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Ways to Save Money as an International Student

The cost of study in the US can be overwhelming. However, that should not prevent students from taking advantage of the unique opportunity to become an international student. There are ways to save money as an international student by simply implementing a few strategies and cutting unnecessary costs. Here are just a few ways to help your wallet stay full while studying in the US:

1. Consider Living Off-Campus

Next to tuition, housing is one of the biggest expenses international students face. While it may be more convenient for international students to live on campus, living off campus provides the opportunity to save a chunk of change. If you will be studying in the US for the standard 4 years, you may consider splitting your time between on and off campus housing. This could allow you to adjust to life in the US while living on campus for one or two years and then live in an apartment or house for the rest of your studies. Please keep in mind that despite whether or not you live on campus, it is more affordable to have roommates to cut the cost of living independently.

When it comes to housing, another option you may consider is a homestay program. Studies are showing that international students who live in a homestay have a high success rate in college. By living in a homestay, international students have an opportunity to gain proficiency in English, explore local spots with natives and have a home-away-from-home, all at an economical price.

2. Buy Used Textbooks

Often, the projected tuition and fees are not the set value of what you will pay in school and there are ways to cut down on these fees without jeopardizing your education. One of the easiest ways to lower costs is by purchasing or renting used books. Instead of buying new books that you will only read once, consider seeing if your school bookstore will allow you to rent out books for a lower cost. You may also be able to buy used books off Amazon at a lower rate or even see if your school library carries your textbook for you to photocopy as needed.

3. Find Alternative Health Insurance

Another expense that can be astronomical in the US is health insurance. Health insurance is generally required by most colleges and universities, but even if your school does not require a specific plan, it’s a good idea to have coverage. Although health insurance might seem expensive, the cost of medical care within the US is very high and not having insurance could leave you with a large bill. If your school does have a health insurance plan, they may give you the option of opting out of, or “waiving,” your university-sponsored plan as long as you provide proof of comparable coverage.

4. Take Advantage of Meal Plan Options

Another expense that can easily be reduced is meals. Most colleges and universities have dining halls or campus centers with restaurants that are available to students who live both on and off campus. Students can choose their own meal plan from a range of options such as a specific number of meals at a set price or an “unlimited access” option. If you have access to a kitchen you may decide not to buy a meal plan and opt to cook for yourself, which is often cheaper than meal plans. In addition, most schools that host campus events will provide satisfying appetizers on a regular basis. These campus events are also a great way to meet people and get involved!

5. Fly for Less

As an international student it’s possible to spend thousands of dollars each year flying back home or by touring around the US. However, it is possible to find great deals on flights. For example, many sites allow you to set up an alert when flights to your destination have dropped in price, being flexible on your travel date could save you hundreds, and if you are going to have a flight with a connection, it may cost less to book a flight to your connection and then book a separate flight to your destination. Finally, make sure you’re utilizing resources specific to students. Student Universe serves as a great tool in finding the most affordable and convenient solution to travel for international students.

6. Utilize Student Discounts

Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that there may be some extra cash in simply being an international student! Many businesses in your college town may provide special rates and discounts if you present your student ID card before purchasing. If you don’t see a sign stating a business offers a student discount make sure you ask as you may be able to save a substantial amount on entertainment, food, coffee and more!

Studying abroad is exciting, but it can be easy for expenses to add up. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to study in the US. By implementing these basic strategies and cutting certain unnecessary expenses, you should be able to reduce the cost of studying in the US!

The post Ways to Save Money as an International Student appeared first on The International Student Blog.

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Many of the policy recommendations from the Kerner Commission remain relevant 50 years later

In 1967, young black men rioted in over 150 cities, often spurred by overly aggressive policing, not unlike the provocations of recent disturbances. The worst in 1967 were in Newark, after police beat a taxi driver for having a revoked permit, and Detroit, after 82 party-goers were arrested at a peaceful celebration for returning Vietnam War veterans, held at an unlicensed social club.

President Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission to investigate. Chaired by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner (New York City’s mayor John Lindsay was vice-chair), it issued its report 50 years ago today. Publicly available, it was a best-seller, indicting racial discrimination in housing, employment, health care, policing, education, and social services, and attributing the riots to pent-up frustration in low-income black neighborhoods. Residents’ lack of Fambition or effort did not cause these conditions: rather, “[w]hite institutions created [the ghetto], white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it… [and is] essentially responsible for the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities since the end of World War II.”

The report warned that continued racial segregation and discrimination would engender “two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” So little has changed since 1968 that the report remains worth reading as a near-contemporary description of racial inequality.

Of course, not everything about race relations is unchanged. Perhaps most dramatic has been growth of the black middle class, integrated into mainstream corporate leadership, politics, universities, and professions. We’re still far from equality—affirmative action remains a necessity—but such progress was unimaginable in 1968. Today, 23 percent of young adult African Americans have bachelor’s degrees, still considerably below whites’ 42 percent but more than double the black rate 50 years ago.

In the mid-1960s, I assisted in a study of Chicago’s power elite. We identified some 4,000 policymaking positions in the non-financial corporate sector. Not one was held by an African American. The only black executives were at banks and insurance companies serving black neighborhoods. Today, any large corporation would face condemnation, perhaps litigation, if no African American had achieved executive responsibility.

In other respects, things are pretty much as dismal now as then—the commission condemned “stop and frisk” policies and equipping police with military weapons “that have no place in densely populated urban communities.” Some conditions are now worse: the “two societies” warning has been fulfilled, not only in our economic and social live, but in the racial polarization of politics exposed in the last election. It threatens the foundations of our democracy.

The commission said the nation faced three alternatives. First, continue present policies, resulting in more riots (or rebellions—the commission debated what to call them), economic decline, and the splintering of our common national identity. This is the course we have mostly followed. Second, improve black neighborhoods, what the commission called attempts to “gild the ghetto,” something we’ve half-heartedly tried with little success for the last 50 years—for example, with enterprise zones, empowerment zones, extra funding for pupils from low-income families, and charter schools. These, the commission predicted, would never get sufficient political or financial support and would confirm that separate can never be equal; they would fail to reverse our “two societies” trajectory. Or third, while doing what we can to improve conditions in disadvantaged neighborhoods, we could embrace programs to integrate black families into white communities. We’d have to remove discriminatory and financial barriers that prevented African Americans from moving out of overcrowded, low-income places that lacked access to good jobs, schools with high-performing students, adequate health services, even supermarkets with fresh food. It was this alternative the Kerner Report strongly favored.

Surprisingly, the report was unanimous, even gaining support from commissioner Charles Thornton, CEO of Litton Industries, then one of the nation’s most powerful corporations. Johnson had appointed this Texas conservative to ensure modest recommendations, but even commissioners initially inclined to blame riots on “outside agitators” were radicalized by visiting black neighborhoods.

The report’s integration proposals need updating, but not much. One was a law banning discrimination in housing sales and rentals. Two months after the report’s release, horror over Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination gave President Johnson political support to pass the Fair Housing Act. But enforcement provisions waited another 20 years, and remain weak. The report suggested rent supplements for low-income families and tax credits for low-income housing developers. These were adopted—supplements are commonly termed “Section 8 vouchers” and the government now issues developer tax credits. Yet these programs now reinforce segregation because most recipients can use vouchers only in low-income neighborhoods and developers mostly use credits to build in such areas. Both programs could instead prioritize rentals and construction in integrated communities. For this to happen, we’d need to prohibit suburban zoning ordinances that bar construction of townhouses, low-rise apartments, even single family homes on modest lot sizes.

The commission called for constructing low-rise public housing on scattered sites throughout metropolitan areas. Yet shortly thereafter, after the Supreme Court prohibited placement of public housing exclusively in black neighborhoods, federal and local governments responded by ending public housing construction altogether

The commission also recommended subsidies for black homebuyers, something we’ve never seriously considered. They are needed because in the mid-twentieth century, the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration unconstitutionally prohibited African Americans from purchasing affordable suburban homes, contributing to today’s overcrowding and segregation in urban black neighborhoods. Suburban property appreciation now makes those homes unaffordable to working-class families of either race. We’ll never desegregate if this historic wrong remains unremedied.

Is it too late to adopt the Kerner Commission’s third alternative? Racial polarization—the almost inevitable result of persistent residential segregation—may make it so. But perhaps re-reading the report can awaken a passion to reform what the commission didn’t hesitate to term an “apartheid” nation.

EPI is cosponsoring an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission.

A version of this piece ran in the New York Daily News.

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How new Fed Chair Jerome Powell should get ready for the next recession

New Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before Congress this week, roughly a month after replacing Janet Yellen. The key question many have is whether or not a change in personnel will mark a break with past policy. If it does, and if the Fed starts crediting arguments for raising interest rates that they correctly rejected before, then today’s low unemployment rate might be unfortunately short-lived.

Under Yellen’s leadership, the Fed was notably “dovish” in that it strove to keep monetary policy expansionary with the goal of pushing unemployment down, rather than contractionary in the service of guarding against an outbreak of inflation. Her replacement, Jerome Powell, served on the Fed’s Board of Governors with Yellen between 2012 and early 2018. Powell was by most accounts supportive of the policy path blazed by Yellen, so in that sense a radical change in the Fed’s stance would be surprising. But Yellen wasn’t just a dovish vote on the Fed, she was an intellectual leader in the defense of expansionary monetary policy over the past decade. As a highly respected academic macroeconomist and policymaker, Yellen had the ability and confidence to push back hard on weak arguments about why the Fed should reverse course and begin worrying about containing inflation rather than pushing down unemployment.

One of these weak arguments is that the Fed needs to raise rates faster and sooner so that when the next recession hits, there will be enough “room” to lower them. Proponents of this argument point out that in previous recessions the Fed lowered the short-term “policy” interest rates that it controls by 3–5 percentage points in an effort to restart growth. Today these rates are at 1.5 percent, and, they really can’t go much below zero for any extended period of time. This “zero lower bound” (ZLB) on interest rates is driven by the fact that once these rates hit zero, wealth-holders will just stop demanding bonds and will be happy to hold cash instead. This means that further Fed purchases of bonds to lower rates will have no effect. What hitting the ZLB means for policy is that we could enter the next recession without the ability of the Fed to lower policy rates as far as they have in the past.

While the constraints put on monetary policymaking by the ZLB are real, raising rates now to clear out room for cutting them later remains a silly idea. First, raising rates sooner and further doesn’t just give the Fed more interest rate “room” to fight the next recession, it also makes the next recession more likely. Post-war recessions have largely occurred because of asset market bubbles popping or the Fed raising rates too far and too fast.

An analogy might help point out the absurdity of this. Say that your house is a cool 50 degrees and you hike the thermostat to your desired temperature of 70 degrees. After the heat has been running for a while, the house has warmed to 60 degrees, and your roommate argues you should turn the thermostat off because if the room gets really cold again, you’ll want “room” to warm it by cranking the thermostat up again.

Does this make sense? Of course not. So long as one believes that the economy has not warmed up to its optimal setting, then one should not be using policy tools to cool it back down. Is there a convenient summary measure that can guide us as to whether or not the economy is running hot enough? There are lots, actually, but let’s use the Fed’s own announced measure: 2 percent price inflation. The economy has been running beneath this 2 percent inflation target for years now, and there is little evidence of any acceleration. Further, if one excludes rental prices, then inflation has been even lower. Fighting rent inflation (which occurs due to low supply of housing units relative to demand) by raising interest rates which will curtail home-building would be perverse.

So, the economy is by the Fed’s own definition not running hot enough, yet they’ve already begun raising rates to cool it off, backed in part by arguments that this is necessary because one day they might want to try to heat it back up. This is a terrible way to prepare for the next recession.

What’s the obviously better way to prepare for the next downturn? Keep heating up the economy until you hit your own stated price target! If the economy begins slowing and the Fed decides to lower policy rates, these rate cuts will have much more traction if inflation is higher rather than lower. Real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates are what drive investment and consumption decisions, and higher inflation expectations (all else equal) pushes down these real rates. Further, if we enter the next recession with the Fed having never hit its own inflation target, their credibility for ensuring people that downturns will not be allowed to pull down inflation in the long-run will be severely damaged. This means that the next recession could see expectations of inflation fall precipitously, with real interest rates rising in response just as the economy needs lower, not higher rates.

Job number one for the Fed in preparing the economy for the next recession is re-establishing the ability to hit their own inflation target. This is by far the smartest way to generate room for (inflation-adjusted) interest rates to be cut as we enter the next recession. The way to hit this inflation target is to keep rates down until you have hit it. Raising rates while at the same time telling people you’re committed to nudging inflation higher makes no sense—like turning down the thermostat while telling people you’re committed to a warmer room. Further, nothing about this argument changes because of the boost to fiscal stimulus provided in recent months. This fiscal stimulus is likely to nudge the economy more quickly to the Fed’s inflation target than it would otherwise have reached it, but we just don’t know exactly when that would be, and Powell and the Fed shouldn’t assume they know either, and should be guided by actual movements in inflation.

Finally, calling on the Fed to do harmful things in order to have room to reduce short-term policy rates during the next recession seems to be willful denial that the economy has changed, and that the ZLB is likely to be with us for a long time. Policymakers just need to figure out tools that will work to stimulate the economy even when short-term interest rates are at zero. Fiscal stimulus is the most obvious economic answer. But the Fed has tools to lower long-term rates directly and could do that. Entering the next recession with a higher inflation target is another smart way to deal with the zero lower bound. And thinking big about ways to let the Fed actually give money to households rather than just swap financial assets with banks would be a good thing to start thinking about as well.

But, as new Fed chair Jerome Powell weighs arguments about the policy path he’ll chart over the coming year, he should absolutely ignore calls to “get ready for the next recession” by pursuing too-rapid interest rate increases that will make the next recession more likely. Instead, he should communicate—by keeping rates low—that he’s determined to at least hit the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target that they’ve defined themselves as defining a well-heated economy. A key legacy of the Yellen era was ignoring bad arguments mobilized to urge a too-austere Fed. Powell should try his best to make this one of his legacies as well.

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Growth (or not) in real wages

There is no starker metric for our unequal age than the stagnation of American wages over the last generation. Since 1973, productivity has grown about 75 percent, while the compensation of the typical worker has grown only about 12 percent. Since 1979, the hourly median wage has grown less than 10 percent in real dollars, or an average annual raise of barely 4 cents. While wages grew for many workers in 2017, wage growth is still far slower—and more unequal—than where it needs to be.

The interactive graphic below shows the change in real (inflation-adjusted) wages by wage decile, with drop-down filters for gender, race, educational attainment, and time period. This affords comparison of the wage gains (or losses) experienced by particular workers, and comparison across the full 1979–2017 span, or its constituent business cycles. The choice of “African-American” and “1979–1989,” for example, charts how black workers fared during the dismal 1980s; the choice of “BA or higher” and “2009–2017” charts how well-educated workers fared during the long recovery from the Great Recession.

There are a lot of moving pieces here—including shifting economic opportunities, changes in educational attainment, policy drifts and shifts, and five recessions that swallow up almost 6 of the 39 years since 1979. But here are four key takeaways:

First, growing wage inequality is the rule. Most demographic and chronological slices of this data yield a steep staircase, in which wage growth is crowded into the 80th and 90th deciles. For all workers from 1979–2017, for example, those earning at the median or below see gains of less than ten percent over that 39 year span; those at the 90th decile saw their wages rise more than 40 percent. For men, over the same era, workers at the median or below all suffer a net decrease in real wages; those at the 90th decile saw gains of over 32 percent.

Second, unions and labor standards matter. Consider the steep losses suffered by male workers (-8.5 percent at the median; -12 percent for those at the 20th decile) and by those with just a high school education in the 1980s. Union membership in the private sector fell from 21.2 percent to 6.5 percent between 1979 and 2017, with fully half of those losses coming in the 1980s (1979–1989 on the graphic). Union losses hurt women workers in the 1980s as well, but—for those in the 10th and 20th deciles—so did the fact that the minimum wage (in a long decade between legislated increases) lost over a third of its value. In the last decade (2017–2017), by contrast, there is a spike at the 10th percentile for most demographics—reflecting the profusion of state and local minimum wage increases recent years (17 states and the District of Columbia now have minimum wage of at least $9.00).

Third, full employment helps, a lot. The dismal wage record of the 1980s reflects not only union losses and slipping labor standards, but also a monthly unemployment rate that averaged nearly 8 percent over the decade. During the economic boom of the late 1990s (1995–2000 on the graphic), by contrast, near-full employment (the monthly unemployment rate average 4.9 percent over that span) conferred bargaining power even where union presence had withered. The result is not just broad-based wage growth but, for some demographics, an inverted staircase—with the highest gains at the lowest deciles.

Fourth, education is important (sort of). Returns to education are starkly evident here. Over the full 1979-2017 span, wage gains for those with a bachelor’s degree or better are strong—although they are also starkly unequal. For those with a high school education or less, that staircase is upside down; losses across the board, steepest at the higher deciles. The prospects for the same educational demographics in more recent years are mixed. For those with a BA or better, only those earning above the median show any gains. For those with only some college under their belts, the returns to education elude entirely.

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Your Guide to the Best Patios in Atlanta

3/1/2018 09:47:50 AM

It's spring. Take a break on one of the best patios in Atlanta.

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Things To Do in Atlanta This Weekend March 2 through March 4

2/28/2018 12:01:25 PM

Music, science and "all-you-care-to-taste" beer, bourbon (and BBQ). Here are your picks for things to do this weekend in Atlanta.

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Where to Stay in Downtown Atlanta

2/27/2018 03:01:42 PM

Use our handy guide for picking a Downtown Atlanta hotel.

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Atlanta's Top Matchmakers Have Turned Singles into Couples for 20 Years

  Single Atlanta Matchmakers' queens of matchmaking, Lisa Lyngos and Leisha Murphy, play Cupid to coach and connect you with…

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Ron Blackwell (1946–2018)

Ron Blackwell, a friend to EPI since its early days, died on February 25.

Ron had a long career in the labor movement, starting with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in New York, moving to the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. until he retired in 2012.

Raised in Alabama, he was a steadfast defender of the rights of working people and a life-long enemy of economic injustice in its many forms.

He pioneered in the design and management of campaigns to use the financial and pension assets of labor unions as a tool of organizing and collective bargaining.

Having studied economics and political economy at the New School, he understood how elite decisions hidden from the public can destroy efforts by ordinary people to better their lives. His was a relentless voice urging the labor movement to demand a seat at the table of economic policy. He also played an important role in efforts to create international labor solidarity in a world of globalizing capital.

Above all, Ron Blackwell was the rare man of principle who actually had the courage of his convictions. As a young man, he chose to go to prison rather than submit to those who were waging the unjust and terrible war in Vietnam. In his years as a labor advocate, he was quick to spot hypocrisy among political leaders, who—as the late mineworkers’ leader John L. Lewis once put it—“supped at labor’s table and sheltered in labor’s house” but then, “cursed with equal impartiality both labor and its adversaries.”

Ron told it like it was.

EPI, the labor movement, and the country have lost a valiant warrior in the struggle for justice.

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Whey Protein Powder the Whole Family Can Enjoy

HiveFit's Raul Hiteshew talks ingredient transparency and how to make healthy choices for your family. By Carrie Whitney Although you…

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9 Awesome Atlanta Parades You Must Experience

2/28/2018 11:02:03 AM

From glowing lanterns on the BeltLine to city streets occupied by superheroes, Atlanta parades march to the beat of their own drums.

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10 Atlanta Food Festivals That Won’t Leave You Hungry

2/28/2018 11:02:43 AM

From showcasing the South’s finest flavors to celebrating every cuisine under the sun, these Atlanta food festivals are downright drool-worthy.

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Things To Do in Atlanta This Weekend March 2 through March 4

2/28/2018 11:01:26 AM

Music, science and "all-you-care-to-taste" beer & bourbon (and BBQ!). Here are your picks for things to do this weekend in Atlanta.

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5 of the Best Places to Hear Live Music: Little 5 Points Edition

2/28/2018 09:01:38 AM

From basement dives to rockin’ record shops, Little Five Points' sound is unmistakable. Explore the creative places of L5P with Ruby Velle and the Soulphonics.

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Fahamu Pecou's Top Picks for Civil Rights Landmarks in Atlanta

2/27/2018 04:01:24 PM

Atlanta’s civil rights story is one told through a wide variety of mediums, art being one of them. Explore where scholar and artistic vanguard Fahamu Pecou sees the city going and his favorite civil rights sites and landmarks.

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Where to Stay in Downtown Atlanta

2/27/2018 03:01:42 PM

Use our handy guide for picking a Downtown Atlanta hotel.

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Seeking peace in your home with kids out of school?

  By: Teresa Woodruff, LPC, ATR-BC, CPCS   As a parent, you are constantly giving...your time, your attention, and your…

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