Studying in the United Kingdom

Two dates that could cost you money

31 December 2026: the Graduate Route cliff edge. Apply on or before that date after a bachelor's or master's and you get two years. Apply on or after 1 January 2027 and you get 18 months. PhDs keep three years either way. Your university must first tell the Home Office you completed the course, and that can take weeks after results. If you are finishing now, chase them.

30 November 2026: the maintenance threshold rises. From that date the figures become £1,570 a month in London and £1,203 outside. Because the money must sit untouched for 28 days, funds for a post-November application should already be at the higher level by early November.

What a year costs

International tuition, 2026/27, from published university schedules:

• Bachelor's, classroom (arts, humanities, business, social science): £22,400-£29,000
• Bachelor's, laboratory (science, engineering, computing): £26,600-£33,500
• Medicine, dentistry, veterinary, £39,000-£63,000, and note clinical years often carry extra levies. Queen's Belfast adds £12,133 for clinical placement; Glasgow's MBChB is £62,730.
• Master's, one year, roughly £23,000-£32,000 classroom, £27,600-£40,000 laboratory. Elite London and Russell Group business, law and computer science programmes commonly run higher.

Living costs, realistically:

• Outside London: £1,000-£1,350 a month. The UK-wide average student spend is £1,142 and average rent £575.
• London: budget £1,700 a month. The published survey figure is lower, but it reflects mostly UK students in shared housing; international students in first-year halls or studios routinely pay £1,000-£1,500 for accommodation alone.

The Home Office maintenance figure is a visa threshold, not a budget. It is fair outside London and understates London badly.

The visa

The Student route, sponsored by a licensed student sponsor who issues your CAS. Fee £558. Immigration Health Surcharge £776 per year of the visa, and the visa is granted for your course plus a wrap-up period, so a one-year master's usually means paying around 1.5 years' worth.

Processing is three weeks from outside the UK, eight weeks inside. You can apply up to six months before your course starts from abroad.

The money rule causes more refusals than anything else. The funds must be in the account for 28 consecutive days, and the statement must end within 31 days of your application. One day below the threshold resets the clock. Refusals typically come from a dip in the balance, a statement dated too early, funds in a parent's account without the right birth certificate and consent letter, or a lump sum that has not yet aged 28 days.

One correction worth making. Several agency and news sites currently claim the holding period has been cut from 28 days to 14. It has not. GOV.UK and the September 2026 Statement of Changes both keep 28 days. Acting on the 14-day claim risks refusal.

Working while you study

20 hours a week in term time at degree level, 10 hours below degree level, full time outside term. The 20 hours is a hard weekly cap, not an average.

Prohibited outright at all times: self-employment or freelancing, business activity, professional sport or coaching, work as an entertainer, and any permanent full-time contract. Breaching the cap risks curtailment, and your sponsor's licence, which is why universities report it.

After you graduate

The Graduate Route, two years for a bachelor's or master's if you apply by 31 December 2026, 18 months after; three years for a doctorate. No job offer or sponsor needed, and you can work in almost any job including self-employment. Fee £937 plus IHS at the standard £1,035 a year. Note the Graduate Route does not get the discounted student rate.

It does not count toward settlement. To stay longer you must find an employer with a Skilled Worker sponsor licence and meet salary and skill thresholds that have risen substantially. Many graduates do not manage it. Plan on the assumption you may need to leave when it ends.

Language

Universities typically ask IELTS Academic 6.0-6.5 for undergraduate, 6.5-7.0 for taught master's, and 7.0-7.5 for law, journalism, medicine, nursing, teacher training and translation.

The visa requirement is separate and lower: CEFR B2 for degree level, B1 below.

A trap worth knowing. For study below degree level, and in some other cases, you must take a Secure English Language Test from a Home Office approved provider: currently Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert, Pearson and PSI Services. ETS TOEFL is not on that list. TOEFL is fine when a university assesses your English itself at degree level, but it cannot be used where a SELT is mandatory. If your offer or CAS says SELT, booking TOEFL wastes your money: book the "for UKVI" version at an approved centre.

When to apply

Undergraduate, through UCAS. For 2027 entry: applications opened 1 September 2026; 15 October 2026 is the absolute deadline for Oxford, Cambridge and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary courses; 13 January 2027 is the equal consideration deadline for everything else. Clearing runs July to October but is risky for international students because the visa timeline gets very tight.

Postgraduate is completely different. No UCAS for most taught master's: you apply directly to each university and pay separate fees. Most assess on a rolling basis, so places and especially scholarships go to early applicants. Competitive programmes operate in rounds and can close months before the stated deadline.

Work backwards: visa processing is three weeks, your CAS comes only after you accept an unconditional offer and usually pay a deposit, and your money must sit for 28 days before you apply. Have funds in place by early July for a late-September start.

What to watch out for

Your institution must hold a sponsor licence, and licences get revoked. On 5 August 2026 the Home Office revoked Bloomsbury Institute's licence for failing its annual compliance assessment; enrolled students had to transfer, and the Home Office acknowledged some would be unable to finish and would have to switch route or leave the UK. Before paying a deposit, check the provider on the Register of Student Sponsors and confirm it shows "Student sponsor: Track record", not merely a probationary licence. Track record status also governs your 20-hour work right and your Graduate Route eligibility.

Agents and franchised private providers. Much UK international recruitment runs through commission-paid agents and the Agent Quality Framework is voluntary. Recurring problems: steering students to whoever pays the highest commission, misrepresenting work rights and post-study outcomes, and pushing students into franchised provision where a private company teaches a degree validated by a university at a satellite campus. That sector has been the subject of repeated government and National Audit Office scrutiny. Ask any agent in writing whether they are paid commission by the institution.

Dependants. Since courses starting January 2024, only PhD, doctorate and research-degree students, or government-sponsored students on courses over six months: may bring a partner or children. A taught one-year master's no longer qualifies.

Where these numbers come from

Rules change, sometimes at short notice. Every figure above carries the date we checked it. Check the official source before you rely on it.