I need some financial help and got till October
 

First let me explain the situation. I am studying abroad next semester in Japan, so yea, go me. Unfortunately my income is limited and my family doesn't have any to spare. After grants and loans I still need to come up with about 4000 more.

Now I am not asking for hand outs, though I will take hand outs, screw pride. But I wanted to know if anyone had any ideas on how to come up with the rest of the money. Besides normal work, I am already doing that. But as things stand it still wont be enough.

well...depending on your credit, you could always go to the bank and ask for a loan. Or ask some extended family if they have any they could borrow you.

If those don't work, get ready to work your ass off. You could mow lawns at grossly inflated prices. Yard work in general could pay well if you do it yourself and not through a company. You could also try doing a bunch of odd jobs and such, and basically, live your life working for the next while or so. I suggest not trying to gamble your money either. Odds are against you, they always are unless you're the casino;)

Write your sob story to your local paper and ask for penny donations. Or PM me your email address and I can send you a scholarship database site. (I'd post it here, but giving recommendations through email = chance to win money ;) )

well suppose I could see if I could appeal to the church as well.

but the working like a dog thing has its limits, which I am nearing. After all I still have preperations not to mention studying

1- Sell Anything and everything you wont take or cant take with you (Ebay NOW)

2- Study the option of a second job, if doable, do it!

3- Torrents + Ebay = Cash (Its kinda logical, and im walking on thin ice talking abotu that here, but 4000 its a lot of cash... so its kinda of a "given" to talk about this)

4- Friends help....

The logic is simple... if you're staying there for sometime, you will be in touch with the latest technology... so, anything you own and wont take with you, shall be crap when you come back... so sell it... also, its on the best interest of your friends to help you, as you just might send them those Gifts (and for "gifts", ofcourse i mean freaky weird japanese porn DVD's) every now and then. The second job is also a worthy effort, since you need the money and will be able to rest Later.

working on e-bay, but a good chunk of what I have isn't worth much anymore. Remember, family doesn't have much money. Still I should be able to atleast cover my spending money with it. I also intend to get some cheap tech, but sadly I cant make much use of it untill I am already there. Hmm unless they have a timemachine, but if they did I would just do the lottery.

oh and if anyone would like to donate PM me, I got paypals. Though I am unsure how the forum feels about asking for money.

1: If you're religious, you have one local institution you can rely on to donate you some cash if you ask...and ask very nicely. My church has been very generous to those considered "in need" and often their financial resources are donated to members, espesically those going on trips or in need of academic assistance and the sort. Heck, my church has paid for folks to go down to help Katrina victims, it's paid for folks to go to college and folks to afford their mortgage payments and whatnot after becoming unemployed.

2: Apply for scholarships like a madman.

3: Work as a babysitter on your off-hours.
Seriously.
Ask people you know if they need a babysitter. Let your masculine pride swallow it up, buddy, because you're going to take care of kids, and you'll get paid something like $10 an hour to do it -- but the best part is you won't have to pay taxes on it. Easy, breezy money, and you don't need qualifications to take care of kids.
Generally speaking I'd recommend talking to folks who have male children (assuming you are male yourself) and folks who have 'older' male children, as in post-potty training age. You want to make this easy on yourself, and comfortable for yourself. Don't ask to babysit little girls unless you know the family real well, because for obvious reasons many parents are uncomfortable leaving their girls behind with male strangers.

4: Want another easy breezy way to make money?
Mow lawns.
I'm serious. It's the summertime after all. Time to cut grass.
Just walk around your neighborhood and ask if they'd like you to mow their yard. Find out how much the local lawn-mowing service charges and undercut their prices by at least half. You'll need to pay for the gas and you'll need to use your family's mower, but assuming you can do that, you should make at least $10-20 per lawn. And most half-acre lawns only take 1.5-2 hours to mow at most.

I'm trying to do the same thing, only in a much shorter amount of time (4-6 weeks). But all I've been able to come up with for ideas is 1) Take a job until you have to leave 2) Get a loan for the amount you need (very bad idea unless you know you can pay it back within a few months) or 3) Use credit cards (the worst you can do because any overdue payments over a month will cost you 20% interest.

So your call. Also there are people who will let you barrow money at low interest for things such as student exchange programs. But you really gotta look.

Snake's right - You get ten bucks an hour watching kids, and you won't find another rate like that until you're out of college and getting a pro-time job.

But, yeah. Loans are a good way to do things. Since you're a student, you can get a scholarship loan, which has like half, to a quarter of the normal interest rates that every other loan in the fucking planet does.

Ever thought of not buying the expensive thing? Of course not, probably. Don't debt, kids.