Student Loans, Scholarships, Grants and Financial Aid for International Students in UK

Are you looking for Student Loans in UK? Do you seek Scholarships, Grants, and Financial Aid for International Students in UK?

Universities in the UK are somewhat expensive in payments when it comes to tuition fees and other expenses as an international student. Knowing fully, they’re many things to spend on as an international student if you’re looking forward to studying in the United kingdom.

This is why they’re lists of many international scholarships and other financial aids like bursary and many more for students from mostly third world countries to live and study in the UK. Mostly this aid will help to cover some charges like part of the tuition fees. Sometimes hostel/accommodation and it can also be an expense for a living while studying in the country.

In simple language, universities in the UK are expensive. If you’re interested in obtaining a degree in the UK there’s a high probability that your budget may be weightless if you encounter many charges which are done before, during, or towards the ending of your studies. So if you’re an international student and you want to study in the country, it is more advisable to seek international financial aid.

Contrary to what many think, they’re many financial aids for those willing to study in the UK, either partly for tuition fee or any type of expenses it is worth.

What are the fees for studying In UK?

Studying in the UK requires you to budget a large amount of money to cover most of your expenses. As an international student, your fees are very high compared to the citizens of the UK. This also depends on the type of university you’re enrolling yourself in.

All types of universities have fees variable from another. Some can be expensive, some average while others could be gloriously affordable. One is strongly advised to check for all these things before moving on to apply to any university.

In order to study in the UK, the average tuition fee is about £10,000 for courses like social science and humanities. However, for many innovative courses like engineering, the fees are way higher. The biggest of them is the medical field. If you’re looking forward to studying medicine in the UK, you can pay up to about £35,000 for a year. This is due to the competition with respect to the limited space for applicants.

Also, the cost of living in the UK varies. In order to study in the United Kingdom as an international student, you have to budget a fee to cover your nonacademic expenses before starting your application. The average cost of living per year in London is about £ 15,000 and up to £12,000 in other parts of the country.

Comparing the standard of living, one is expected to make a difference between studying and living in the UK and living in the UK alone. If you’re studying, your living expenses could be more than that due to other petty expenses you’re likely to do when studying. You may spend not less than £24,000 to 26,000 yearly while studying in the UK.

Part of the expenses for international students coming to study in the UK is also the student visa to study in the country. This normally costs about £348 if you’re applying to study from outside the UK, it will also cost up to about £475 if you want to switch to a student visa if you’re already living in the UK. Additionally you’re to pay a yearly healthcare surcharge of £470.

What are the UK Financial Aids for International Students?

The financial aids for an international student are divided into different categories according to the nature of the offer we have;

• Student loans
• Scholarships
• Private grants

Student loans

The government of the UK has high regard for the interest of the students who are living and studying in the country. The student loan is a merit-based fee that is granted to students studying and living in the UK to cover their expenses during their studies.

This type of offer is usually not for all types of intentional students as you may dream. The UK student loan is open to only citizens of the UK and other international students from the EU countries. The students from the countries who are members of the EU enjoy the offer because the UK as a country originates from there and the students from there are considered as one.

Students loan is divided into two forms, the tuition fee loans and maintenance loans which are offered by the state government. The tuition fee loan normally covers your tuition fees according to the university you’re studying and it is normally paid directly to your school’s account. However, the maintenance fees cover your other expenses like upkeep and housing. It is paid directly to your account at the beginning of every session or monthly if you’re studying in Scotland.

The amount of money you can borrow while studying actually depends on the rate of your tuition fees. For example, if your school tuition fee is £10,300 then you cannot borrow more than that as it’ll be deposited directly to the school’s account. The fees will be covered subsequently even if your university increases its tuition fees. The same thing is also applicable to those pursuing their undergraduate programs and are citizens or whose countries are members of the EU.

A students loan is a return back something where students will begin the payments when they graduate and find a job. You’re free and won’t be disturbed when you don’t have a job yet or your payment is below the threshold amount to be charged for. Also, the charges are normally done little by little and hardly will you feel the effects.

If you’re not a citizen of the UK or from any EU country, you’re not eligible to apply for any form of student loan but they’re other offers for you as an alternative.

Scholarships

Another way of getting financial aid as an international student in the UK is through scholarship programs. They’re many of them across the country in which you can apply and be offered no matter your area of studies and your residence. All scholarships in the UK are accessible and can be applied by any international student willing to opt for them. All that is expected of you is to brainstorm and find one.

Scholarships in the UK are divided into two types, government-funded scholarships, and school scholarship programs.

Government Funded Scholarships

The government of the UK has many funded scholarships for both citizens and international students willing to study in the country. The scholarship is mostly dominated by these two popular ones; Chevening Scholarships and Commonwealth scholarships.

Chevening Scholarships; The Chevening scholarships program is established to aid international students from selected particular countries to enroll in universities in the UK to pursue their post-graduate programs. The application can be done online through http://www.chevening.org/apply

Commonwealth Scholarships

The Commonwealth scholarship program is designed mainly for the nationals of the commonwealth countries who are wishing to undergo their postgraduate programs in the UK. The scholarship is jointly governed by 53 countries of the commonwealth members. You can visit the commonwealth scholarship website to learn more about the nature of the scholarship program.

University scholarships

Apart from the government-sponsored scholarship schemes, they’re numerous other scholarships offered by all the various universities in the UK. In fact, a higher percentage of the scholarships offered to international students to study in the UK are normally granted by the universities. They’re also other non-governmental organizations included in this scholarship program. To know about the various universities scholarships in UK, you can visit their websites however below are some non-governmental or private scholarships offered in UK

• International Atomic Energy Agency Scholarships
• Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan
• Royal Society grants
• The Newton Fund
• Scotland’s Saltire Scholarships
• Young Cell Scheme
• S. Hornby Trust Scholarship Programme
• Great China Scholarships
• Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust Scholarships
• UK-China HE Research Partnership for PhD Studies
• Marshall Scholarships
• Marshall Sheffield Fellowships
• Great India Scholarships

Private Grants

Another form of financial aid in the UK is private grants. This can be referred to as a situation where a company signs an agreement with someone by offering them a loan or could be a charity that will help to cover both tuition fees and living expenses in the country.

They’re also many scenarios in which international students are fully funded and sponsored by companies to study in Canada and in return you’ll work for them under certain agreements.