Australia is a lovely country with a very good climate, interesting flora and fauna, high standards of living and some very good schools.

 

There are a number of great law and business schools that offer education on par with any of the top 100 or so universities in the world and the costs of living are well-balanced with the average salaries.

 

You will need to first find the right school for you, then enrol and pay the tuition fee and ultimately get a student visa before you can move to Australia and begin your academic career. This being said, there are definitely some big advantages to studying in Australia.

 

Standards and costs

 

Although some people like to point out that things can get a little pricey in certain places in Australia – larger cities like Melbourne and Sydney are some of the most expensive cities in the world – they fail to take into account that the average annual salary is also quite a bit higher than in other places.

 

In fact, Australian cities usually dominate lists of top ten “cities to live in” or “cities with best standards of living”, often as much as 4 or 5 entries are from Australia.

 

You can get by quite comfortably on about $450-$550 (not including tuition and leisure activities) and if you follow a few money-saving tips and live with a room-mate you may even be able to cut these numbers down further.

 

Good schools

 

Australia has five universities that rank in the top 100 in the world as of 2013. There are over 20 business schools and 32 law schools that offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and are held up to high education standards.

 
There are also plenty of “study abroad” programs that are designed to allow students coming to Australia to study a chance to live relatively comfortably in university apartments even on a limited budget. It is also worth looking into scholarship programs.

 

Options for the budget-minded student

 

An Australian student on a tight budget has a number of cost-cutting options at his or her disposal. First of all, there are a plenty of housing options offered by the universities themselves, which effectively cut living costs significantly as well transportation costs since these apartments are located within short walking distance of the school. Students can also use some of these cost-cutting measures:

 

• Share a place with a room-mate (or room-mates)
• Car pool or use public transport
• Make weekly shopping trips and buy in bulk at discount prices
• Cook their own food
• Organise “bring your own booze” parties
   

Another big concern are textbooks and school supplies which can end up costing a lot, but there are ways to save money on this as well. You can get used textbooks from older students at significantly lower prices and you can even get them online (personally I used Jekkle for this). Another option is downloading e-books which, due to the fact that they cost less to produce, are much less expensive or you can even rent the books you need for a month or two – more than enough time to prepare for an exam – and then just take them back when you are done.

 

A good deal of business and law schools in Australia are world-renowned and offer diplomas that are recognized by a large number of countries. On top of this, many Australian cities are considered to be some of the most liveable cities in the world, so it’s easy to see why so many young people from around the world are interested in pursuing an academic career in law or business in the land down under.