IntroductionUniversity of Illinois at Urbana & Champaign (UIUC), ranked second in the most recent national ranking of the "Top 20 research institutions" by number of international students, It currently has 8,203 international students from 115 countries, representing 20% ​​of its total enrollment, and welcomes approximately 2,700 new international students each year. China, South Korea and India are the top 3 countries from which around 71% of the total international students come.1 For every international student, financial issue is one of the most concerned factors when planning for advanced education abroad . Usually, before the application process, international students should already secure their financial sponsorship. Support can come from the government program, the employer, bank loans and, in most cases, parents. Therefore, it is very important for international students to establish a comprehensive spending plan in advance, which covers most of the foreseeable expenses. However, spending inherits heterogeneity and can vary greatly in different months due to emergencies, purchases of expensive durable goods, holiday trips, and so on. Furthermore, such a preliminary plan must be based on a rational estimate of spending because living spending is influenced by multiple factors, such as the location of the university, price level, personal purchasing habits, personal standard of living required and so on. These uncertainties make estimating international student spending even more difficult. The two spending characteristics above are the main reasons why estimating international student spending is worth discussing. Literature concerning students... half of the document... see http://www.osfa.uiuc.edu /costo/.Works CitedBihagen, E. and Katz-Gerro, T. (2000), Cultural consumption in Sweden: the stability of gender differences, Poetics, 27(5-6), 327-349.Callender, C. and Kemp, M. (2000), The hardship of learning, ResearchReport RR 213, Department for Education and Employment, London. Carbonell, JA (2007), Cost of living for ERASMUS students. EAIE Forum.Hayhoe, CR, Leach, LJ, Turner, PR, Bruin, MJ, & Lawrence, FC (2000), Differences in College Students' Spending Habits and Credit Use, Journal of Consumer Affairs, 34(1) , 113 -133.Ong, D. (2009), The international student handbook: living and studying in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press.Penman, S. and McNeill, L.S. (2008), Spend your way to adulthood: consumption outside the nursery, 9(3), 155-169.