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Oxford Fees

As i understand it, the government (through LEAs etc) pays a fixed amount per student, much higher than the £3000 or £1200 or whatever it is we pay for tuition to all universities (according to this article http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/tuitionfees/story/0,,1992900,00.html, it's £7300 at the moment). Clearly, internationals generally pay a fair bit more than this- i presume this is what oxford mean when they say they lose money on every student they take. Internationals, however, are at least revenue neutral- i wouldn't like to suggest that they cross subsidise home students.

There is also an historical bonus paid to collegiate universities, to cover the costs of the college system. The bulk of this money goes to oxford and cambridge, but a small amount also goes to durham, iirc. It is this money that is taken in lieu of college fees. I suspect that they don't get as much as they charge internationals, either, but they can't charge us anymore than £3000 total for tuition, even if it's going to the college, rather than the university.

Plenty of MPs see this "oxbridge bonus" as unfair, and wanted it scrapped, but i think that really would push oxford over the edge and result in either a huge slash in the number of students, or privatisation- neither of which are particularly desirable for the university.

Reply 21

lale89

OP

Drogue

Why would you presume it did? To me, when something says a "college fee", I think it's a fee, not the cost of accommodation and food. I don't understand what made you think it would include that.

Well, check with Oxford. College fees vary quite a lot, as does accommodation. Which college is this for? I think when Oxford said 16k they meant in fees, as that's what the fees are, in total.

And yep, but remember spending money as well. 11k+5k are fees, accommodation is between £2.1k and £3.5k depending on college, and then food about 1k if you eat in college every day (it's charged per meal in most places and costs ~£1.50-3 a meal). If you want to budget fully, our JCR did a huge survey and reckon it costs around £5.7k to live in Oxford per year (thats accommodation, food, going out, clothes, books, etc. - everything). Add your £16k fees and you have a sensible budget for hot much it'll really cost to study hear - around £21.5k.

Actually, most postgrad students I know do. When you live here over holidays, it gets more expensive. As said, our JCR did a calculation and reckon an undergrad needs around £5.7k per year to live on Oxford, and that's being here less than 6 months a year. Admittedly accommodation is cheaper per year, so something around £9.5k seems sensible for a full-time resident.

I presumed that college fees included accomodation and food because the college provides accomodation and food!! I think its an easy mistake. In Aus we don't stay in colleges at uni so we just have normal uni fees and thats it. As for other living expenses, I am paying them out of my own pocket so its only the fees I have to ask my parents for.

Reply 22

SqueakyJaffa

Bumping up an old thread for a quick question:

It looks like my application for EU status is on shaky grounds as i lived outside the EU for a few years in those three years before this one. Does anyone know if you can reapply for EU status after a year or two of study?

I ask in particular for Oxford as they do it through StudentDirect and as such the University doesn't really decide.

Reply 23

hobnob

14

SqueakyJaffa

Bumping up an old thread for a quick question:

It looks like my application for EU status is on shaky grounds as i lived outside the EU for a few years in those three years before this one. Does anyone know if you can reapply for EU status after a year or two of study?

Probably not. The exact wording on the Student Finance Direct website is

you can apply for financial help to cover the cost of your tuition fees if... you have been living within the EEA and Switzerland for the three years immediately before the start of your course

To me that looks like you can't change your fee status halfway through your course, but you might want to try posting in the finance forum.

Reply 24

SqueakyJaffa

Aahh i see i hadn't noticed that. Thanks for your help.

Reply 25

tinypony

What about writing to the university explaining your situation and requesting permission to defer your entry for 1 or 2 years? Once you qualify for EU status you'll be better off than having to spend 19K per annum.

Reply 26

SqueakyJaffa

I did think of doing that (admittedly only for 1 year :smile:

) but cos i applied to read physics i dont think they allow you to spend that much time without doing any maths.

Reply 27

tinypony

SqueakyJaffa

I did think of doing that (admittedly only for 1 year :smile:

) but cos i applied to read physics i dont think they allow you to spend that much time without doing any maths.

Yes but what alternative would they give you by denying you permission to defer? To drop out? That would be very harsh from their side I think.

Reply 28

Elles

17

Siddhartha

Yes but what alternative would they give you by denying you permission to defer? To drop out? That would be very harsh from their side I think.

Pay the international fees like all the others designated that type of student have to. :confused:

Reply 29

tinypony

Elles

Pay the international fees like all the others designated that type of student have to. :confused:

Yes but the OP is in a special situation since he had intended to budget his expenses as an EU student, not an overseas student. How would you cope if you had to pay another ten thousand pounds per year, in addition to be denied a tuition fee loan?

Reply 30

Elles

17

Savings/parental begging/professional studies loan or as the internationals here doing medicine I know do: government scholarship from my hypothetical home country. & I'd probably try for any college/university/charitable grants/scholarships as well. Perhaps consider joining the military, who seem to sponsor medics particularly well.
But I applied here on the understanding I was definitely a home student so could afford the fees under the system that would remain in place for the duration. *shrug*

I realise international student fees are very expensive, but they're what happens & for as long as I've known about them it's been preceeding 3 years UK or EU for purposes not primarily educational & some caveats about parental employment purposes - so generally living outside of these during that time would be a problem as would being there primarily to board here - they haven't suddenly changed the rules??
(The latter part is what stung my significant other! The discrepancy between us has been more than +£10,000 per year, for this upcoming year his course university tuition fee would be £12,315 and college fee ~£4,900. I'm old system = £1,125. That's a lot of diamonds over 4 years... :bawling:

)

But in terms of things that might be useful for SqueakyJaffa - obviously I'm sure you're trying to get your status decided ASAP so you know what financial situation you'd be in. Then, options if assessed as international:

- Try and plan how to pay the fees. You could consider some of the hypotheticals I mentioned above. In the case of Physics specifically I think there might be commercial sponsorship programmes out there? Also re. scholarships, the uni website has information on some of theirs http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/finance/ovseas.shtml & worth getting researching whether your home country has any available or whether there are charitable trusts that might be interested in giving you £££s.

- Decide to take steps to be counted as EU. Either defer, or consider withdrawing and reapplying if they won't.
If the not doing Maths is a big potential problem perhaps look into courses that you could do in the time (e.g. open university maths or university courses in the country you live if they're cheaper) or relevant employment (which wouldn't be so much time 'wasted', could be useful for future careers and uni study and extra £££s comes in handy for every student)?

Hope things work out. :smile:

Reply 31

SqueakyJaffa

Thanks guys for all your help and concern but it isnt too big a deal.

Yes its a lot of money more but i always knew that there was a significant chance that i wouldn't get EU status and I had budgeted accordingly. It would be nice to get it of course and i was just wondering if i could reapply later from a stronger position without taking a gap year.

Again thanks for all your help :tsr2:

Unfortunately it appears the Dutch government are very tight with their student funds - who would've guessed?

I wonder what happens if you dont apply for anything the first year, then apply the second year and make like you were never out of the EU - bit late for me of course

Reply 32

tinypony

SqueakyJaffa

Thanks guys for all your help and concern but it isnt too big a deal.

Yes its a lot of money more but i always knew that there was a significant chance that i wouldn't get EU status and I had budgeted accordingly. It would be nice to get it of course and i was just wondering if i could reapply later from a stronger position without taking a gap year.

Again thanks for all your help :tsr2:

Unfortunately it appears the Dutch government are very tight with their student funds - who would've guessed?

I wonder what happens if you dont apply for anything the first year, then apply the second year and make like you were never out of the EU - bit late for me of course

Heh, I lived a few years outside of the EU as well, and thus both Denmark (my country of birth and citizenship) and probably also Sweden (country of residence for 2 years) will deny me any student grants, so while your situation is a lot worse ( :frown:

) I know how it feels, as I am trying to see how to come up with the 4-6K it will cost to live there. Dropping out is definitely not an option, so I might have to recur to a private loan, that is if I can convince my dad of helping me cause he kind of didn't show an interest in aiding me financially.
I hope you are allowed to defer. Gap years can be a good opportunity to learn more about your subject in a different way.

Reply 33

shinyhappy

14

Beenybabe

Doing a quick search of the oxford website for last year Merton £4820, Oriel £4689, Pembroke £5100, St Anne's £5250 just to give you an idea.

Wow, we're not the most expensive for something... That makes a nice change!

Reply 34

SqueakyJaffa

Elles

I realise international student fees are very expensive, but they're what happens & for as long as I've known about them it's been preceeding 3 years UK or EU for purposes not primarily educational & some caveats about parental employment purposes - so generally living outside of these during that time would be a problem as would being there primarily to board here - they haven't suddenly changed the rules??