A UK degree is a large purchase. The good news is that almost every part of the bill is published somewhere official. This guide puts those numbers in one place, explains which ones are fixed and which ones move, and ends with a worked example in rupees.
All figures are as of November 2026. We convert at ₹127 to £1, the European Central Bank reference cross-rate in early November 2026. Check the rate on the day you pay.
Tuition: what the ranges look like
Universities set their own international fees, course by course, year by year. As of November 2026 the British Council puts international undergraduate fees at £11,400 to £38,000 a year and postgraduate fees at £9,000 to £30,000 a year. UCAS gives an average of about £22,000 a year for an international undergraduate.
A real example helps. The University of Reading lists its 2026/27 international undergraduate fee at £25,850 a year for classroom courses and £30,650 for courses with significant laboratory work. Medicine and dentistry sit far above these ranges everywhere.
Three rules of thumb:
- Humanities, business and social sciences cost less. Laboratory, engineering and clinical courses cost more.
- One-year master’s degrees are the cheapest route to a UK postgraduate qualification because you pay one year of fees and one year of living.
- Fees for your first year are fixed once your offer states them. Later years may rise by a published percentage. Read the fee page, not the brochure.
Living costs: two different numbers
There are two living-cost figures and people confuse them.
The first is the visa requirement. To get a Student visa you must show living money of £1,529 a month for courses in London and £1,171 a month outside London, for up to nine months. That is £13,761 in London or £10,539 elsewhere. The Home Office’s statement of changes HC 584 raises these to £1,570 and £1,203 a month for applications made on or after 30 November 2026.
The second is what you will actually spend. The visa figure covers nine months; most students stay twelve. Rent varies enormously between a shared house in Coventry and a studio in London. Budget for twelve months and treat the visa figure as a floor, not a forecast.
Fees you pay before you fly
| Item | Amount (November 2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Student visa application fee | £558 | Paid online when you apply from India |
| Immigration health surcharge (IHS) | £776 per year | Student rate. For a visa of more than a year but up to 18 months you pay a year and a half, £1,164 |
| Tuberculosis test | Set by the clinic | India is on the list of countries where a test is required for stays over six months |
| Priority visa decision (optional) | £500 | Decision within five working days where available; standard service is usually three weeks |
The IHS gives you access to the NHS for the whole visa. It is not optional and it is not refundable once the visa is granted.
Deposits
After a conditional offer, most universities ask for a tuition deposit before they issue the CAS, the document you need for the visa. The amount is on your offer letter, usually a few thousand pounds, and it is deducted from your first-year fee. Read the refund terms before you pay. Most universities refund the deposit if your visa is refused and you send the refusal letter; most do not refund it if you simply change your mind. Pay the university directly, into the account on its official website.
What “estimate” means
An estimate is a set of assumptions written down. Ours uses published figures where they exist and labels everything else as an assumption. Yours should do the same. Four things move:
- The exchange rate. A 5 per cent swing on a £30,000 budget is £1,500, or about ₹1.9 lakh. Keep a margin.
- Rent. It is the largest living cost and the most variable.
- Your own habits. Cooking at home versus eating out changes the monthly figure by hundreds of pounds.
- Course changes. A placement year or a dissertation extension adds months of living costs.
A worked example: one-year master’s outside London
Assume a taught master’s at a university outside London starting September 2027, fee £17,000, which sits inside the British Council range. Assumptions are marked.
| Line | Pounds | Rupees at ₹127 per £ |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition (assumed within published range) | £17,000 | ₹21.6 lakh |
| Living, 12 months at the visa rate outside London (£1,171 x 12) | £14,052 | ₹17.8 lakh |
| Immigration health surcharge (18-month visa) | £1,164 | ₹1.5 lakh |
| Visa application fee | £558 | ₹0.7 lakh |
| TB test, flights, first-week costs (assumption) | about £950 | ₹1.2 lakh |
| Total for the year | about £33,700 | about ₹42.8 lakh |
Now the visa bank balance, which is a different sum. If you have paid a £5,000 deposit, the money you must show is the unpaid tuition (£12,000) plus nine months of living (£10,539), which is £22,539, or about ₹28.6 lakh. It must sit in the account for 28 consecutive days, and the 28-day period must end within 31 days of the date you apply. An education loan sanction letter or an official scholarship letter can stand in for cash; a loan you have only applied for cannot.
If your course is in London, add £358 a month to the living line and expect higher rent on top.
How families usually fund it
Most Bihar families combine three sources: savings, an education loan, and a scholarship or fee discount from the university. Degree-level students on a Student visa can usually work up to 20 hours a week in term time. Treat that income as a cushion for groceries, not as a way to pay fees. A visa officer will not count it, and neither should your budget.
Two savings that are real: choosing a city outside London, and choosing university accommodation for the first year, which usually bundles bills and removes deposits to private landlords.
Where the numbers come from
Everything in the tables above traces to a GOV.UK page, a university fee page or a published range. When someone quotes you a figure that is lower, ask for the page it came from. If they cannot show you, it is not an estimate. It is a guess.
What to do next
If you would like a line-by-line estimate for the course you have in mind, with the current rate and the latest visa figures, Start your application. Bihar Scholars’ guidance is free for students.