I'm an International student from India, and I've been offered admission to a 4 year course in Biochemistry at University College, Oxford. Now I really really want to go, because my country has very limited opportunities for research, but my full four year fees comes up to about 170000 GBP (everything included), which is WAY more than I can possibly afford. Is there any sort of financial assistance available to me? I know there are the Reach and Simon and June Li scholarships, but those are very limited in number. Can anyone help me?

Seems a bit odd to apply knowing you can't afford it. :dontknow:

If you wanted a high quality education at low cost then you should have applied to a European university. I believe a science degree from a prestigious university like Trinity College Dublin costs around £80k for non-EU students. And there are even cheaper options available, e.g. http://ki.se/en/utbildning/1bi17-bachelors-programme-in-biomedicine (around £55k) or https://www.umu.se/en/education/master/bachelor-of-science-programme-in-life-science/ (around £40k).

Reply 106

Moura

Original post by CurryHead

Are you sure? I don't think we have to pay the full thing at once?

I think you do on a yearly/termly basis...

Reply 107

Moura

Do you guys all speak English at home or something?

Reply 108

username1152869

Original post by Moura

Do you guys all speak English at home or something?

Are there loans for international students to pay later on?? Say after your course is done. Especially in Wales??

Reply 109

CurryHead

Original post by Moura

Do you guys all speak English at home or something?

Many Indians do

Reply 110

Moura

Original post by gonza nelson

Are there loans for international students to pay later on?? Say after your course is done. Especially in Wales??

I have no idea, I think if there are then they would be with Indian banks... and they would be pretty terrible.

Reply 111

username1152869

Original post by Moura

I have no idea, I think if there are then they would be with Indian banks... and they would be pretty terrible.

Lol am from Uganda

Reply 112

Moura

Original post by CurryHead

Many Indians do

So would you say it's your first language? Do you speak it better than whatever your regional indian language is?

Reply 113

comebackseason

That's life as an international student, I know someone from Canada who is doing medicine at KCL and she is forking out way more $$$ than that.

There really isn't much you can do

Reply 114

Lusine

Original post by Ishax

Shouldn't have applied in the first place to be honest.

That's such a negative attitude from everyone saying that CurryHead shouldn't have applied in the first place! Of course s/he should have. Even just to try out and see if s/he could get in. In the future, even if s/he doesnt end up going, she can reapply to Oxford for a Masters and explain what happened, which would certainly be helpful.

Moreover, there are international scholarships available. Yes, they are limited, but CurryHead would never know if s/he could get one if s/he didn't apply in the first place. So, stop all the negativity

and @CurryHead, you need to look at scholarship offered by the Indian government, there can't be thousands of young Indians who have received offers to study at Oxford at an undergrad level, you must be pretty unique, along with a handful of other people, so they might be prepared to offer you something (most of the time in exchange for a commitment to work back in India for a number of years at least, but still),

I think you shouldn't miss this opportunity, you've done an amazing job to get in, and you shouldn't give up on your dream until you reach it!

And whatever people might say, it's always worth asking (your College, Oxford scholarships, your government), the worst that can happen is (as you said yourself) that you'll get rejected.

Hell, if all fails, set up a Crowdfunder account, at least for the costs of the first year of your studies and get friends, family, the internet to fund the degree of a talented person who just can't afford to go...

Rant over. Soz.

Reply 115

Lusine

Original post by Snufkin

Seems a bit odd to apply knowing you can't afford it. :dontknow:

You can't really compare Oxford to any other university (bar Cambridge of course), so yes, OP could have applied, but Oxford is a dream, it's an ambition, it's always worth having a go...(See above)

Reply 116

Life_peer

Why did you apply to Oxford if you can't afford it?

Reply 117

Life_peer

Original post by Moura

Do you guys all speak English at home or something?

Duh, they need to provide the world with tech support… :tongue:

Reply 118

epsilondelta

Oh no OP, I really hope you can get this sorted. You've done amazingly well to get an offer from Oxford, congratulations. I'm going to the student advice desk at college tomorrow anyway and I will ask them what is in place for people in your position

Reply 119

999tigger

Original post by Lusine

You can't really compare Oxford to any other university (bar Cambridge of course), so yes, OP could have applied, but Oxford is a dream, it's an ambition, it's always worth having a go...(See above)

You missed the point, which was funding was always the elephant in the room.

Due to our very weak exchange rate following Brexit, then you have a 15-20% reduction in fees which is a nice start. You dont have anything to lose trying to crowdfund and as someone suggested contacting Indian alumni or companies.