The boring-but-important calculators every F-1 student wishes they had in July.
Most "study in the USA" cost tools are college-marketing widgets that quietly skip the things that actually move your budget — SEVIS fees, OPT's 90-day unemployment cap, FICA exemption, the gap between university and external health plans, and the months of rent a sublease can save. This toolkit is the opposite: small, specific, free, and quiet about your data.
All tools
Pick the calculation that's actually on your desk. Each tool is a single page — bookmarkable, sharable, no login.
Visa & Status
Stamp, SEVIS, OPT, H-1B
F-1 Visa Total Cost Planner
See the real first-year F-1 cost — including the fees most 'cost-of-study' tools quietly skip.
OPT Earning Forecaster (with 90-day unemployment cap)
Predict your OPT income — and the day you'll hit the 90-day unemployment limit if you don't land a role fast enough.
H-1B Lottery Probability Calculator
One registration is one entry. Three registrations is too many. Here's the honest math.
SEVIS 30-Day Entry Window Tracker
You can't enter more than 30 days before your program start, and you can't be more than 30 days late. This tool builds your timeline.
DHS Address Reporting Reminder
DHS requires updates within 10 days. Missing them risks your status — here's a reminder calendar.
Credit Load + On-Campus Work Hours Planner
Balance your work and credit hours so you stay compliant with F-1 every term.
Money & Cost
Budgets, loans, scholarships, taxes
Scholarship ROI Analyzer
Don't just compare dollar amounts — weight scholarships by how likely you are to actually win or keep them.
Total Real-Cost of Studying in the US
Tuition + rent + food is not the budget. Here's what's actually on the receipt.
Tax Refund Estimator for F-1 Students
Most F-1 students overpay — here's the rough amount you might get back (or owe).
Bank Account Comparison (no-SSN friendly)
Pick a bank that opens accounts without SSN. Most do; the differences are in fees, ATM access, and wire rates.
Emergency Fund Builder (for students)
How much runway do I have if I lose my on-campus job, get sick, or face an unexpected flight home?
Flight Cost Optimizer (booking window analysis)
There's a sweet spot for booking international flights. We approximate the math.
Salary vs Student Debt Payoff Years
How long will debt follow you, and is grad school worth the extra year?
International Wire Transfer Fee Comparator
The bank wire fee is what you see. The FX margin is what you don't. Both add up.
Housing & Life
Rent, roommates, utilities, furnishing
On-Campus vs Off-Campus Housing Cost
On-campus isn't automatically cheaper — the math depends on whether you need a meal plan and how far you'll commute.
Roommate Budget Splitter
Stop arguing about the wifi bill. Here's the transparent formula — choose your split style.
Rent Estimator by US Metro Tier
A planning estimate, not a Zillow clone. Useful for the 'should I be looking here?' question.
Grocery Budget for International Students
The USDA food plan is a fiction if you cook Chinese, Indian, or halal at home. Here's a more honest number.
Cell Phone Plan Picker for International Students
The postpaid carriers will reject your application without SSN / credit history. Here are the realistic options.
Sublease Break-Even Calculator
If you leave for the summer, what's the minimum monthly rent you need to charge so you don't lose money?
Moving Cost Estimator (out-of-state or international)
Truck rental + gas + insurance + tip + tolls. The full math, including the things you forgot.
Starter Furniture Cost Estimator
IKEA list is the aspirational answer. Real answer mixes IKEA with marketplace finds.
International Student Packing List Generator
Forget extra shampoo. Bring your prescriptions, your power adapters, and the one thing that makes it feel like home.
Academic
GPA, workload, deadlines, study plans
GPA Converter (US 4.0 with weighted + international)
Different schools report GPA differently. This converts between systems and runs a final-year forecast.
Course Workload Estimator
How many hours a week will this course actually take? Stop guessing, start planning.
Study Hours Planner (deadline backward scheduler)
Spread assignments over the days you have, weighted by their grade impact.
Assignment Deadline Ladder (US Academic Calendar)
Stop being surprised that a problem set is due right after Thanksgiving. Plot it on a real US calendar.
Textbook Cost Finder (cheapest route by source)
Don't pay $200 for a $30 textbook. Pick the cheapest realistic option per book.
Career
Resume, salary, job search, OPT earnings
STEM OPT 24-Month Extension Value Analyzer
STEM extension adds 24 months of work authorization. What's that actually worth in dollars — and is your major eligible?
Resume Bullet Quantifier (action + number scorer)
Recruiters skim, not read. Numbers and strong verbs make bullets clear.
LinkedIn Headline + About Tester
Recruiters search LinkedIn by keyword. Your headline is a search query, not a tagline.
Cold Email Subject + Body Tester
Outreach that gets replies uses specific subject lines, names the person, has a short ask.
Health & Safety
Insurance, prescriptions, emergencies
Health Insurance Comparison (school plan vs external)
University plan vs external plan — by real-life scenarios, not just brochure highlights.
Prescription Cost Estimator (with GoodRx + generic)
Insurance isn't always the cheapest. Run the math on GoodRx, generics, and patient assistance.
Sick Day & Uninsured Care Cost Estimator
If I'm uninsured or my deductible hasn't met, what does this actually cost?
About
StudyUS Toolkit is a free collection of 35 specific calculators and planners for international students on F-1 or J-1 visas — and the families helping them decide whether a U.S. degree fits their plan. We built it because most 'study in the USA' calculators we found were generic expense spreadsheets or marketing widgets that quietly skipped the things that actually change a budget: SEVIS fees, the 90-day unemployment cap during OPT, FICA exemption for students, the gap between university and external health plans, and the months of rent a well-priced sublease can save. We wanted tools that said those things out loud. Every tool here runs in your browser. We do not run a server. There is no login, no account, no email capture, and no analytics tied to your identity. Your inputs disappear when you close the tab. If ads run on this site in the future they will be Google AdSense — see the Privacy section below for exactly what that does and how to opt out.
Privacy policy
TL;DR — we do not collect personal data on this site. No account, no email, no IP logging for ads, no analytics tied to your identity.
Cookies & local storage: all calculators run in your browser using JavaScript. They do not write any cookie or localStorage entry. Your input values disappear when you close the tab.
Google AdSense & third-party advertising: if and when ads are served on this site, they will be Google AdSense. Google and its partners set and read their own cookies (including __gads, IDE, NID, and similar advertising cookies) to deliver ads, limit how often you see a specific creative, and measure ad performance. Those vendors may use these cookies to recognize your device across sites. You can opt out of personalized advertising at google.com/settings/ads, or via the DAA consumer-choice tool. EU/UK visitors will see a consent banner before any ad is loaded.
Third-party cookies in general: because of ad partners, this site loads with cookies we did not place. We do not have visibility into the full cookie list set by Google and partners; you can review their cookie usage at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.
Children: we don't knowingly target under-13 visitors; this toolkit isn't designed for K-12.
Disclaimer
This site provides general information only. It is not legal advice, tax advice, financial advice, or a substitute for a licensed immigration attorney, CPA, or financial-aid officer.
Figures shown — including tuition averages, federal fees, state tax rates, insurance caps, and lottery probabilities — change frequently. We encode what we believe to be correct numbers at build time but we cannot guarantee that any specific figure reflects your school, your state, or the current academic year.
Do not file immigration forms, tax returns, or loan documents based on values produced here. Use these tools to build a working hypothesis and then verify with the primary source (your designated school official, USCIS, IRS Publication 519, your bursar, or your health-plan summary of benefits).
No warranty. The site and its calculations are provided "as is" without any warranty of accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Use at your own risk.