in an urban area will have more expensive prices than one in a poorer suburb.
It's also cheaper still to buy fresh food from markets (like farmers' markets). Items like furniture and appliances are best bought second hand through garage sales or via classifieds found at your university.Other items can often be bought cheaply via websites like Gumtree and eBay.
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