Students’ cost of living in the UK
According to recent figures from the UK’s National union of Students (NUS), the average annual cost of living in England (outside of London) for students is UK£12,056 (US$19,490). This includes £4,989 ($7,460) for rent, £1,954 ($2,920) for food, £363 ($540) for household goods, £42 ($62) for insurance, £1,917 ($2,860) for personal items, £1,705 ($2,550) for travel and £1,190 ($1,780) for leisure.
If you wish to study in London, you should expect to pay £13,521 ($20,200) for the same breakdown of goods and services. The biggest difference in the cost of living in London compared to the rest of England is in rent, which is estimated at an average of £6,340 ($9,480) per year.
As the NUS points out, the figures for the rest of England can only be used as a rough guide to the overall cost of living in the UK. But they are roughly consistent with the amounts specified by the UK Border Agency (UKBA), which asks international students to provide evidence that they can afford to live and study in the UK for a specified period before being granted a Tier 4 (General) student visa.
For visa purposes, international students undertaking study in London proper will have to budget £1,020 ($1,520) for each month of stay in the country, while those who study in outer London or the rest of the UK will have to show £820 ($1,225) per month in order to prove they can cover the cost of living in the UK.
UK tuition fees and course costs – international students
For international students, undergraduate fees for 2014-15 start at around UK£8,000 (US$11,920) for lecture-based courses, going up to £36,600 ($58,201) for an undergraduate medical degree at the top of the price range. On average, however, international undergraduate fees level out at around £11,987 ($17,870) – approximately £4,000 more than home students.
At postgraduate level, the average international fee for classroom based programs in 2014-15 is £12,390 ($18,470), although the majority of courses range from between £10,000 and £13,000 ($14,900-$19,380). For laboratory-based programs, average annual fees stand at £14,274 ($21,285), while for clinical degree programs the average figure is £21,296 ($31,750). For leading clinical programs (such as medicine) at leading UK universities, however, fees can be as high as £38,532 ($57,440) annually.
