24-year-old American moved to Belgium and lives on $1,132 a month: ‘I fell in love with it’

Colby Grey, 24, grew up in an excessively rural and conservative neighborhood in San Luis Obispo, California. It wasn’t till transferring two hours away to wait the University of California, Santa Cruz, that he traveled that a long way for the primary time.

It used to be the start of a brand new lifestyles for Grey — he simply did not realize it but.

“Not many people in my town had passports. You didn’t really travel much and you didn’t go to school very far either,” Grey tells CNBC Make It. “I was one of the ones that went further and then when I studied abroad, I was one of the first to leave the country.”

Grey lived on campus initially of his freshman yr however the covid-19 pandemic totally disrupted his time there. By the second one semester, Grey used to be pressured to transport house for roughly a yr. It used to be right through this time again in San Luis Obispo that Grey explored finding out in a foreign country.

Grey studied in Copenhagen for 6 months. When that point used to be up, he did not need to head again to Santa Cruz.

“[Denmark] managed the pandemic really well and had a very high vaccination rate,” he says. “I fell in love with it and decided I wanted to do more.”

Grey finished a Semester at Sea prior to in spite of everything going house to California.

“When I came back to Santa Cruz, it was a real reverse culture shock for me,” he says. “There was no housing left there. The city is really not built for students.”

Back in Santa Cruz, Grey lived off campus in a two-bedroom condo with 3 different roommates and labored as a find out about in a foreign country guide. Grey’s proportion of the hire used to be $1,340 a month, in step with paperwork reviewed via CNBC Make It.

“I was paying more to live in Santa Cruz than I had been paying to live abroad. I said to myself I couldn’t do it anymore,” Grey says. “I knew that after I was done [with undergrad] I would apply for a master’s degree in Belgium.”

Grey says his number one motivation for in need of to go away the United States is that lifestyles within the towns there by no means resonated with him — and he hated riding.

“That was one of the things that I loved about living in Europe, I never felt like I needed a car to live,” he says.

Grey used to be additionally unsatisfied with the standard of training he won at UC Santa Cruz, basically on account of the associated fee. For the 2024-2025 faculty yr, the moderate value for in-state scholars dwelling on campus is $44,160. Grey’s categories had been canceled for greater than part a semester 12 months and he nonetheless needed to pay for all the factor.

“It just didn’t seem like I was getting what I paid for even with a ton of federal and state funding,” Grey says. “I knew there had to be a better system and a better way to get an education. Through my study abroad job, I realized I could just get a visa and study as an international student for a sixth of the price.”

“I wanted to continue my education, but I wanted to use that as a pathway towards residency.”

Grey determined to move for his grasp’s diploma and regarded as systems in the United Kingdom, like at Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, however he could not justify the associated fee.

That led Grey to Leuven, Belgium, which appeared like the easiest selection. Leuven used to be constructed to be a “15-minute city,” an city making plans thought the place maximum day by day must haves like buying groceries, healthcare, and extra may also be reached inside a 15-minute stroll or motorcycle trip. The thought is gaining traction in different Belgian towns like Brussels and Mechelen and exists in main towns like Paris, France, Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne, Australia.

In Leuven, vehicles are banned within the town middle and it’s simple — and inspired — to get round on motorcycle.

“I fell in love with it and loved that Belgium was centrally located, so I could travel, too,” he says “There are four different countries around me within a three-hour train ride, and that was very unique.”

The KU Leuven college in Belgium provides a program for degree-seeking scholars referred to as a seek allow. This allow lets in scholars or researchers to stick for a yr and paintings unrestricted so long as they download a grasp’s diploma from a college within the nation. It’s a one-year program, and the schooling value is ready 3,800 euros a yr or $4,310 USD.

“As a student, though, there is no better cost of living. There is nothing better economically than being in Europe. There’s no reason to go into debt here, so it just makes sense at this stage in my life,” he says.

Grey arrived in Belgium with two checked baggage and a backpack, and transfer right into a four-bedroom space with 3 people. He paid 500 euros or $567 a month in hire: “It was fantastic. I mean I was paying a third of the price to get my own room.”

He set out instantly to construct a lifestyles in Leuven.

“When I first got here, it was daunting. I was aware of the fact that I had no friends here and I was totally on my own,” he says. “I think that was the first time I ever felt like that in my life. I worked really hard to make friends and make a community here.”

Grey graduated remaining summer season and moved a couple of 10-minute motorcycle trip out of doors town. He will pay 420 euros a month in hire, together with utilities. His present housing additionally supplies some toiletries and a few meals, too.

Grey’s further per month bills come with 236 euros in groceries, 154 euros in consuming out, 11 euros in medical insurance and clinical visits, 48 euros in transit, 50 euros for the health club, 30 euros on wellness, 20 euros on visa charges, 20 euros in clothes and 10 euros in subscriptions. Including his hire, Grey’s overall per month bills are about $998 euros a month or $1,132.

Grey has lived in Belgium for nearly two years now, and says he loves the work-life steadiness he is been in a position to seek out there.

“The community feels so strong here and I have a really great balance between my work life and my home life,” he says. “It’s such a slower pace of life here and it’s really beautiful.”

Since first visiting Europe in 2021 and relocating in 2023, Grey has traveled to 20 other international locations. His friends and family have all come consult with, too.

In 2024, Grey’s circle of relatives got here to Belgium and so they took a shuttle over to Tuscany. He returned to the U.S. for the primary time that December.

Grey has seven months left on his seek allow and he is enthusiastic about his subsequent steps, which might come with a 2nd grasp’s diploma and traineeship in Brussels or Portugal.

The something Grey does know evidently is that he is not able to go back to America simply but.

“Living in the U.S. I felt there was a ticking clock inside of me where I had to get into the workforce, get a house, have a family and I think now I’ve slowed down a little bit and kind of just smelled the roses a little bit more,” he says.

Conversions from euros to USD had been achieved the use of the OANDA conversion price of 1 euro to 1.13 USD on May 8, 2025. All quantities are rounded to the closest greenback.

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