24-year-old American moved to Belgium to get his Master's degree—it cost just $4,610: 'As a student, there is no better cost of living'
Grey went and studied in Copenhagen for six months. When that time was up, he wasn't ready to head back to Santa Cruz, so he attended a Semester at Sea before finally returning to California.
"When I came back to Santa Cruz, it was a real reverse culture shock for me," Grey 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 apartment with three other roommates and worked as a study abroad advisor. His share of the rent was $1,340 a month, according to documents reviewed by 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."
Not only was Grey unhappy being back in California, he was also dissatisfied with the quality of education he received at UC Santa Cruz, especially considering the cost. For the 2024-2025 school year, the average cost for in-state students living on campus is $44,160. Grey's classes were canceled for more than half a semester one year and he still had to pay for the entire thing.
"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."
Grey considered master's programs at Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, but he couldn't justify the cost. That led him to Leuven, Belgium.
Leuven was built to be a "15-minute city," an urban planning concept where most daily necessities like shopping, healthcare, and more can be reached within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. The concept is gaining traction in other Belgian cities like Brussels and Mechelen and exists in major cities like Paris, France, Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne, Australia.
In Leuven, cars are banned in the city center and it is easy — and encouraged — to get around on bike.
"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."
Leuven is home to the KU Leuven university, which offers a program for degree-seeking students called a search permit. This permit allows students or researchers to stay for a year and work unrestricted, provided they obtain a master's degree from a university in the country. It's a one-year program, and the tuition cost is about 3,800 euros a year or $4,481 USD. Most of Grey's classes provided all course material online, so he didn't have to worry about buying textbooks.
"As a student, 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 in July 2023 with two checked bags and a backpack. He moved into a four-bedroom house with three other people and paid 500 euros, or USD $544, a month in rent at the time: "It was fantastic. I mean, I was paying a third of the price to get my own room."
Grey immediately set out to build a life 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 last summer, having paid 4,290 euros, USD $4,610 at the time, for the year-long master's program. Grey then moved about a 10-minute bike ride outside the city where he pays 420 euros a month in rent, including utilities. His current housing also provides some toiletries and some food, too.
The 24-year-old has lived in Belgium for almost two years now, and says he loves the work-life balance he's been able to find 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."
Grey loves living in Belgium so much that he's gearing up to start his second master's program at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, the country's capital, in September. The estimated cost for the year is roughly 4,960 euros — USD $5,848. He'll live on campus and pay around the same amount as he does in rent now.
"I'm really committed to living here in Belgium and eventually going for naturalization," Grey says. "After I graduate, the goal would be to work as a journalist in Brussels for either one of the American papers or as a North American correspondent for one of the Belgian papers."
The one thing Grey does know for sure is that he isn't ready to return to America just yet, especially after seeing how much his life has changed for the better in Belgium.
"I knew that Belgium was an option for creating a life here and it had more pathways for me to live here. I'm grateful to my 22-year-old self that I chose this country and I chose this path because it looks like I'm gonna stay and if I don't stay, it won't be due to a lack of trying," he says.
"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,."
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