Using phone cards to keep in touch with study abroad students
July 14, 2008 - 1:34pm — aimee"How can I keep phone calls with my study abroad student affordable?"
While e-mails are nice to receive when someone is away, there's nothing like hearing your loved one's voice over the phone, especially if you're the parent of a student studying abroad. Phone cards are a great way for parents as well as students keep in touch during this special time.
One of the best tips I can pass along to parents with students studying abroad is to find a card that both you and your student can use. This way, you both have an affordable way to reach each other.
Now it may be less expensive for you to call your student than for them to call you. This leads me to my next best tip. If your student is at a number where you can reach them, they can always call you and say "hi mom - I'm here" and hang up so you can call them back. This way, you're only paying for a minute or two at the higher rate per minute.
This has worked great for parents who have students studying in countries where it's not as affordable or if the student has a mobile phone that they're using. Many international mobile phone plans have free incoming calls, so when your student places an international call with the mobile phone, it may costs may be quite high. Even though the mobile phone rate is higher for us in the U.S. to call that international mobile phone, it is usually much cheaper than to make the entire call from the international location back to the U.S.
One phone card that many families like to use is the Study Abroad Student's Choice. This is a rechargeable calling card with online call details, flat-rates per minute so no additional fees, and bills in 6 second increments. It is also available in $5, $10, and $25 denominations, and is rechargeable from $5 to $100 to help students stay within a budget (purchases under $10 are subject to a small processing fee).
Phone Card Coupon for Week of July 14th
Through July 20th, receive a 5% discount on the purchase or recharge of a Study Abroad Student's Choice phone card from ZapTel. Use the following code to receive the discount:
STDYABRD
Enter the coupon code on the Review Your Order page, and be sure to click the "Add Coupon Code" button on the page to apply the discount. Offer expires at Midnight Central Time on July 20, 2008.
