UK Uni's

Hi, my huusband and I are both Americans and my husband wants to study in the UK we have applied through UCAS and are waiting for the reply, but I had a few questions.

1) Will I be able to work full time as a spouse of a student?

2) What kind of visa is availible for a spouse of a student?

3) How do we go about finding loans and finacial aid? I heard the Uni's are not very helpful?

4) How about housing? I know that some Uni's have housing for families and couples but that it is very limited?

We really are very excited but I am afraid that we will not be able to get enough money to cover tuition and everything else such as housing we have started saving and will save until we would leave which would be Sept 2007. Just wondering if anyone else has been in the same situation. Us being both American and wanting to study in the UK. Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

1. Yes, you will- spouses of students can work full time, no restrictions.

2. A student dependent visa, available for spouses and children of students.

3. You can get Stafford loans and PLUS loans from the government, and you can also get private, credit-based loans (a lot of Americans studying in the UK, including myself, have a mixture of both.)  The uni isn't going to give you any substansial financial aid- there are a smattering of scholarships available for international students (see the British Council website), but they're few and far in between.

4. Some unis might have housing for couples, but most will not.  It's likely that you'll have to rent in the private sector.

I second Andrea's answers. She pretty much covered it.

That said, we did things a little differently. My wife has a work permit visa, because she had a job offer before we moved here, and I am here as her dependant, which allows me to go to school. Work permit and its dependent time counts as time towards ILR, but student visa time does not, so since we think we might be staying, it made more sense. But you have to have a job offer to do it that way, which was not a problem for us, but might be for others.

My university department has a few department awards, so contact your husbands department and see if they have any scholarships, but unfortunately, the "few and far between" quote seems to be correct. Many awards require UK or EU citizenship, which cuts us out.

And, my uni has a little bit of family housing, but not much and we didn't end up staying there because it wasn't very nice. There's lots of rental information online and elsewhere on this forum, so start looking into that.

Just wondering if anyone else has been in the same situation. Us being both American and wanting to study in the UK. Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

Hello,

My wife and I are in the exact same situation.  She is looking to get her Masters while I work in the UK.  She is applying to start Sept 07'.  The application (at least to the Uni of Liverpool) was pretty involved -- number of references, documents, etc --- but there is no application fee so there is nothing to lose.  Money is an issue for us too, but like you we'll be saving up.  The University does have some scholarships, and we may have to take a loan as well.

We've just started planning and getting info, so I don't have much advice yet...but just wanted to let you know we're in the same boat!  Good luck!