Cost of the exchange, hmmm different sources tell me different things but i can provide some knowledge as to what i know and update the final figure if i get to go. Ok, the one on the right are estimates from HK Poly Uni. so with other expensitures such as airfares, it would cost presumely around 7k on top of your 5k schoolfees. (NOT INCLUDING SHOPPING)
For the US, taking UM as an example the estimates- Living expenses for one semester:Housing: $3100.00 Meals: $3000.00 Books & Supplies: $800.00 Medical insurance: $400.00 Other: $300.00 Total US$ 7600.00. Converted to S$ using a conversion rate of 1.36 it would be around $10,336. Adding airfare of estimate $2,300 it would cost $12,636. A safety estimate including some shopping and budget travelling would cost you to increase the cost to $15,000 plus $5000 for your school fees that would be $20,000. Taking note that this is a public school, private schools could cost more.
Some schools do have hostels that have kitchens and if you can cook and don't mind the cleaning that is one way to save money. Bearing in mind sometimes conflict arise between room mates because of how they use the kitchen so well up to the individual.
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An email i received from a Travel agency today:
Hi All,
Let me give you inside information of expected airline changes due in September 2008, as presented during an airline briefing.
An A380 aircraft requires USD350,000.00 as at present, worth of jet fuel each round trip to New York from Singapore.
There will be more such big birds in the sky soon, with SQ accruing a few more such aircrafts.
The crunch here is travel on coach or economy class is going to be phased out for such aircrafts. The airfare on economy class does not cover the operating cost for the airlines.
Currently, there is only one flight operating to New York from Singapore via Frankfurt. The seats on economy class for the flights Singapore/New York/Singapore is near impossible to get hold of. Why you may ask? This is due to the strong Euro Dollar. It is lucrative for the airlines to board passengers from Frankfurt to New York as the airfare is higher than that from Singapore to New York.
The number of seats bound to USA will be decreased as SQ will stop flying Taipei/Los Angeles route. Eva Air is going to cut some of their USA destinations and China Airlines will stop flying Taipei/Seattle.
Thai International has stopped flying to New York and will be down sizing their aircrafts for long haul sectors.
The route left for most USA bound flights is via Tokyo. The Japanese market for flights from Japan to USA is still very lucrative and the airfare is higher than that from Singapore, therefore, here again the airline would shift their flight load to board passengers from Japan rather than from Singapore.
All the above boils down to the possibility of getting seats out of Singapore to USA, making it near impossible.
Domestic carriers within USA, will be charging for check in baggage at 1st piece USD40 and 2nd piece USD25 up to a maximum weight of 23 kg.
Travelers are going to be inconvenienced, as they would have to queue up to have their baggage weighted and paid for prior to boarding pass issuance.
Minimum connecting times between flights would now have to be extended to at least 4 hours to clear both security and payment of check-in baggage, especially for year end home leave travel.
Number of USA domestic flights would be reduced and the weekday/weekend fares will be reinstated at a higher fare level. The weekday fares are estimated to cost at between 50 – 70% more than that of weekend fares.
Please book and ticket early especially for year end travel back to USA and where possible do not change schedules booked as it is going to be difficult to get seats from Singapore.
Expect drastic changes in the industry as airlines will be taking measures to be viable in this difficult economic times in the USA.
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