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

[Duneranger]

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. 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. Maybe someone majoring in a more employable field like computer science or nursing would have better luck.

Not surprised. I lived in Europe and my salary was 4x lower than it is in the US.