How To Convince Your Parents To Study Abroad
Studying abroad is a dream for many Indian students. And every year, the number of students applying and going abroad is continuing to rise. With students finding more and better opportunities abroad, it adds for one more reason as to why studying abroad is a great option. However, this doesn’t imply it is easy to convince parents to study abroad in all cases.
Studying abroad is a costly affair and hence, affordability becomes one of the top reasons why parents think twice about this. In fact, a recent Instagram survey on our official handle revealed more than 70% of students citing financial situation as the number 1 blocker for them.
Additionally, parents are sceptical about finding the right resources that can help their child(ren) in their higher education journey. Added to that is the pandemic situation and thus, safety becomes a huge question in the minds of the parents.
But, worry not because we will help you address all these problems in this blog so you can convince your parents to study abroad.
Disclaimer:
Your parents’ decision is not in your control but can you win them over?
Definitely possible.
Here’s how you can lay the groundwork:
1. Let Research Be Your Best Friend
- When you introduce the idea of studying abroad, there will definitely be some questions popping up.
- Think beyond the normal.
- Make a list of all the different questions that you could think of that you think your parents would raise. And stay prepared with all the answers.
- You might not know answers to a few like, “How do you think we’re going to fund your education?” Instead of saying, “we’ll figure it out”, rather provide an option like, “I could take an education loan” for example or even “I will work hard for a scholarship that covers my tuition fees entirely.”
- Show seriousness through strong research and provide all possible solutions to problems you might face.
What will this do?
- It will show your parents you are serious about studying abroad because you have taken ownership, have gotten your research done and presented them with a well laid out plan.
- Although it’s not a perfect one it’s much better than “I want to study abroad and I need your support.”
2. Educate Your Parents
- To convince your parents to study abroad, you’d need to give them reasons to help and support your decision to study abroad.
- And for that, you’d have to show the difference in education for the same program in your home country and the place you’re wanting to go to.
- Avoid generic cliche phrases such as, “I will get better networking opportunities and/or I will get a better job”, although they’re not wrong.
- Educate them (if possible, with data) about career and academic benefits through country and program comparisons.
If you’re finding difficulty getting the right pool of data together, here’s where our SelectRight platform can help you.
SelectRight can help you shortlist, select and apply to the right program and university based on your profile, and with each recommendation, you can get to see important details about the program like cost of education, return on investment, focus on learning, the overall brand outlook among other factors.
Try out our SelectRight platform right now. It’s free of cost!
3. Budget Your Plan
- This is an extension to the first point on how you can show more seriousness.
- But this needs to be a separate discussion because financial pressures/affordability is the most common problem for many Indian students wanting to study abroad.
- What you need to do is again a comparison; Calculate a budget and highlight the different layers involved ranging from tuition fees to currency conversions:
Country – Tuition Fees – Living Expenses – Travel Costs – Application Fees – Currency Conversion – Visa Interview and so on.
- Facts and figures, although overwhelming, display your immense interest and connects all the dots.
TIP:
Seeing this, your parents might immediately turn away, but don’t push. Although they say no, they will give it a thought and you can move on to your next move.
4. Have Your Parents Talk To Relevant People
Who?
- The best people would be your college professors with whom you share a great rapport.
- Also, other students in your network, probably your friends or your seniors from college who are currently studying in your preferred university or country would be a great choice.
- Let them share their experience with your parents and share their understanding of the space, clarify doubts and even offer advice to make your process smooth and easy.
TIP:
Word of mouth helps not only in marketing but even while trying to convince your parents to study abroad!
5. Assure Your Parents Of Your Safety
- Your parents will probably be concerned about your safety.
- Show them you’re taking their worries seriously by researching emergency numbers, insurances, etc.
- If possible, remind them of all the measures the school takes (for example, airport transfers or guided tours) to ensure everyone’s safety.
- You could even ask the students you’re going to connect with your parents to, to talk about how safe it is there for Indian students and even talk about the huge Indian community there. (Indians are everywhere)
6. Include Your Parents In The Decision-Making Process
- Before taking a discussion, make it a point to discuss with your parents.
- This way, parents feel they’re involved and it makes them happy too as they get to see how you are going with your application process, interviews, your preparations etc and offer timely inputs.
TIP:
However, don’t get overly dependent on your parents to make decisions because as much as you need their inputs you need to show them you can live on your own and make independent and wise decisions.
7. Stay In Touch
Assure and reassure your parents you’ll stay in touch with them! That’s the least you could do!
How Can GradRight Help?
The tagline of GradRight is
Right Education at the Right Cost.
And that’s exactly how we can help you.
- As mentioned already, our SelectRight platform can help you shortlist, select and apply to the right program and in turn, the right university based on your preferences.
- The platform also helps you be a part of an exclusive study abroad Discord community.
- Additionally, SelectRight helps you get mentor assistance from students and alums of your chosen university; individuals who have already been through your journey.
- But, that’s not all, affordability and financial pressures are some of the top reasons why students don’t end up fulfilling their dreams of studying abroad.
- And that’s where we step in with the world’s 1st free education loan bidding platform, FundRight.
- FundRight gives you the best and the cheapest personalized education loan offers from a variety of financial institutions (again, based on your preferences), you can compare, contrast and choose from.
- Our dedicated financial advisory team complements the platform by providing assistance to the student (& the parents) at every step of the journey.
Get started today by clicking on the “Try Now!” button below!