Cost of Living in the USA for International Students, in PKR

Going by the universities' own budgets for 2026-27, a single graduate student in the USA needs roughly $2,300 to $2,600 a month in a smaller university town such as San Marcos in Texas or Urbana-Champaign in Illinois (about Rs 6.4 to 7.3 lakh), and about $4,500 a month near Boston (about Rs 12.5 lakh). That is before tuition. For the student visa there is no fixed national amount: your university works out a yearly cost, prints it on your Form I-20, and you must show you can pay it.

This guide turns those budgets into rupees, line by line, so a Pakistani family can see what a month really costs. Then it sets each scholarship's payment against them, to show what is left or what is short. We read every figure on 27 October 2026 on university, US government and funders' own pages. Costs and stipends change every year, so the official pages are always the final word.

The exchange rate we used

Every rupee figure here uses $1 = Rs 277, the mid-market rate shown by Wise on 27 October 2026 (Rs 276.9, rounded). Banks and exchange companies in Pakistan sell dollars at a higher rate than mid-market, and the rate moves every day. If the rupee weakens, every rupee figure below goes up. Work out your own numbers with today's rate before you transfer money, or use our cost calculator.

What a month costs, item by item

The USA has no single official student budget, and costs differ hugely from one state to another. So we used three universities that publish their own 2026-27 graduate budgets: one in an expensive city and two in cheaper towns. All are for one student with no family.

Where these come from:

• MIT: Student Financial Services' graduate cost of attendance for 2026-27 gives a 12-month budget of $22,800 for housing, $10,440 for food, $10,392 for personal costs, $3,792 for transport, $5,148 for health insurance (if you join MIT's plan) and $1,548 for books. We divided each by 12.
• UIUC: the Registrar's 2026-27 graduate estimated additional expenses for international students give $16,512 for food and housing, $1,800 for books, $3,090 for transport and personal costs, and $2,250 for health insurance (part of the campus fees) for the academic year. The page doesn't say how many months that covers, so we spread it over the nine months of two semesters.
• Texas State: the International Office's 2026-27 cost of attendance for F-1 students gives nine-month living costs of $13,230 for room and board, $2,333 for health insurance, $1,660 for transport, $2,750 for personal costs and $780 for books, with a living subtotal of $20,900.

None of the three lists a phone bill on its own line: it sits inside "personal". For one more cheaper-city example, the University at Buffalo's international student services put 2026-27 living expenses at $18,700 for the academic year (Rs 51.8 lakh).

The summer months are extra

Two of the budgets above cover only the nine months of the autumn and spring semesters. A master's student who stays for the summer, or a PhD student who stays all year, still pays rent in June, July and August. MIT's own figures show the difference: its 9-month graduate budget is $109,017 including tuition, and its 12-month budget is $144,315 (Rs 4 crore). When you plan a year, plan twelve months of rent, not nine.

Tuition comes on top

The living costs above don't include tuition, which is usually the bigger number:

• MIT: 2026-27 graduate tuition is $66,720 for nine months or $89,775 for twelve (Rs 2.5 crore), on the same MIT page.
• Texas State: the F-1 estimate gives nine-month totals, tuition and living together, of $32,000 for a master's student (Rs 88.6 lakh, tuition based on 6 credit hours) and $37,200 for a doctoral student (Rs 1.03 crore).

Funded PhD students usually have tuition waived (see below), and a few colleges meet the full cost for undergraduates who need aid, but a self-funded master's student pays both lines. Our Study in the USA guide gives typical tuition at public and private universities.

What the visa asks you to show

The US has no blocked account and no single amount like Germany's. Instead:

• Your I-20 sets the amount. Study in the States, the US Department of Homeland Security's student site, says that before a university issues the Form I-20, you must prove you have the money, and that the funds shown "should be enough for up to one year or the length of the program, whichever is shorter." The university's estimate (like the budgets above, plus tuition) is the figure you prove.
• At the interview, the State Department's student visa page says the consular officer may ask for evidence of how you will pay all educational, living and travel costs.
• Fees before you go: the SEVIS I-901 fee is $350 (Rs 97 thousand), according to ICE, and the visa application fee is $185 (Rs 51 thousand), according to the State Department page above. Both are paid in dollars and can't be refunded if you change your plans.

In practice, a family self-funding one year at Texas State would show around Rs 88.6 lakh for a master's, while for a year at MIT it would be around Rs 4 crore. A scholarship or assistantship letter counts towards the amount, so read your university's I-20 instructions on what it accepts.

How far your scholarship goes

Here is each scholarship's payment set against the costs above. "Left" means what remains after the estimate; it is not a promise of savings.

• Fulbright: the USEFP page lists what the award covers and says awards depend on USEFP's budget for the year. It also says applicants should be ready to complete the grant without their dependents. The last round closed on 1 April 2026, and the page showed it closed with no new date when we checked. Our Fulbright and undergraduates article explains who can apply.
• Knight-Hennessy: the funding page describes the tuition fellowship, a stipend for "living and academic expenses" and a travel stipend for up to three years. The admission page says the 2027 cohort is closed and the 2028 application opens in June 2027.
• AAUW: the AAUW page gives $20,000 for a master's and $25,000 for a doctorate, paid in two instalments, for women studying full time in the USA. The 2027-28 round closed on 17 September 2026. It is a contribution, so the family or the university still has to cover tuition.
• PhD assistantships: Illinois Physics gives $2,700 a month for a half-time assistantship before the qualifying exam, with a full tuition waiver and a partial fee waiver; most of its assistants are on 11-month appointments. MIT lists $4,269 a month for a doctoral research assistant on a 12-month appointment, says it pays "a substantial fraction" of tuition, and subsidises health care. Neither page names the academic year, so confirm the rate in your offer letter. If you are applying for a funded PhD, start with our email to a potential supervisor.
• Undergraduates: a few colleges give need-based aid to international undergraduates. MIT's financial aid page says it is need blind and meets full need for all undergraduates, domestic and international. The college works out what your family can pay from its income and savings, so the costs above are not what every family pays. See our pages on MIT's aid and Harvard College's aid for their rules and deadlines.

Can part-time work fill the gap?

Study in the States' F-1 guide says a student working on campus may not work more than 20 hours a week while school is in session, and needs the school's approval first. Off-campus work is only possible after one full academic year, in cases of severe economic hardship, with approval from the school and the US immigration service (USCIS). Assistantships count as on-campus work. So a family should plan a budget that works without a job and treat any earnings as extra. This is a summary of the official page, not immigration advice; your university's international office is the place to ask about your own case.

Your next step

Pick two or three universities, open each one's "cost of attendance" or "estimated expenses for the I-20" page, and put its numbers and today's exchange rate into our cost calculator, so the whole family sees the yearly total in rupees. Check each scholarship's current rate on its official page before you count on it, and never pay an agent to "arrange" funding or an I-20: universities issue the I-20 themselves. This page is general information, not financial advice.