So, this is how much it costs for UK students to go to uni in other countries

Literally every day, there’s another gloomy story in the news like “UK tuition fees might go up again!” or “every UK uni will crash and burn by 2028!” or “Gen Z will be broke forever!” Studying a three year uni course in the UK at the moment costs £27,750 in tuition fees. Students are likely to spend that amount again on rent, food and blue VKs. However, it costs really different amounts for UK students to go to uni in other countries

Pretty much every country has a different system for how people pay to go to uni. The UK has the highest tuition fees in the world – although, it costs UK students far more to attend unis in some other countries than it would for them to stay here. Here are the costs of tuition fees for UK uni students in other countries with really highly-ranked universities.

Australia – £11k to £25k per year

Going to uni down under costs wildly different amounts depending on what subject you do.  According to Times Higher Education, an undergrad degree will probably cost UK students between £11,140.35 to £25,065.78 a year and a Master’s will be in the range of £12,254.38-£27,850.87. Studying medicine is way more expensive than studying an arts subject. I guess Australia’s logic is that humanities students will all be funemployed and broke, so should be compensated accordingly?

Canada – £20k per year

The University of Toronto on what must have been the only sunny day in Canada that year
(Credit: Jphillips23 via Creative Commons)

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Canadian students only have to pay an average of 6,500 Canadian dollars (£3,650.82) a year. Jealous. It costs quite a bit more for UK students, though. The cost of a degree varies loads depending on how prestigious the uni is, how nice the province is to live in, and what subject it is. The average fees per year for an undergrad degree are 36,000 Canadian dollars (£20,247.34). Medicine and dentistry courses are the spenniest, and could set you back 59,000 Canadian dollars (£33,189.33).

France – £2k per year

If you know more French than “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” and fancy living your best Emily in Paris life, then uni in France is a seriously good value option. Most unis in France are funded by the state, so French undergraduate students only have to pay €170 (£142.54) each year. Dreamy. Costs are still really low for international students. The fees are only €2,770 (£2,322.15) for undergrads and €3,770 (£3,161.44) for postgrads.

Germany – £0

No, that’s not a joke. Uni is free in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Bet you’re wishing you’d done German GCSE now. German and international students only have to pay a small administration fee when they sign up

The only exception is Baden-Wurttemberg, which is one of Germany’s 16 states. Since 2017, non-EU students have to pay €6,000 (£5,028.62) each year. Thanks for that, Boris.

Japan – £5k to £18k

The University of Tokyo is the highest ranked in Japan
(Credit: Kakidai via Creative Commons)

Several unis in Japan offer courses in English, mostly in Tokyo. International fees for undergrads are around 815,985 JPY to 3,173,275 JPY ( £4,500 to £17,500). For postgrads, they’re 815,985 JPY to 1,091,606 JPY (£4,500 to £6,020). Medicine and dentistry courses are much more expensive than other subjects, and bring the averages up.

The Netherlands – £17k per year

Pretty much everyone from the Netherlands is fluent in English and can speak 100 different languages, so the Netherlands might be a practical option if your heart’s set on studying in Europe. Undergrad and postgrad students from the Netherlands, other EU countries, Switzerland and Suriname only have to pay €2,530 (£2,121.11) a year.

Now that the UK has left the EU, students from the UK have to pay drastically more than they used to. Terrific. Some Dutch unis charge international students a massive €20,000 (£16,765.30) each year of a four year course, although you might have to pay less than that if you get a scholarship or you’ve studied in the Netherlands before.

Singapore – £18k to 38k per year

The National University of Singapore is one of the highest ranking unis in the world. Tragically, it’s not cheap for UK students. International students can expect to pay between 30,331 to 64,650 Singapore dollars (£17,796.87 to £37,925.97) for undergrad degrees and 22,000 to 46,000 Singapore dollars (£12,912.07 to £26,998.09) for postgrad degrees. Medicine degrees are the most expensive, and arts degrees are the cheapest.

The cost of living in Singapore is also quite high. Plus, you won’t be able to chew gum for three or four years.

Spain – £2k per year

The Uni of Barcelona has some very vibey buildings
(Credit: Domadictel via Creative Commons)

Spanish unis have a system where you pay for each module you take, instead of handing over a lump sum at the start of the year. The average cost tends to be pretty cheap, even for international students. If you’re from the UK, you’ll probably end up spending around €750 to €2,500 (£629.31 to £2,097.69) for undergrad courses and €1,000 to €3,500 (£839.04 to £2,937.10) for postgrad courses each year.

USA – £43k to £66k per year

It costs UK students way more to go to uni in the US than it does in other countries. The fees for different unis in the US vary massively from a small fortune to an extremely large fortune. If you’re a US student going to public college in your own state, then you might only have to pay $10,200 (£7,804.38) each year for four years. If you live out of that state, it’ll cost a lot more. International students aren’t eligible for the same financial aid is USA students, so they usually end up paying a lot more of the fees than American students do.

Most of the really prestigious and famous US unis are actually private non-profit colleges, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Stanford University and Yale University. These institutions have much higher fees than the public colleges. So, if you want to pretend you’re in Legally Blonde and go to Harvard, then you’ll have to pay $56,550 (£43,257.92) tuition fees a year. MIT is way pricier, at $85,960 (£65,771.43) each year.

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• All the young European royals you could be rubbing shoulders with at UK unis right now

Feature image credit: Rexxon00 via Creative Commons. Image was cropped and brightened.