European Grad Studies Abroad: Cost of Living vs Low Tuition Fees

[nykorn]

I got my BA in Sweden. Tuition was free but after struggling on savings I had to take out a $26,000 student loan to cover living costs as I couldn't find a job, not even something like a cashier or busboy job. And I speak fluent Swedish and didn't need a visa, so had much less hurdles to finding work than the average immigrant. When I was finally offered a job it turned out the salary was so low it wouldn't qualify me for a cheap apartment or be enough to pay for rent and commute daily from another town. The governments hide the true unemployment levels by various schemes, such as how a student doesn't count as unemployed AND neither does a student's spouse. There's also no gig economy here to help you get by like petsitting or babysitting, not even Uber exists in most places in the Nordics. and unlike in most of Europe or Asia where knowing English can get you a job quickly, English isn't a prized, special or elite skill in the Nordics, on the contrary not being almost native level in English essentially means you didn't graduate highschool. Just something to keep in mind. 

I was unemployed for years in Sweden then gave up and left. In contrast I found a job within 2 weeks after moving back to the US, and within 5 months when moving to Asia. 

Most people I knew in Sweden (lived there 9 years!) either moved abroad for work, started their own businesses, or relied on their parents for money (even at ages 25 or 40+... plenty of people had rich ancestors). The exception of the people I personally knew is people who got a nursing license, studied computer science, or were involved with the mafia (those were typically Syrian refugees).