Blog 2 Financing my 2020 travel seminar program 💵💶💷💰💸

Описание: How did you fund your 2020 travel seminar program? What worked well for you?
I funded my 2020 travel seminar by using refund check from my student loans, having yard sales, grading papers for my French professor/teacher, dog sitting, & more. I also searched around my house for Euros leftover from my previous trips to France. I get up to $20, 500 a year in student loans from FAFSA (*2018-2019, 2019-2020). During my first year of graduate school (2019-2020), I received the Silver Anniversary scholarship worth about $2,000. For the first 2 years of my time in graduate school, I went to the financial aid office to have my loans custom arranged with different amounts for each term rather than divided equally. In my second year of Graduate School, I had these loans arranged so that the first loans of the year would have higher amounts & give back larger refund checks after being spent on classes. I used the bulk of the funding for my trip. This is how I arranged my student loans for each term for my first year of graduate school: Fall Term 2018: $9,000, Winter Term 2019: $3,000, Spring Term 2019: $6,000, & Summer Term 2019: $3,000. This is how I arranged my student loans for my second year of graduate school: Fall Term 2019: $8,500, Winters Term 2020: $3,000, Spring Term 2020: $6,000, & Summer Term 2020: $3,000. I placed refund checks into my savings account to accumulate interest. I used my mom's credit card to pay for my trip. I paid her back by signing checks to my mom's account. The refund checks were a very good source of money for funding the trip. With every refund check, I paid off more of the trip.
Was your investment worth the experience & why?
My investment was worth the experience because I visit the places most people are unlikely to see, even when they travel &/or study abroad in these cities & countries. This is an opportunity for students who want to visit or revisit countries they have previously visited. Optional international airfare, arrangements, & airport pickups was worth the expense because they offered meals, excellent entertainment, I loved how they gave me an aisle seat towards the restroom. I think it is a good idea to have someone pick you up at the airport because it is a foreign place where you could easily get lost & being pickup can help protect you from scammers.
Describe why you valued your IBS program (now GLO Abroad) before attending, & how/why you valued the experience after the program
I valued my IBS program (now GLO Abroad) before attending because of the opportunity for me to revisit Paris, France & go to London, UK for the very first time. I valued my experience after the program because I had the opportunity to connect with more from different places & learn how companies outside the United States of America operate in places like the ones I visited in London, United Kingdom & Paris, France.
What do you recommend for other students that are not sure if they can/will invest in an IBS program (now GLO Abroad)?
My first recommendation for students that are not sure if they can afford to invest in the IBS program (now GLO Abroad) is to always place refund checks from leftover student loan money into a savings account & use this money to fund the bulk of the program. Apply for the maximum amount of loans each year to get the biggest refund checks to fund the trip. I saved my refund checks after I got them with every class I finished. I also deposited the money my grandparents gave me for my birthdays & holidays into my savings account as well. I attempted to find some part-time jobs, but I was not successful. I found other sources of income by having a yard sale twice a year, dog sitting for a family while they went on vacation, grading papers for my French professor/teacher when she needed assistance, & working hard on my studies as a student at California Lutheran University to maintain a high GPA in hopes of academic scholarships while applying for other scholarships. When paying online with PayPal, you must be aware of the 3% transaction fees. The expenses I paid for the trip included a $500 enrollment fee that I paid on May 12, 2019, my first payment of $2,056 on July 22, 2019, my second payment of $2,000 on July 26, 2019, & my final payment of $750 on October 22, 2019. I waited until October to make my last payment because I was waiting to see if I received the Founders Scholarship. I received $250 from their Founders Scholarship which helped me realize my dream in International study. My message to other students considering attending an IBS Tours travel seminar program (now GLO Abroad) would be: "If you enjoy traveling, learning about other countries, &/or are interested in how businesses function in other countries, then this is the right place for you".

Reposting my blog due to IBS Tours rebranding themselves as GLO Abroad.

These events of my blog happened between 2018 -2020.