How to Pay For Your Seminar Without Using Your Own Money
As college students, money isn’t really something that we have a lot of. Especially when it comes to paying for classes, textbooks, gas, etc. There is only so much a check can cover and IBS understands that. When I was looking into the seminars for IBS my first concern was how much it would cost. Was I going to be able to actually pay for this program all on my own? Would I have enough before the deadline to pay the whole amount? I was very nervous about these issues that I kept bringing up in my head, but I then asked myself, ‘do I want this?’ and the answer was yes! I would do whatever it took to expand my perspective on business in China. Coming up with these three funding ideas helped me raise 100% of the money I needed.
Firstly: Scholarships
Two scholarships are offered directly from International Business Seminars. They offer a Digital and Founders Scholarship that can earn you up to $1,000. The Founders Scholarship was created to support students with financial need who want to attend an IBS seminar. These awards go to students who are actively finding ways to finance their program with IBS. They also have thoughtful personal, professional and academic goals for their time abroad.
The second scholarship offered would be the Digital Ambassador Scholarship. This is a fun and interactive scholarship that requires you to edit a 1-4 minute video sharing why you are choosing to attend your IBS seminar, why you’d like to be an IBS Digital Ambassador and to describe your experience with video creation and blogging. Share how you will be successful in this role if you’re selected to be one of our digital ambassadors. I applied for both of these scholarships and was awarded funding from both which helped me to cover about 30% of the cost.
I also applied for scholarships by logging into a website called Scholarship Owl, this is a site that specializes in scholarships for students.
Secondly: Crowdsource money with Go Fund Me
Nothing bad ever came from asking for a little help! GoFundMe is an app that is there for those that need some extra financial help from the community around them. I created my Go Fund Me page when I realized I still needed more money that my personal earnings wouldn’t cover. I was struggling with raising money at first. After some time of promoting it on my social media accounts, through the newspapers, and word of mouth, I was able to raise enough to help me cover (along with the scholarship funding) a total of 50% of the seminar cost.
Thirdly: Start Saving Money
I only worked part-time at a local cafe in my town. Every two weeks when I got paid I would immediately save 10% of my net pay and put that towards my IBS Seminar. With only six months to save I was able to save up the remaining amount needed to attend the Summer China Seminar with IBS.
The cost of studying abroad is a common challenge amongst students. When you are able to overcome that challenge you will have no regrets about it. International Business Seminars is a program that helps give students the inspiration needed to move forward with their future career plans. Lack of money should not be a limiting factor on your way to success. I hope my three solutions to the matter are helpful in leading you to a great opportunity.
