The five best advise for an international student from Mongolia

The five best advise you will get, if you planning to study as an international student in any college or universities are:

1. Cost of Program and Living

As an international student you are expected to pay more. Usually two to three times more than local students. Some school has scholarship for international students and some does not. The cost of Program can range from anywhere between 2,000 to 5,000 per semester.

Because you are living far away from your home, chances are you have to pay your own living and transportation expenses. It can be controlled, if you know how.

The minimum living expenses can be around 1,000 per month. The break down:

• Your rent average around $500 (if you share room with other student)
• Your transportation cost $100 (buy monthly transit ticket)
• Your health insurance cost $100 (depend on your school and it is must have)
• Your phone cost $60 (most carrier has prepaid service so bring your phone and just buy sim card or use Internet or something...)
• Your food cost $200 (if you planning to cook for your self, if not then about $500)

This is just a basic estimate based on my own experience. Many students hold part-time job to supplement for their living expenses. In Canada you can go to school and work at the same time.

It is one of the best country when it comes to living and working as an international student. You can not do that in US. So take advantage of this.

2. Applying for your Visa

Once you receive all your documents from your school, you have to apply for your student visa. You need to fill out your visa application form, gather all your documentation, pay your visa fee and mail it out to Canadian Embassy at Beijing, China.

You can download the temporary visa application form and the guide here. It is written in English and Mongolian.

It takes 3-4 months for them to issue you student visa. For student visa you don't have to travel to China. You can mail your documents to Canadian Embassy in Beijing. This will save you big on travel expenses. 

3. Arriving in Canada

After you get your visa, you need to get your air ticket. It is cheaper to buy round trip. You can have your return date open.  When you getting your air ticket sign up with reward programs. This way you will earn points. Each time you travel you can collect points and later can redeem them for free flights or goods. For more on that check out my simple deals.

4. Studying and living on your own

To live and study on your own is a great thing. You have to be very proud of yourself if you can control all these issues together. Not many people can do it properly. I see many students fall apart. But it is a skill that anyone can learn. It became easier as time goes by. More you do it, you get better at it.

So give yourself a big credit just for trying.

5. Supplement Information in case of Emergency

In life ideally you want to mind your own business. But when you are living in new country and don't know the custom, sometimes you have to deal with things you never expected.

It is important to know the difference and protect yourself from any harmful acts.

1. When you rent place you may get landlord who try to evict you with no reason other than your race, ethnic background, family, sex, and language. In Canada it is illegal to do so.

In this case you can check with Ontario Housing Tribunal and file complaint. You can also file complaint with Ontario Human Right Commission.

For example: In my case, I had a landlord who evicted me because of my son was making noise and "disturbing" my next door neighbor. I filed complaint with Ontario Housing Tribunal and Ontario Human Right Commission. It is illegal to evict people because of their kid makes noise. 

2. When you get a traffic ticket or parking ticket, you can also contest them in Traffic Court of your district. You will have chance to explain yourself and get reduced your fees.

For example: A parking ticket it is usually around $30. But sometimes they will ticket you for more than $100. This is way to much for parking ticket and you should contest it. Most likely you will get it reduced to less than half. If you can explain yourself properly, you may get $0. But be careful not to drive there. You may get new parking ticket, since the place is full of ticketing officers and they are watching you. I know it because...

Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning"

Thomas A. Edison