It has become very challenging for international students to find financial sustainability and learning motivation in their courses of study due to their financial stress and the dichotomy of needs and wants. This research examined the mediating effects of needs and wants on the relationship between financial stress and learning motivation and financial sustainability. The research is a correlational study where 300 international students selected from universities in Cavite, the Philippines were conveniently sampled to answer a survey questionnaire. The researchers used ANOVA in SPSS 22 and Structural Equation Modeling in AMOS to analysis the data and come out with a new model. The research concludes that financial stress has a high correlation significance relationship with learning motivation and a low correlation significance with financial sustainability. Also, needs and wants do not mediate the relationships between financial stress and learning motivation and financial sustainability. However, needs as an independent variable as financial stress has a significant relationship with learning motivation and financial sustainability of international students in Cavite, the Philippines. The research recommends that international students’ needs must be satisfied in order to prevent financial stress that will impact on their learning motivation and financial sustainability.