How to cut it
Tuition is fixed. Nearly everything else is a choice you make.
Pick the city, not the country
Thousands a yearBologna not Milan. Fukuoka not Tokyo. Manchester not London. Same degree, far less rent.
Work while you study
20–24 hrs a weekAustralia allows 48 hours a fortnight, Canada 24 a week, Germany 140 days a year.
Finish sooner
A year of rentA UK or Irish masters takes 12 months, not 24. Often worth more than any fee discount.
Apply to more than one
12 funded awardsMost people apply to a single scholarship and stop. The eligibility check takes a minute.
Still short?
If scholarships and work do not close the gap, the question becomes borrowing — without property to pledge or a co-signer abroad.
Now close the gap
You know the number. Here is how students actually pay it.
Loans Without Collateral
4 pagesBorrowing with no property to pledge, and what you would pay back each month.
Read the guideFully Funded Scholarships
3 pagesTwelve awards that cover tuition, flights and rent — and who each one is really for.
See the 12Top Universities
15 countriesThe top universities in each of 15 countries, with their QS 2027 rank.
Browse countriesOnline Degrees & Certificates
2 pagesRecognised degrees you can finish from home, and how to check one is real.
ReadQuestions about what it costs
Which are the cheapest and most affordable universities in Ireland and Australia?
Public ones, and outside the capital. Affordable universities in Ireland for international students are generally Galway, Cork and Limerick rather than the Dublin institutions — the fee gap is small, the rent gap is not.
The same logic gives you the most affordable university in Australia: Brisbane and Adelaide cost far less to live in than Sydney. Low tuition universities in Australia are rare, so the saving has to come from the city.
What is the tuition fee in the Netherlands, Canada and South Korea?
The tuition fee in the Netherlands for international students is set by each university: roughly €9,000–€20,000 for a bachelors, €12,000–€20,000 for a masters.
Cost for masters in Canada averages CAD 24,028 — notably less than the CAD 41,746 undergraduate average. Cheap universities in South Korea for international students are the national ones at ₩2–5 million a semester, and entrance scholarships routinely cut even that.
Are these figures kept up to date?
The tuition and living figures are checked against the university, ministry or immigration service, and each country page shows the date. The currency conversion refreshes itself daily, and page two states which rates it used and when.