University Course Cost - New UK Resident

Hi,

My wife arrived in the UK from the United States at the beginning of December on her Spousal Visa.

Unfortunately, due to the move and all the time and cost taken to maintain a long distance relationship and moving/visa application cost etc, she was unable to continue her education in the US, so has decided that she would like to begin a University Course to gain a degree now that she is in the UK and things are beginning to settle down.

Would she class as an 'International Student' and need to pay the same huge amounts of money or would she be able to pay the same as any other UK Student now that she is a resident of the UK?

Obviously, we know that she has no recourse to public funds and no credit rating here so wouldn't be able to get a loan to help.

Any help or advice would be fantastic.

Thanks in advance for your time. 

It will take at least three years to avoid the extra fees, I am afraid:

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/info_sheets/tuition_fees_ewni.php#cat1

She would be classed as an Overseas student, for at least 3 years, and I think you already appreciate just how expensive that is, compared to the level of Home student fees.

Do appreciate that the above is not based upon her nationality or visa status. That is, let's assume, and I appreciate these are not your wife's facts, but had she been born in the UK, and thus be a British Citizen, but let's say she emigrated to the US as a child, with her family, and has lived a number of years in the US, and now she moved back to the UK earlier this month, she would still be classed as an Overseas student for at least three years.

She doesn't have a credit rating in the UK but surely she has one in the US. Can she get a US loan? I've had best of luck with sallie mae.

US lenders are reluctant to lend for overseas students, and most of the time you would have to have multiple loans from multiple sources because they won't lend enough to cover your international tuition.  You also have to ask yourself if you wanna come out of school with THAT much debt to payback.

My advice would be to enrol in Open University.  It's all online/correspondence based and credits you earn are xferrable to other Universities, meaning she could be building uni credits to xfer to a uni of her choice once she qualifies for the home rates.  It's also less expensive.

www.open.ac.uk

US lenders are reluctant to lend for overseas students, and most of the time you would have to have multiple loans from multiple sources because they won't lend enough to cover your international tuition.  You also have to ask yourself if you wanna come out of school with THAT much debt to payback.

My advice would be to enrol in Open University.  It's all online/correspondence based and credits you earn are xferrable to other Universities, meaning she could be building uni credits to xfer to a uni of her choice once she qualifies for the home rates.  It's also less expensive.

www.open.ac.uk

Yes you're absolutely right about that Navie. I'm a good example of how reluctant loan companies are to lend to overseas students. I was just giving the OP some options, if his wife is truly set on going to traditional university before three years pass.

To the OP, you would need the maximum amount of stafford federal loans as well as some private loan to cover the entire cost of international tuition.

Yes you're absolutely right about that Navie. I'm a good example of how reluctant loan companies are to lend to overseas students. I was just giving the OP some options, if his wife is truly set on going to traditional university before three years pass.

When I first met DH, I considered the student route first.  After needing the stafford loans and two private loans, and figuring up the cost of a 3 yr degree plus 1 yr masters for an overseas student back when the exchange was nearly £1=$2... I was amazed my education would put me just under $100,000 in debt!

So I scrapped that idea.


Now on the spousal visa myself, I do Open Uni courses to supplement my education during this waiting period... 1 year to go.

I can't speak in regards to other loan companies, but Sallie Mae has no problem funding overseas students, so at least that one company is a viable option.

I can't speak in regards to other loan companies, but Sallie Mae has no problem funding overseas students, so at least that one company is a viable option.

Yes they have no problem funding overseas students but to qualify for the private loans, the student almost always needs a cosigner with a very good credit history. This is especially the case for young students with a limited credit history(most undergrads).