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How I paid my 1 Crore Tuition Fee? Middle Class Student Story! - YouTube
Channel: Singh in USA
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So hello everyone.
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Today I am going to
take you on a big adventure.
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I'll be sharing my four years
of journey.
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How I was able to afford
my 1 crore tuition fee
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and how I paid most
of the tuition fee by myself
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starting from my second year.
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And how I made it possible
even with the inflation on rate.
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You can take a look
at my I-20.
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My tuition fee in the first year
was 35k dollars.
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And 48k dollars
till the last year.
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So how I was able to
beat inflation?
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Even though my tuition fee
kept increasing
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but still I was able to
pay it on my own.
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So let's get started.
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So let's start the journey
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before my first year of college.
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I just have one request.
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Please do check out
my four years of college
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in four minutes, so that you
understand things.
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Regarding my family background,
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my mom was a retired doctor
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because of her illness.
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And my Nani was retired principal
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due to whom I could
actually come.
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I could actually come
due to both of their savings.
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So basically the journey
in 11th and 12th
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I had only one goal -
to do well in JEE Mains,
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Advanced and Boards.
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There was only
a single target.
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But luckily, or unluckily
for my parents-
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when they got the shock
of the tuition fee-
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so unluckily for my parents,
luckily for me
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I got to know from my school,
I was in the-
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one of the best schools
of Amritsar,
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Spring Dale Senior School,
from there I got to know
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that I can go abroad
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The road that I had
never seen in my mind,
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that opened in some way-
that's how I felt.
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Because in our school,
many people
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from Universities like University
of Waterloo, University of Toronto-
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not from big schools but from
many Universities of Canada
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people were coming for promotion
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to attract students
to Canada.
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Since it was Punjab so there were
more promotions from Canada basically.
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So that's why I knew that
it is an option
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but the road to US
hadn't opened yet.
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But one day there was an
event of college board.
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I was in my 11th grade-
end of 11th grade
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If it was in the starting of 11th,
things could have been different.
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But till 11th,
I was only preparing for JEE Mains.
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That event acknowledged me.
The road to US opened.
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And the main reason
this door opened
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because I always wanted
to do Computer Science in college
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I knew that if I go outside,
I could get CS if I wish to.
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Maybe I won't get it in India.
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That's why I was certain
and this is how I convinced my parents.
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Took my ACT, SAT.
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Got 27 in ACT.
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That was decent.
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Started applying.
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And you can say this
was a privilege or
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some advantage I had.
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My uncle and aunt
were here
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so Georgia somehow
became a preference.
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Not because I had a preference.
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Because my Nani we more satisfied,
more happy
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to let me come to Georgia.
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So that's why I applied
to Georgia State University, Georgia Tech,
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four more schools
all over the US
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but my score in ACT
wasn't that good
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And I never used to
get good marks in English
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So that's why I couldn't
perform well in reading
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of ACT and SAT.
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So that's why
I could get into only one school
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in the US.
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And from there
my journey of undergrad started.
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Now, the first year tuition fee
was 35k dollars.
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Now you will ask how
I got scholarship.
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I used to read stories daily
through the Great Indian Dream group.
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There's a Facebook group
called the Great Indian Dream Group
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where I used to read
stories daily.
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This guy got accepted
in University of Michigan
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What was the score?
What was the process?
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This guy got accepted in GaTech?
What was the score and process?
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By reading those stories-
One story of GSU popped in as well.
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I knew that if I go here
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not just scholarship
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but I will also get a good opportunity
to be in a Tech city.
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For example, if you get accepted
by two schools,
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one, whose ranking
is very good.
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It's a great University
but the location isn't that great.
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But in some other school
where you can get a scholarship
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the location is great as well
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and the fee is less
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what would you choose?
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I obviously chose this
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Atlanta city
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where I got a great
exposure to the Tech world.
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And the fees wasn't much.
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Now, the fees- it was
still high- 35k dollars.
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I convinced my parents
because I promised them
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in the first year
you give me 25 lac Rupees
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because the dollar rate
at that time was around 70.
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And I will handle it
myself later onwards.
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Now, let's talk about
how I managed
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from my first year.
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So I entered in my first year,
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I had two priorities.
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Number one,
on-campus job,
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number 2, to get scholarship
from my second year.
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That was pretty much
guaranteed if you get
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a GPA above 3.5
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which I got- that's
a later story.
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But let's first start
about on-campus job.
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My best friend Naman
told me that
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there was an availability
in dining hall. Why not try it out?
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But there, the availability
was only of late hours.
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From 12 am in the night
to 3 am in the morning
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these were the only shifts.
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I tried, I gave my shot
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worked for a week
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but luckily I got a job
at a math tutoring centre.
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I used to get 8.5 dollars
an hour there as well.
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I used to get same money
on both places.
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In one place for lifting tables,
cleaning the dishes
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and in the other place
for teaching.
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Which one will I choose?
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I definitely chose
the tutoring job
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where I got to learn
many things.
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And I was able to make
400 to 500 dollars per month
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from which I could only
manage little expenses.
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Because my dorm fee was 700
and around 200 for food.
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900 dollars were my
monthly expenses in 2016.
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And the tuition fee
was another thing.
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So I didn't manage
everything alone.
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But I kept managing with
the money that used to come from India.
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Then came almost
the end of first year.
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Then I decided that
this is do or die situation now.
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I have to either learn
or die!
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I explored all options.
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I did courses on Android
all over Coursera an Udemy and stuff.
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Applied for internships
everywhere.
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And luckily
after 20 applications
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I got an internship
at one place
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where I got my first
full time internship salary
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by which I got around 10k dollars plus
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in my summer semester,
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because when you study
in the US for a year,
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you can do full time
internship anywhere in the campus-
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off campus as well.
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But that should be related
to your major.
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For example, I was a CS major
and I could do software engineering,
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systems engineering internship
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by which I got help
for my next year tuition.
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Now let's talk about
my next year tuition fee.
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Now, in my second year, as I told you
that you can get scholarship in GSU
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So my GPA was good
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and I got campus Atlanta scholarship
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which was 100 percent
out of state waiver.
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Which means, my tuition fee reduced
from 35k dollars to 5.5k dollars.
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It was 7000 actually,
I saved money in health insurance as well
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because I bought health insurance
from outside of the University
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by which I could save
1500 dollars
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So that's why it was
5500 dollars.
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So through this, all the money
I earned from my internship,
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from that I paid 5500 dollars
for my first tuition fee.
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Now, there was another twist
in my second year.
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Because I performed well
in my internship, I got part-time offer.
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I told that I did internship in the
10th floor of GaTech's 75th building
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if you remember.
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I worked part-time there
for 20 hours a week.
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I used to earn decent money too.
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I used to get around
1200 to 1400 dollars per month.
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So you think, the student whose
expenses were 1000 before
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I started getting more income
than my expenses.
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And I paid my tuition fee as well.
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So that was a magical thing
that happened to me.
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So I kept paying my tuition fee
for my second year
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and also my housing expenses.
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Now there was another change.
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My housing
wasn't on-campus.
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It was off-campus.
I was paying only 300 to 400 dollars
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because I was in a living room.
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I have learned a very
big lesson from rich dad poor dad.
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That's an amazing book
if you haven't read it.
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Please read it.
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It was written there
that always keep
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your assets high
and minimise your liabilities.
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I knew housing
was a liability.
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So I chose a house
next to a library
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even though the standard
of living was pretty low
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I can visit the library
in 5 minutes.
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Either to study
or to start my YouTube channel.
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And YouTube helped me
a lot as well.
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So now, since my expenses
were so low,
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and income was high, my savings
kept increasing.
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So I paid my second year's
second tuition fee.
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Because as I told you
I earned 10k dollars.
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So easily I could pay
the next semester tuition fee.
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And my savings increased as well.
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Now let's talk about third year.
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Now there was a big twist
in my third year.
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Even though as you know, in tech
you get the most salary.
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If you are doing internship,
full-time job
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you get so much money
that you can pay your fees easily.
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But it was very very hectic.
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I realised that I want
a change in life.
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I want to do more than excel sheets.
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Since I was a systems engineer,
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so I was working a lot
on Excel sheets.
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So that's why I wanted
to find a software engineering internship.
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So I thought, "Let's quit it."
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Because if I don't switch my job today
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then I will come in my comfort zone
and I will not able to do it later.
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So I left my internship
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left Panasonic automotive,
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and I got into the preparation
of placements as a software engineer.
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I tried each type of projects.
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Blockchain, Android development-
couldn't do iOS- I didn't have a MacBook
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and I tried other things like Java,
C#
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to see which I like
and I liked Android the most.
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I learned Android
nicely.
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Since I learned a little android
in Panasonic,
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I took a side project there.
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So that's why I was able to
find my next internship at NCR.
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I was benefited a lot.
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And that's how I switched my job.
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But my income decreased.
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I allowed my income to decrease.
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I did a sacrifice because
I wanted to find a better job
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And now in third year,
my main source of income
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was not internship
but part time jobs.
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If you have seen my four years
of college income,
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then you will get to know
about my whole income.
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So basically I chose part-time job
because I
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had to find a better placement.
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Now why did I do part-time jobs
in CS? Because
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I had done well in
my Basic CS class
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I got A grades in Java, Python
or Data structures.
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You get opportunity
to teach juniors
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or the ones in their first year
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I was in third year, so I taught
first year students.
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I got around 600-700 dollars there.
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My salary reduced to half
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but I got the time
to prepare for placements.
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And now again, because
of lower expenses-
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my food expenses was also less
because of WhatsApp group free food
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And my housing expenses
were also less.
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And my savings were more
which is why
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I was able to pay
my third year tuition fee as well
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And with the blink of an eye,
third year was over.
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And in fourth year,
I was actually doing my masters
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because I only did my undergrad
till my third year
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but I felt like I am missing something.
I want to learn more.
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So I applied for my masters
in my fourth year.
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I got fully funded masters.
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And I completed my masters
in an year where I didn't need
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to worry about tuition fee
once again.
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Because I used to get stipend
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and the university
used to pay my tuition fee as well.
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And now let me tell you the key lessons
that I learned in my four years,
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by which I paid my tuition fee
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and by which you can pay
yours as well.
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Number one lesson, you can always
sacrifice on standard of living.
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And you can always find
high paying internship jobs.
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You know that you can get
huge signing bonuses from big companies
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that can easily pay not just one year
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but also like 2 years of tuition fee.
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I have seen that
a company-
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since he negotiated-
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gave my friend a signing bonus
of around 20k dollars.
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So that's why your goal should be
to find high paying internships
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and if your standard of living
decreases a bit
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it won't matter
because if
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you are saving some money,
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that can be more worth
in the long run.
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Now, number two thing
that I did was
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always use my credit card
the most.
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There won't be any sponsor here.
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Be aware.
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I have always bought things at 0% interest
from my Amazon and Apple card
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by which I didn't need
to worry much about payment.
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Like for example,
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even now I have bought
my iPhone
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with my Apple card with in 20 dollars/month
with 0% EMI and 3% cashback.
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So I don't have to
worry about anything.
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So that's why I only spend 20 dollars
a month even though this iPhone is 1k dollars.
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So this idea worked a lot.
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And next thing that was very very
helpful was, I tried multiple things.
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I taught students, I explored
every possible option.
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I started my YouTube channel.
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It changed me financially
and my overall personality.
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I also learned many kind
of technologies.
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Blockchain, Android development
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I attended 17 Hackathons.
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I taught so many students and I
still think, as Sandeep Maheshwari said
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to teach is to learn twice.
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It was actually true for me.
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After teaching so many concepts
regularly,
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I got so clear that at the end
of the day, I wanted to be
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and Android or Mobile app developer
in the end
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because I realised after
teaching so many people
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that this is something I enjoy.
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I can talk about this
as much as I want.
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So these things did help me a lot.
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And now the most important financial lesson
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is about investing.
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Now you will say, "I don't have
tuition fee for my next semester.
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How will I invest?"
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The reality is, if you earn
decent amount of money in your internship,
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for example, I made 10k dollars.
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5000 - I paid my tuition fee.
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What will I do with the
rest 5000 dollars?
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What I did was- There isn't good
options like FDs here.
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You can invest in mutual funds
but that isn't safe.
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Because what if
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the index fund falls down
when I have to pay my tuition fee?
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What will I do?
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So that's why I recently discovered
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crypto.com's wallet
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I won't advice you to
invest in crypto
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I am telling you to
invest in stable coin in US dollars.
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You will get upto 6% annual interest there.
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So for example, I get 6.5%
interest on Ethereum.
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12.5% annual interest
on Polkadot.
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And you can get upto 12.5% on USDT,
Tether stable coin.
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Let me show you, I have so much crypto
which is easily giving me 6-12%
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You may not do in crypto
[801]
but if you want to consider,
you can on US dollars.
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Let me tell you, crypto's own coin
has become so big
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Crypto is actually the future.
I have myself learnt blockchain.
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Every investment isn't safe.
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But if you are investing in US dollars,
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if you are investing US dollars,
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that is definitely safe.
[817]
And they haven't sponsored me
at all. You will find the referral link
[820]
in the description below.
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So that will be it.
I hope you find this video helpful.
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It's getting very cold here.
I'll see you guys in the next one.
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Goodbye!
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