Student Visa Info

Education loans are given for chase all types of education viz. general, professional, technical and vocational courses. All public sector banks and few private sector banks are providing education loan to meet student’s study fixed cost in India and abroad.

The system enables the students to meet the following costs for studies in India as well as abroad: admission fees, books & stationery, instruments requisite for the course, monthly fees, examination fees, insurance premium for policy on life of the borrowing student, caution deposit/ building fund/ refundable deposit supported by bills/ receipts, expenses like study tours/ project work/ thesis etc. required to total the course, boarding and lodging expenses, and travel expenses/ passage money including air fare for amalgamation the course abroad.

 Eligibility to secure education loan:

(1). should be an Indian National.

(2). Secured admission to Professional / Technical courses through Entrance Test / Selection process.

(3). Secured admission to foreign University / Institutions.

(4). Student should have secured pass marks in the qualifying Examination for admission to Graduation Courses.

Worldwide students can live separately in Australia for as little as AUD $265 a week, but prices vary substantially depending on the suburb and type of accommodation you want. Like all cities, Australia boasts a wide range of accommodation options to suit all budgets and tastes.

Here is a guide to weekly living expenses in Australia:

(A)Accommodation: $90-$250

(B)Gas & electricity: $25

(C)Telephone/postage: $20-$30

(D)Groceries: $80

(E)Transport $15-$20

(F)Clothing, entertainment etc $35+

(G)Total weekly spend $265 - $440

What are my housing options?

All Australian education institutions have a legal duty to assist new international students with accommodation on their arrival in Australia, and many have additional support to help you settle in for the longer term.

(A) On-campus: On-campus accommodation, university residences and residential colleges: may be situated on-campus or within a short distance, generally includes a single furnished bedroom, access to computers and the internet and a shared laundry and kitchen facility. Most are supervised and provide meals on weekdays.

(B) Home stay: involves living with an Australian family and allows you to experience Australian family life. Home stay is the most common form of accommodation for high school students but is also taken up by some tertiary students.

(C) Private rental: affordable right in the city centre and inner suburbs of Australia, many within easy walking distance to central universities and institutions. Prices vary greatly depending on geographical area, demand, the number of people sharing and facilities provided. For rooms, houses and apartments for rent, look in Australia’s daily newspaper, The Advertiser.

(D) International residences: aim to assist students with the transition from living at home to independent living, by providing a quiet, managed environment for students who may prefer hostel living to the dynamics of shared households.

Board exams are over — the golden period of school days comes to a sudden end. It’s the time to understand a term so carelessly used before — career.

It’s the toughest part of life, trying to figure out where to begin from. Unluckily, in India careers are mostly decided by parents; students rarely get a chance to decide what they want.

It’s a good idea to match your career options with your skills and favorite. Take your time and learn about the likely options and how to achieve them.

Your career actually begins with choosing a college. It is a big decision. The key is to remember that there’s no such thing as a “perfect” college. You will require to find out the list of colleges and universities that match your preferences.

And one of the biggest issues is one increasingly facing Indian students. Should you sit for a competitive exam and qualify for a renowned college in India or should you go abroad? There are loads of confusing questions associated with this problem, so let’s get started.

Discover College

Discover your interests and take the time to find the college that’s right for you. It’s always better to do a bit of research before you go to any consultant. It makes his or her life easy too. Once you have discovered the options, start deleting those names that you don’t find useful or promising. Find the college courses most interesting for you.

Make a decision the place you want to study?

Once you have discovered the universities based on your choice of course, a big task still remains. You need to decide which country you want to go and why. Is it the glory called United States or is it the United Kingdom? Or the lovely country called Australia? You need to do a SWOT analysis [Strength, Weakness, Opportunity & Threat] which will help you to decrease your list even further.

A useful look at these few things may make you feel much more relaxed:

(1) Which Courses do you want to study?

(2)Does it match with your desired career option?

(3) How are the lecturers/professors?

(4)How is the Alumni Relationship?

(5)Are there any job/placement opportunities

Financial plan

It is good to have goal. Keep in mind your budget, too. A lot of parents look for a bank loan or scholarships — I’ll come to that later — as a means to fund his/her son/daughter’s higher academic needs. Please keep this in mind: bank loans are not gifts but a responsibility to be repaid back. One needs to be practical to decide on the country and the course based on his/her financial standing.

Bank Loans

A number of nationalized banks suggest Educational loans for students aspiring to go overseas. It needs to be remembered: banks only provide a loan once they are sure of its repayment.

Scholarships

A word of wisdom — never ever depend on a scholarship for overseas Study. The reality is not every one gets it though every one wishes to get it. It depends greatly on your university and partly on your merit. . Our suggestion is: if you get it, good, but never depend on it.

Misconception

We receive at least 40-50 enquiries every day asking us to arrange for a scholarship or a bank loan. It needs to be clarified that no consultant can organize for a scholarship directly. They can assist or guide you to get one. The same is true with a bank loan.

A consulting company can refer your request for a loan to a bank but it is completely the judgment of the bank whether you are eligible for a loan or not. I have personally received enquiries like this: “Please tell me which University offers a loan for students?” I want to drive home this point straight away “No University offers loans to foreign students.” There are grants/bursaries for students of the home country.

An expense is an area which most students would like to have complete information first, before they plan their education overseas. In fact, awareness about the costs involved is ‘very crucial’ before one ventures into this expenditure-involved process.

Here are the details of Specific costs involved in Study Abroad Process

1. Application costs

Your study abroad plans start with the application process. If you want to apply for 4-6 universities/colleges, you have to consider Application Fees, Courier Charges, Cost of Documentation and Miscellaneous Expenditure like Stationary etc.

A USA: The average application fee is between $25-95 per US University. Very few colleges facilitate applications without fee, but most have an application processing fee, which is mandatory for international students.

B. for UK, France and Switzerland, there is no application fee for post-graduate applicants

C. like US, most Canadian universities do charge an application fee, which is around the same costs as US universities

D Some Australian and New Zealand universities charge an application fee, however there are some universities/colleges offering free application.

Altogether, the average cost of applying to 4-5 universities may come to Rs 25,000 for USA and Canada and around Rs 10,000 for UK, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and France.

2. Scores reporting costs

Scores of TOEFL and GRE / GMAT / SAT are to be directly reported for the application process. Following are the present charges for score reporting (in addition to what ETS / College Board allows FREE, at the time of registration)

TOEFL - $17,GRE - $15,GMAT - $28,SAT - $ 9

IELTS - Local center will determine the cost of additional score reporting

Students can save $40-$90, if they can report the scores to the individual universities at the time of Exam itself.

3. English Tests

Students have to write TOEFL/GRE/GMAT/SAT/IELTS as a prerequisite for admissions. Each student has to pay Coaching Fees and Examination Fees as prescribed by the respective Testing Agencies. The total expenditure for tests will be in the range of 8,000-15,000.

4. Cost of living expenditure

Cost of food alone will come approximately to $ 300 per month in US/Canada and other countries. If you include other incidental expenditure like rent, entertainment and other expenses, the average could be around $ 800-1000 per month, for a single student.

5. Insurance

Insurance is mandatory for all international students, who plan to study abroad. Depending upon the company and policy taken, the cost of insurance for a student could be around Rs 15,000 - 20,000 per year, in any of the countries being discussed.

6. Tuition and fees

Interestingly, Bachelor’s degree is costlier than Master’s degree because of the more number of credits involved at Grad level. Please note that all the costs indicated are approximate and vary upon the universities and programs. These costs will hike from one year to another. However, the average increase is around 5-10% per annum.

7. Books and supplies

This could be anywhere between US $ 400-1200 per year, depending upon field of study and the courses chosen.

8. Other costs

Visa application fee, air fare and settlement expenses like deposit on room/flat, basic necessities etc. are also to be factored in, while calculating the expenditure involved for studying abroad.

Currently, the Visa application fee is around Rs 4,400 for USA, Rs 5,100 for UK

Air fare could be between Rs 15,000 to 45,000 depending upon the country, season and airline.

British Education has long concerned and welcomed high quality students of different nationalities and backgrounds, and today builds on hundreds of years of experience in providing excellence education to international students. To ensure that the quality is maintained, Britain has implemented unrivalled quality assurance and academic audit systems. The university departments are obliged to meet stringent standards by professional bodies. Standards are high not just in teaching but in other facilities as well : Libraries, computers, research tools and living accommodation.

British higher and further education offer value for money by offering shorter, more rigorous courses than are available in many other countries, thereby reducing living expenses and time spent away from home. Closely supervised study in an intellectually and culturally stimulating environment, together with an emphasis on student welfare and close contact between staff and students also ensures that individual students get maximum support and, as a result, pass rates are high and the drop-out rate for international students is very low.

Britain has long been a popular destination for Indian students. With more than 150 institutes of higher education to choose from, all equipped with wide facilities, Britain is able to offer a broad spectrum of subjects from the highly academic to the purely practical in anything from architecture to zoology.

For more details of the costs of education and living in UK and comparisons of costs of education in UK with other countries, check out the Expenses & Fees for International Students section.

Information about various Qualifications offered by UK Colleges and Universities:

1 First Degree Courses in Arts and Sciences (Bachelor’s degree) are normally of three or four years’ duration and are largely taught courses, sometimes including the preparation of a short written thesis.

2. Sandwich Courses are where the coursework is accompanied by practical work. A student could either complete 2 years of college, then a year of commercial training before returning for a final year in college. Or, he/she could do a 4-year course with 3-6 months’ training interspersed each year. The main advantage is that the student gets real experience while in the learning mode. Most universities offer this type of education.

3. Vocational Courses offer an opportunity to enter the university system slowly. Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC), General Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ), General Scottish Vocational Qualifications (GSVQ) offer recognized courses in a range of disciplines. Most students opt to take 1-2 years of, for example, BTEC courses before being transferred to a degree programmed. BTEC national certificates/diplomas are usually accepted as an alternative to A-Levels.

4. Higher National Diploma (HND) is awarded by Vocational and Technical Educational Councils. They offer a 2-year course in a vocational subject like scientific and technical business subjects. Great emphasis is placed on work experience. It is often seen as the first step towards a degree course as the credits can be transferred.

5. Postgraduate study may take the form of an independent piece of research under supervision or a taught course, and leads to a variety of degrees and awards. The taught courses normally last for one or sometimes two years. Conclusion of a doctorate normally takes a minimum of three years. Many post-experience courses are also available, either leading to a qualification or providing a refresher course for graduates wishing to update or extend their knowledge. Occasional students are confessing by some institutions in limited numbers. They attend courses or undertake research, possibly for a period of one or two years. These courses do not lead to any formal qualification or ‘credit’ although certificate of satisfactory attendance may be given.