Student funding and in particular paying for university accommodation, program fees and course materials, needs to be planned out thoroughly.
Cost is obviously a factor students need to consider when selecting a program or deciding whether or not to study abroad. (We would argue, of course, that the benefits of studying abroad justify the expense.)
Costs vary considerably by program. We encourage students to “shop around”, selecting programs that match their pocketbooks as well as meeting their academic and personal goals.
When comparing program fees, students need to look carefully at what’s included and what’s not included. For each UI study abroad program, the Study Abroad office produces “cost sheets” which add up all anticipated expenses, including air fare and personal spending money. Students participating in non-UI programs would need to collect similar information from their program provider
Application costs
The very first stage is the application process (for USA) When you consider applying for colleges/universities, costs will include application fee and courier charges.
The average application fee ranges between $30-75 per US university. Some do accept applications without any fee, but most have an application processing fee, which is mandatory for international students.
For UK, Australia, France and Switzerland, there is no application fee for post-graduate applicants and Under-graduate applications
Some Canadian and New Zealand universities charge an application fee, whereas most of the Universities overlook them.
Tuition and fees
For Bachelor’s level, the cost of education in USA is more than for Master’s level, because of the number of credits students are expected to take, per semester.
- Average cost for Bachelor’s level – $ 15,000-25,000 per year
- Average cost for Master’s level (Non-MBA programs – $8,000-35,000 per year
- Average cost for MBA programs – $ 15,000 – 50,000 per year
- Please note that all the costs indicated are approximate and depends upon the universities and programs. These costs keep changing from one year to another. However, the average increase is around 5-10% per annum.
- Tuition and fees will be around Can. $ 11,000-20,000 in Canada.
- In UK, the costs could range between GBP 8000-15000.
- In Australia, the costs are between 10,000-25,000 Aus $ annually.
Cost of living expenditure
Cost of food, without taking other expenses like entertainment, rents etc. come to approx. 1 300 per month within USA, Canada and around the same, in other countries, in their respective currencies.
If you include other incidental expenditure like rent, entertainment and other expenses, the average could be around $ 500-800 per month, for a single student.
Insurance
Insurance is mandatory for all international students, who plan to study abroad. Depending upon the company and policy taken, the cost of insurance for a student could be around Rs 15,000 – 20,000 per year, in any of the countries being discussed.