student earn in Australia

How much can an Indian student earn in Australia for his/her studies?

You will hear many stories of how people worked 3 to 6 shifts a day and saved up 30,000 AUD within 3 months and paid tuition for their course. The people who say this are massively misjudging the effort required to undertake.

You are limited by the following factors:

1. Visa conditions - you are allowed to work 40 hours total over 2 weeks. This means at most 20 hours a week. You can always work around this - and sit in fear that the immigration department can easily deport you for this reason. Again, anecdotally people will tell you it’s no big deal - in light of changing policies and local politics - this is being monitored more closely.
2. Hourly rates - You will most likely be paid minimum wage 20AUD per hour - if you are lucky - otherwise, you will take a few dollars below minimum wage (15AUD) to make ends meet. Each subject (at a decent university will cost approximately AUD 3000 or more) - imagine taking 4 courses in a semester - that’s 12,000 AUD (roughly). How long will you need to work? The math is straightforward - a long time.

You also miss out on other things when students attempt this - they learn nothing from the degree they are enrolled in, often miss out on important networking events that could land them jobs, and are totally disconnected with the local community. Net outcome - you don’t have money saved up, you’ve done poorly in your course, and you are completely disconnected with the local community because you’ve not had time to interact with them. This type of stress also takes a mental toll on your well-being - what’s the price on that?

Studying abroad is an expensive undertaking - it is better to either invest the money to yield profitable results - or continue to save money until you can comfortably afford your expenses.