MiM Student Experience at ESSEC: How to Manage your Finances

If you aren’t used to cooking your own breakfast and you decide to satiate your morning hunger pangs, this would be a situation you would encounter initially as a MiM student. On your way to college, you find one of many bakeries and decide to buy something. All these years of quantitative aptitude come into effect as you try converting the currency and start assessing whether an early lunch is a better option than this.

Life as a student is tough and in a foreign country, it gets a bit tougher. The MIM is not as costly as a full-fledged MBA, but when you add in the living expenditures it gets expensive. As a MiM student with little to no savings, they are always dependent. MiM Scholarships and Bursaries are some of the best ways to relieve the stress from the get-go, but others rely on bank loans and grants for funding the major part of the admission fees.

The vital thing while thinking about funding your education is to start early and look for options outside of what the school offers. Apart from the merit-based and school-specific scholarships, some governments also provide Bursaries, for example, the EIFFEL French government bursary, which the French Business schools apply for on behalf of international candidates.

But it isn’t all dark and gloomy as the returns on this investment are bright. Management graduates are in high demand and are easily able to recover the invested amount in 2-3 years depending on where they start working. The government also aids students in some countries by having discounted prices for students which also covers rent, especially in France.

As a MIM student, you also get the chance to do internships, usually for a period of 6- months, which easily covers your costs and also helps you save some for the future. Also, at colleges in continental Europe, companies offer “Apprenticeships” which provide financial support to students. They pay the tuition fees completely and also offer a stipend to work part-time at their company.

Apprenticeships are tough to find as compared to internships, but students do get it if they apply and network at their B-schools. You define the curriculum along with the company, which can be either 3-days of working and 2-days of school per week, or it can also be 3 months of working and 3-months of school. The contract is usually for 2-years and is one of the best ways to gain experience and also fund your education. The contracts are for a long duration which requires commitment, but if the role is suitable for you, it is an amazing option.

As you spend your first week outside your country, you begin to value what you had. You start wondering how pampered you were and how easy it was to get by just by dialing a few digits on your mobile. Managing your finances is a different ballgame in a foreign country and you start exploring different facets and hidden talents you didn’t even know you had. Cleaning your room, buying groceries, cooking your own meals, washing dishes, making your own tiffin box and so much more. Yes, you begin to wonder how privileged you were back home. But this gets exciting as you start becoming independent and within months it comes naturally.

Managing your monthly finances starts with the biggest chunk- rent. The rent usually varies from 550 € – 600€ for student residences based on where you are staying. The student residences have a nice international culture with facilities including gym, study rooms, and Wi-Fi. In France, the French government provides a subsidy which shaves off around 200€ in the suburbs and around 100€ if one is living in the city. As mentioned before, the government provides subsidies to students and it extends to transportation which costs around 35€.

You begin to wonder why you did all those experiments in Chemistry in your high school and soon you get to practically apply those skills when you start cooking while you watch the recipes on YouTube. Monthly groceries and expenses range from 100€-150€, depending on your taste. Overall, it is safe to say that your monthly expenses can range from 600€ – 800€ based on your appetite. These are the costs considered while living in the suburbs of Paris and may vary depending on the location. For reference, Paris is an expensive city and the costs may go down when you consider any other location in Europe.

Setting up initially is expensive but as weeks go by, you eventually become efficient at managing expenses and stop converting currencies. The standard of living demands a higher spend and when you get opportunities to work, you will comprehend spending in € by earning in €. It is a tough balancing act when you want to travel and enjoy life in a foreign city, not as a tourist but as a native, but it can be easily achieved if one manages their finances judiciously. Life as a MIM student is a pleasant challenge as it helps you learn and practically apply the concepts of Business and management, yet the biggest learning experience begins with how well you conduct your own matters. From working part-time to doing internships and apprenticeships, there are a lot of avenues to fund and reduce the financial burden. Along with all this, the major shift in lifestyle for many as you start being independent is the exciting factor of student life.

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