Warm Summer Greetings to Everyone and Answer to a Study-Related Question

Dear readers,

I've been quite busy with moving these past two weeks. However, I am enjoying the summer weather that we've had. The past few days have been quite pleasant with temps around +23°C.

Recently, another blogger interested in Swedish Study-Abroad opportunites in the Uppsala area asked my the fellowing question:

[...] I recently graduated with a BS in History from a college outside of Chicago. I am considering studying abroad for my MA or perhaps PHD. I would love to read about the step you took leading up to attending SLU including expenses and the like.

-Another blogger (keeping the username private...)

This is a really great question to ask! Really relevant and really interesting question! I'm going to answer it!

 LEADING STEPS...

Long story short I was in the United States working for the Forest Service as a Wildland Firefighter. I wanted to come back to Europe to study and live (I was born and raised in Berlin, Germany, so I'm also a German and with that an EU citizen), so I applied to the EnvEuro European Master of Environmental Science programme. It's an EU program with universities in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Sweden. One year you have to study at one location and for your second year and during your thesis writing you have to study at another location. I chose to begin my studies at Uni Copenhagen and then for my second year I decided on SLU in Uppsala, Sweden. That's how I got to Sweden. For further information, here's the website of my program.

www.enveuro.eu

The leading steps again in short.
1. Wanted to come back to Europe, so I applied to the EnvEuro Programme
2. Got accepted into my academic programme and began studying in Copenhagen
3. Moved to Sweden for my second year of studies (at SLU, Uppsala)

You're probably interested in why I came back to study in Europe. In short I'm a European citizen. As a European citizen I did not have to pay any tuition. In addition, I received a European Erasmus Study Abroad Grant, so that help finance part of my second year in Sweden.

EXPENSES AND MISCELLANEOUS


Bottom line, as a European (EU) citizen I didn't have to pay tuition to attend uni. I had to pay rent. I had some money saved from work in the USA. That payed for the first half of the year in Copenhagen. Then, I found a job in Copenhagen to help pay for the rest of the time here in Denmark. In Sweden, my rent was around €380 per month and my Erasmus International Grant money payed for some of that. For the latter part of the academic year at SLU my parents helped with costs, I took out a small student loan and found a job.

Expenses in short again:
1. No tuition
2. €420 monthly rent in Copenhagen
3. €380 monthly rent living in SLU on-campus housing
4. (Sweden) food: approx. €200 monthly
5. Approx. €150 for moving from Denmark to Sweden

So there you have it. Steps leading up to attending SLU plus expenses and the like. Bottom line, I would keep in mind that as a NON-EU citizen you have to pay tuition if you attend SLU or many other European universities. Please keep that in mind and check out the tuition fees on the university webpage.

I really recommend coming to Sweden to study for your Master's or PhD. Sweden provides a good learning environment (at least at SLU Ultuna, I don't know about other Swedish universities), great professors (I've dealt with) and a pretty good/easy living environment. Once in the EU you have the opportunity to participate in a variety of European-wide study and exchange programs. More often than not these study abroad programs are supported by a variety of scholarships. Remember though, you don't get all of the perks if you're not an EU citizen or within the Schengen Economic area (countries within the EU economic zone).

I hope this blog has answered your questions and please feel free to ask other questions in the form of comments. Should there be anything else you're interested in, please just write the question in a comment to one of my blog posts! That would be great.

Fellow readers, have a pleasant day and look for my next blog sometime early next week!

Take care!

Julian