After doing a semester in UB on campus (fall 2014), many friends and juniors have asked me about my experience there and if i had tips for them for the semester abroad. This blog is an answer to everyone and is a good way to consolidate information and to share it with anyone out there who needs it.
During my semester in Buffalo NY, I learned several ways on how you can save money by cutting unnecessary expenditure and also how you can make the most of your experience in Buffalo NY. This can also be applied to travelling in the United States in general as well.
Here are some of my tips.
1) Waive your student insurance if you have already bought overseas coverage from Singapore
UB has a mandatory student health insurance that will be billed to you if you do not apply to waive it. ( They will remind you of the deadline on UB learns) Here is the link to the website on which you can download the waiver form if you intend to waive it.
The basic criteria your insurance must meet in order to waive your UB International Students Health Insurance is stated below.
The minimum coverage required by SUNY in order to be approved for a waiver of the SUNY's health insurance plan must include:
- $300,000 USD of coverage per injury/illness
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment Benefits of $10,000 USD
- Deductible of $50 USD
- Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions (including pregnancy)
- Coverage for Medical Evacuation & Repatriation (may be purchased from SUNY separately)
- Coverage for in-hospital room and board
- Coverage for inpatient treatment of mental and emotional disorders
- Coverage for treatment of alcohol and substance abuse
- Coverage for prescription drugs
- Coverage for lab work, x-rays, and other diagnostic testing
- Coverage for ambulance charges and equipment rental
This can all be found here on the international student and scholars services website.
To summarise, for those of you who are not familiar with insurance jargon (like me), your insurance plan from Singapore must triumph these coverages of their insurance plan.I advise you to contact your Singapore insurance agent and talk through it one by one and to fill up the waiver form too. If you have more questions, you can head down to the Student Medical Insurance Office and speak to the friendly staff there. The address for the office is listed below.
If you manage to waive your insurance, you will save about $526.35USD (for Fall 2014, prices might vary a bit in different semesters) and avoid paying a double fee, of both your Singapore Insurance, and also your UB insurance.
However, if your Singapore insurance plan does not hit those premiums of their insurance plan, you will have to pay for both. (which you probably would've paid for anyway)
Student Medical Insurance Office
Student Union 315
University at Buffalo
Buffalo , N.Y. 14260
Tel: (716) 645-3036
Fax: (716) 645-3465
E-mail: asksmi@buffalo.edu
Screenshot of my health insurance
Okay to less boring and technical things now...
University at Buffalo
Buffalo , N.Y. 14260
Tel: (716) 645-3036
Fax: (716) 645-3465
E-mail: asksmi@buffalo.edu
Screenshot of my health insurance
Okay to less boring and technical things now...
2) Make full use of school facilities and go for as many school events as you can
Free food! Queue and take as much as you can. So typical of Singaporeans right?
Part of your school bill includes (a health fee, a student association fee, an activity fee and various other fees that you will have no idea what you are paying for ) Hence, make your money's worth and go for as much school events as possible, especially those with free food. The free food they serve is pretty good and usually includes burgers, hot dogs, fresh fruits, vegetables and stuff like these.
Hot dogs, Watermelons, chips and iced tea
This was a super scrumptious meal and yes it was "free"! (paid by your student fee)
Some school events
Note: The photos posted above are during the earlier to middle parts of the Fall semester (late Aug- Early Oct). For those who go for a semester in Spring, you will probably have more indoor activities due to the inclement weather.
In addition, going for events like these are the part of the "American College" experience that you signed up for, as you will not be able to get experiences like these in SIM-UB. You will find that many american students are in the same boat as you and will queue a long while just for a free hot dog to save a few dollars.
Also, the Student Association (SA) organises several free concerts and events over weekends that are pretty kick-ass. Do look out for them and "Like"their Facebook page for updates on events, giveaways and just to be part of the community.
Basketball Scrimmage in Alumni Arena
Lastly, look out for the "UB Distinguished Speaker Series" and their respective dates. The distinguished speaker series is basically talks organised by UB that bring in celebrities, sportsmen, entrepreneurs and other famous people on campus to give speeches. People pay good money to come to listen to them but we can get tickets for free as undergrads of UB. I personally went for John Oliver's session (would have gone for more if my classes didn't clash with them) and really enjoyed myself.
Note: Speeches sound boring right? But the speeches vary in style from speaker to speaker. John Oliver's speech was kind of like stand up comedy as that is his genre. It was amazing. Every speaker has a different style.
The website for the distinguished speaker series is here and you can get tickets (one per person with your UB card) with instructions from here.
Distinguished Speaker Series
Distinguished Speaker- John Oliver
3) Get "hand me downs" from seniors who were there before you
Settling into a place (especially in the middle of winter) can be difficult, tiring and also expensive. One thing you can do to ease your burden is to ask around (in the SIM-UB FB group or maybe your friends ) if you can purchase ; or even better; get for free, hand me down stuff like kitchen utensils, pots and pans, rice cookers or other home amenities from your seniors or friends. While having new ones might be nice and clean, it'll cost you additional money (which can actually be put into more productive use: for example shopping at premium outlets :D), and will also be wasted after your 4.5 months there. Best to get hand me downs and share the love after you leave.
Note: If You happen to bring your rice cooker or any other electronic devices to the US, do note that their residential voltage is different from Singapore.
Singapore's residential voltage is 230V and US is 120V. Simply put, a rice cooker using Singapore's residential voltage of 230V will cook rice about 90% faster than the same rice cooker using US's voltage of 120V.
4) Sign up for Amazon Prime
Amazon prime is one of the best things on earth. As students in the United States, we can sign up for 6-months of Amazon prime membership for free with our @buffalo.edu email. Amazon prime allows you to buy stuff from Amazon with a free 2 day shipping, which is extremely incredible because Amazon sells EVERYTHING from food, weapons, books, household appliances to clothes and shoes.
Secondly, using your amazon prime account to invite other friends grants you credit as well. (kind of like how inviting friends to use AirBnb gives you and your invited friends some discounts). This can help you cut expenses and make your online shopping experiences even better.
Sign up for Amazon Prime here.
Note: If you use a Singapore credit card (Citibank for example) and want to avoid the horrendous Amazon exchange rate, buy Amazon gift cards with cash from CVS, Walmart or any other shops for your big purchases.
5) Do your groceries at Wegmans and buy family packs
I'm sure many of you have heard from seniors that Wegmans is actually the more upscale (cold storage level) supermarket compared to Walmart, which is the more affordable ( NTUC level) supermarket. While that is not entirely false, Wegmans actually offers more bang for buck if you purchase a bigger quantity of food. If it's too much for you and your roommates to finish, spilt it with your neighbours and you will all end up saving money and getting fresher and better produce. One of my personal favourites is their large family pack blueberries that usually go for 4.99.
The good thing about Walmart is that they have everything in their huge ass compound and its usually really cheap. Walmart will be a good place to visit first to get your basic things like pillows, comforters, bedsheets and other necessities.
However, for grocery shopping, i would recommend Wegmans and i firmly stand by their brand.
Note: Almost all supermarkets (Tops, Walmart, Wegmans, CVS etc) have membership cards that can help you get discounts on your purchases. Be sure to ask for them from the beginning of your semester to get discounts.
6) Tips for renting a car
Finally, for those of you who do not know, it is almost entirely impossible to get around in Buffalo (or most of the US for that matter) without a car.(especially in winter!) Buffalo is a suburban area with low rise buildings far away from each other. While some of you might decide to buy a car, renting a car for a weekend of groceries and travelling is probably the most economical way to get around.
After my numerous times renting a car, i have found some tips on saving the most money for car rentals.
- Get someone who is above 25 years old to rent the car. (In the US, people aged younger than 25 have to pay additional fees called a "young driver fee" when renting a car. This is an additional premium for younger drivers that cost somewhere between 10-25USD/day extra on top of everything else. Note: the person renting the car must have a Driving License
- If you are absolutely confident of your driving skills and driving on the opposite side of the road, get the rental company to waive off your car insurance. Tell them you do not need insurance and you already have your own. Some companies you can name are Geico, Allstate or AIG. A comprehensive list of American Insurance companies can be found here. The car rental salesmen usually do not check up on that and you can save quite a bit of money by waiving off the insurance.
However, do note that YOU ARE AT RISK here and you should be absolutely confident of driving the rental car , and not getting into any trouble before deciding to waive the insurance.
Here are some of the more popular car rental companies in Buffalo and the US.
1) Enterprise- My personal favourite. They do pick ups and drop offs. Which means they will fetch you to their shop to take the car and fetch you home after you have returned the car. I used enterprise almost exclusively throughout my stay in the US, even in different states. I personally found their prices the most reasonable and their service the best.
Note: If you stay too far away from the rental shop they might not be able to fetch you back
2) Hertz
3) Alamo
4) Avis
5) Budget
Lastly, a final tip for everyone is to use YELP. I cannot stress how useful yelp is and how it has helped my friends and I discover many hidden gems in places that seemed to have nothing. It is free, and extremely useful. You can download the Yelp applications on your smart phones.
Lastly, Thank you everyone for reading this and I hope the infomation has been helpful to you. I know it has been a long post and thank you for reading till the end. Feel free to share any information from here or to share this post with your friends. If you do have any questions, feel free to comment on this post, or contact me via FB message. Have a great semester ahead and God bless!
