Costs of Bachelor’s degree in the UK and Student Finance available for applicants with a UK residence.

Studying in the United Kingdom – sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, many people give up on the idea of applying to British universities, which is caused by a lack of actual knowledge about the costs and availability of Student Finance backed by the British Government.

If you want to finally know the facts and be fully informed about your options regarding undergraduate studies, this article is for you. Enjoy your reading!

University and Application Costs

University tuition fees

While checking pages of different universities and courses, you can see that they mention two types of tuition fees: the lower one for UK/Home Students and the higher one for EU/International students.

Regardles of where you're from, if you have a valid UK residence you might qialify for the lower Home/ UK fees and for Student Finance covering university and living costs. If, for example, you’re an EU national, with a (pre-)settled status you will be considered for tuition fees for Home/UK students.

If you don't have a residence status, such as the (pre-)settled status, you will be most likely be considered as international student for the fee purposes.

Home fees (for (pre-)settled applicants) means that your tuition fees will be capped at £9,535 for each academic year at any public university in England and Wales.
International fees mean that your tuition fees can be higher; on average, you can expect it to be around £15,000 per academic year, although it can be less (£10,000) or more (£40,000 - in the case of Med/Vet/Dent courses and some other courses at top-tier universities).

University application costs

In case of undegraduate studies, you will be applying using UCAS system, which charges £27 for submitting an application with up to 5 university choices. If you're applying only to foundation programmes available through QuickApply, you won't be charged for your application.

Application support costs

You can of course get professional support with all aspects of your UK university application. UniEdu offers a wide range of tools and personalised support available for free, eliminating the need to pay for such services to other organisations.

Living and other expenses

To help you estimate living and other key expenses during your studies in the UK, we've asked for help students who successfully started their studies at British universities thanks to our support. The following list of categories and average prices is based on conversations with students we've had in the past and they may differ for each individual and circumstances:

Accommodation and bills: private room in a shared house - average £600 per month (in London £1200). A room in student halls of residence - average £800 per month (in London £1600).
Groceries: including personal care and household products - average of £200 per month.
Travel: depending on location and including one return trip to EU-based home per semester - average of £350 per semester.
Study materials, software and equipment: allow £350 per semester for textbooks and subscriptions.
Media and entertainment: depending on personal needs, our students report an average of £70 per month.
Spare funds for unplanned expenses: it’s always worth having savings of minimum £250, just in case.

These are rather conservative estimates but will flutuate depending on the city you choose to study in and will of course change over time.

Now, let’s talk a bit more about available funding that can help you cover these costs. Note: the below information about funding applies to the home fee students (holding a residence status such as a (pre-)settled status), international students are expected to pay their tuition fees out of own pocket (available scholarships are dependent on specific courses & universities).

Possible Funding Sources

UK gov Student Loan (if eligible): get up to £9,790 each year of your studies to cover the cost of university. Read in more details here.
UK gov Maintenance Loan (if eligible): up to £10,830 a year (outside of London) or up to £14,135 a year (in London) directly into your bank account to use for living and other expenses. Read in more details here.
Paid work possibilities: work 20 hours per week to earn a minimum £660 per month after tax.
Scholarships and grants: usually country-specific, effective discounts on tuition fees are sometimes offered, other options are rare and limited.
Personal or sponsor’s funds: ask family, employers, NGO and your government for support.

If you're lucky enough to have a (pre-)settled status, then you can benefit from the UK government student loans system. Yes, the status entitles you to receive government funding to help you cover your tuition fees and sometimes even living costs. You can get up to 3 different kinds of financial support from the British government: tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and childcare grant.

Tuition Fee Loan

This funding is transferred straight to your university and covers 100% of your course fees.

Eligibility

The most important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t have any history of studying at any public university in any country. The student loan, by default, is available for all your years at the university plus 1 additional year. Now, every year (and every course!) you started before at the public university (in any country) equals 1 year of funding in the UK less.
Let’s assume, that your course takes 3 years to complete (which means you can get your student loan for 4 years: 3 years plus 1 additional year). If you previously started only 1 year (and only 1 course!) at the public university, you won’t get the loan for the additional year, which isn’t really a problem – you still have funding for all your actual years of higher education in the UK. However:

if you started 2 years (or 2 courses, each only 1 year) at the public university, you will get funding neither for the additional year nor for the first year;
if you started 3 years at the public university, you will only get funding on your third year in the UK;
if you finished a Bachelor’s degree at either public or private university, you won’t get funding for your Bachelor’s degree in the UK at all (in this case, if you don’t have a Master’s degree yet, you can get one in the UK!).

As you can see, education obtained at a private university doesn’t count, unless you completed your Bachelor’s degree there.

Repaying your tuition fee loan

Repaying the student loan starts only after you have finished your degree and only if and when you start earning more than £25,000 per year or £2,083 per month or £481 per week in the UK. This information is relevant to anyone starting their undergraduate studies in the UK in 2023 or later. If you have started your studies in the UK before 2023 then different repayment rules would apply. According to the government website: “you’ll repay 9% of your income over the repayment threshold […]. If your income changes, either rising or falling, your repayment amounts will automatically change to reflect this.”

Consequently, if you earn £25,000 per year or less after you graduate from the university, your monthly repayment will be £0. When earning, let’s say, £28,000 per year, you’ll have to pay £22.50 per month, and when earinign £35,000 per year – £75 per month, etc.

If you stay in the UK after graduation, you won’t have to deal with the repayments – your employer will be the one taking care of them before giving you your salary (and they’ll be the only one to know about your student loan so it won’t matter for your credit score when buying a car or a house, etc.).
Also, after 40 years, all your repayments will be cancelled.

Maintenance Loan / Maintenance Loan For a Migrant Worker

This loan is transferred straight to your bank account. You can expect to receive up to £10,830 a year (outside of London) or up to £14,135 a year (in London).

Eligibility

If you have lived in the UK for more than 5 years (and have a settled status), you don’t need to meet any other criteria.
However, if you have spent less than 5 years in the UK, then you need to work continuously throughout every academic year during which you’d like to get this loan (at least 10-15h per week or 40h per month, depending on what payslips you get).

Repaying your maintenance loan

The repayments stay the same regardless of whether you have taken only a tuition fee loan or both loans: tuition fee and maintenance (for a migrant worker).

Childcare Grant

This support is the only one you don’t have to repay and it’s made to help you cover your childcare costs. You can get up to £199 a week for 1 child or up to £323.85 a week if you have 2 or more children. Please, check this page out for requirements.

Check what you can get

Use Can-I-Apply tool, designed to help you finding out if and which student loans you might be eligible for. You will get a list of universities that might accept you and best match your potential and needs

Discuss your options with us

If you would like to discuss your options, choices, and funding availability in more detail, you can always get in touch with us at any time for quick and friendly advice, we will be happy to help you!

We have got over 10 years of experience in advising applicants in the UK and in supporting student loan applications.

Start working on your aplication when you're ready

Complete your registration in the Application Portal to get personalised guidance and support, help you navigate the application process, understand the terms and conditions of the loan, and ensure that you have all the information you need to make an informed decision about your studies in the UK

To Sum Up

As you can see, there’s plenty of options to help you cover both your tuition and living costs while studying at the British university. What’s more, you can always count on us to assist you in applying for all the above-mentioned funding to make sure that you filled in everything correctly and so will receive all the money on time. You can also check your eligibility for student finance and our support using UniEdu Can-I-Apply tool and you can start preparing your UK university application in a dedicated, free to use Application Portal.

Feel free to always contact us via Messenger or e-mail ([email protected]).