Funding Your Studies
Funding Your Studies Abroad
Finances tend to be one of the big factors in your decision-making when studying abroad. Making sure your program, living expenses, and more fit into your budget is absolutely necessary. Student visa applications for destinations like Australia, Canada, and the UK will ask for proof of your finances, in fact. Universities and immigration authorities want to be sure that you can fully cover your tuition and expenses while abroad.
So, how do you begin shortlisting programs and universities that meet your academic requirements and your budget?
Understand Your Expenses as an International Student
Your expenses as an international student will broadly consist of:
Application Fees
Universities usually charge an application processing fee. This fee amount will depend on the university. In some cases, universities may waive application fees. Some universities don’t charge application fees at all!
A couple of universities with no application fee for international students include:
- Queen Mary University of London – UK
- Coventry University – UK
- Bond University – Australia
- University of South Australia – Australia
Tuition & Administrative Fees
Tuition fees are of course the fees you will pay per semester for your program. Alongside tuition fees, there may be some administrative fees (for example, for international student services) packaged into the final total.
Important note – remember that you are looking into tuition fees for international students specifically during your research! Domestic student fees are typically lower than international student fees.
Tuition fees are a pretty big component of your overall costs of studying abroad. Here are the factors that impact tuition fees of universities in the same country:
- Ownership:
A private university may charge higher tuition fees compared to a public or state university. - Size of the University:
The bigger the university – in terms of physical size, student and faculty size, reputation, research output, etc. – the higher you can expect tuition fees to be for its programs. - The University’s Location:
Typically, the higher the cost of living in the city, the higher tuition fees will tend to be. The lower the cost of living – for example, in less urban, metropolitan cities – the lower tuition fees are likely to be. - Location Within the City:
Generally, the closer to the city center the university, the higher tuition fees are likely to be. The more suburban the area, the lower the tuition fees are likely to be.