With the help of a loan from his aunt, Rausing studied at the recently founded Stockholm School of Economics and Business Administration, graduating in 1918. After a brief engagement at the privately owned Stockholms Enskilda Bank, Rausing was employed by Sveriges Litografiska Tryckerier, SLT (later renamed Esselte), a well-known printing company. In 1919 he earned a scholarship from SSE to continue his studies at Columbia University in New York City and obtained a MSc in Economics in 1920. Experiencing self-service grocery stores for the first time during his stay in America, Rausing realised that this system, yet unknown in Europe, was going to be part of a new way of retailing.