International Student First-Year UK Cost Planner (2025/26)

For most students, your study city is the single biggest cost lever — London is typically £10,000–£15,000/year more expensive all-in than a northern or Scottish city. Accommodation type is the second biggest (studio vs HMO can differ by £5,000–£8,000/year). Course category matters for tuition but rarely moves the total by more than £5,000/year outside of medicine and MBAs.

Most UK universities give a 2–5% discount for paying the full year in one go. If your home-country bank charges 2–4% in FX margin plus wire fees, the discount is wiped out. Check the effective rate via our Remittance Planner and compare to instalment payments at the mid-market rate across the year.

UKVI will refuse your visa if your maintenance funds weren’t in an eligible account for 28 consecutive days before you apply. “Eligible” means the account is in your name (or your parents’ with a signed sponsor letter), shows the full required amount every day of the 28, and is at a regulated bank. Fixed deposits count; Wise balances generally don’t.

The headline total includes a 10% contingency — that’s the minimum. Year-one students underestimate one-off costs like bedding, kitchenware, a UK SIM, warm clothes, first textbooks and a deposit on a bike. Keep this contingency as accessible cash in a UK current account, not locked into a fixed deposit at home.

Each dependant (spouse or child) on your visa adds £524 application fee + £776/year IHS plus 12 months of their own living costs. For a 1-year master’s with a spouse, that’s £1,300 in visa + IHS and £8,000–£14,000 in additional living costs. Many international students underestimate this by half.

For a typical master’s in a classroom-based subject (arts, business, social sciences) in a non-London city like Manchester or Leeds, expect roughly £28,000–£32,000 all-in including tuition, 12 months of university halls, living costs, Student visa + IHS, deposit and a 10% contingency. In London the same course typically costs £40,000–£52,000 due to higher accommodation and living costs. Lab-based STEM masters add £5,000–£8,000 on tuition; medicine adds £15,000–£25,000; London MBAs can push the total past £100,000.

The IHS is a mandatory fee paid upfront for every year of your visa. Students pay the discounted rate of £776/year (versus £1,035/year for most other visas). It gives you access to the NHS on the same basis as UK residents. For a 1-year master’s you pay £776; for a 3-year undergrad £2,328; for a 4-year PhD £3,104. It’s charged in full at the visa-application stage, not monthly.

Yes — up to 20 hours per week during term-time and unlimited hours during official vacations, provided your course is full-time at degree level or above. You cannot be self-employed, work as a professional sportsperson or entertainer, or fill a permanent full-time role. Students at below-degree-level institutions are usually capped at 10 hours per week. The cost planner doesn’t net off this income; treat anything you earn as a buffer against the 10% contingency.

UK universities are not legally required to fix international fees for the duration of a multi-year course. Some (mainly Russell Group) do publish a fixed fee for the whole programme; many increase fees 3–7% per year. Always check the specific university’s fee schedule. For multi-year courses, budget assuming 5% annual tuition growth and repeat this calculator at the start of each academic year.

UKVI requires the Student visa application to show the full first year of tuition plus up to 9 months of maintenance: £1,334/month for courses inside London (£12,006 total) or £1,023/month outside London (£9,207 total). The money must have been held in an eligible account for 28 consecutive days immediately before you apply. Our tool shows the exact proof-of-funds figure in the hero card.

Yes — a private hall (Unite, iQ, Chapter) in zone 2–3 London typically costs £10,000–£14,000/year en-suite, while a full studio in zones 1–2 runs £14,000–£18,000/year. University halls are cheaper again (£7,500–£11,000/year) but availability is limited and the best rooms go fast. An HMO (shared house with other students) is the cheapest proper option at roughly £6,500–£9,500/year in London, though you’ll do more of your own furnishing and bills management.

Yes. Each dependant on your visa pays the same £776/year IHS as you, plus a separate dependant visa-application fee. For a 3-year undergrad with a spouse and one child, that’s £1,572 in visa fees plus £4,656 in dependant IHS — on top of your own £524 visa + £2,328 IHS. The calculator multiplies these up automatically when you set dependants above 0.

No. Flights from your home country, UK arrival costs (temporary accommodation, airport transfer, winter clothes, first food shop), and any shipping of possessions are deliberately excluded because they vary hugely by route and timing. Budget £800–£2,500 on top of the planner total for pre-arrival costs, depending on distance travelled and personal preferences.

No. All inputs stay in your browser. We don’t send your country, course or financial figures to any server, we don’t set personalisation cookies, and the only external request is the anonymous call to the ECB reference rate via Frankfurter for your home-currency conversion.

Because the live GBP rate has moved. The ECB publishes a reference mid-market rate every business day around 16:00 CET. A 1–2% daily move is normal; 5–10% over a 6-month period is common, which is why we surface the “10% GBP move” stress-test figure. Lock in large payments (tuition instalments, annual rent) when the rate is favourable for your currency rather than waiting until the due date.