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Can someone answer this question?

Why does it seem like the cost of grad schools in the UK is about 80% cheaper than grad schools in the US? I've heard that not as many people in Europe get an advanced degree so the grad schools keep their costs low.

I'm looking to apply to some grad schools in London to get a MA in Creative Writing and have been (pleasantly) shocked at how cheap they are compared to US grad programs in the same degree.

Oh, anyone actually in grad school in London? Just wondering....

I can't speak for every country (or even very many) in Europe, but my understanding is that a lot of them have nearly-free undergraduate education, as part of a philosophy that everyone is entitled to an education that is affordable. Considering how many fewer students go on to graduate school, and the fact that many of them will be doing work for the university as teachers and researchers, it only makes sense that graduate school would also be free. Just as an example, undergraduates pay about $100 a semester for school in Norway (just a registration/administrative fee), and graduate school is also close to free (which is one reason I'm thinking of doing graduate school in Norway).

Interesting. I did not know that. What is wrong with the US? Why don't we put education first?

Just thought I'd add for you (or anyone else interested), graduate school in Europe is a great option for non-Europeans. Good academics, often nearly-free tuition, and there are a ton of graduate programs done in English, plus it looks very exotic on a résumé. Many schools are interested in the diversity offered by having international students in their programs, so getting accepted isn't incredibly difficult.

I'm from England, and I'm a student at uni, and I certainly wouldn't say its cheap. Especially graduate courses, which are considerably more expensive than undergraduate. Several of my friends have been and are graduate students on MA courses and paid quite a bit more than £10,000 just for tuition.. I don't know what its like in the USA but thats a lot to me.. the prices go up rather steeply for foreign students as well

As a Norwegian who did under- and postgraduate studies in the UK, I feel obliged to respond

The UK is one of the few places in Europe where tuition is not symbolic - 10 000 pounds is still a lot for a year, especially when you consider living costs in a city like London - it adds up!! But of course, compared to the US, it saves you some cash.

A lot of European universities have courses in english specifically to attract international students, as it benefits their reputation internationally and adds a bit of spice! So not a bad option if you want to experience something different and not spend your life savings....in most northern europen countires you will aslo be eligible for stipends and /or loans to help you out.

The conservatory I'm looking at for grad school in A'dam is $1500 for a year. $1500!! I nearly shit myself. I think I paid that much for 1 frickin class in the US. Good thing, too, cuz all the rest of my money will be going to living expenses.

quote:

Originally posted by nerokerr:
The conservatory I'm looking at for grad school in A'dam is $1500 for a year. $1500!! I nearly shit myself. I think I paid that much for 1 frickin class in the US. Good thing, too, cuz all the rest of my money will be going to living expenses.

Thats what I'm talking about! Prices are crazy cheap compaired to the US and it looks good on a resume to have lived/studied outside the US.

I'm in the first year of an undergrad degree at an UK university and it's about 11~12,000 pounds a year, and the schools in the US (I'm American) that accepted me all cost about 40,000 USD a year.

I say go for it, my uni is really international, it's not uncommon to have a dozen nationalities in a 75-100 person lecture, so you learn far more than what's in your class.

Plus, I can get away from other Americans here, (only really have one US friend here) hehe.

I'm in the process of applying to graduate school in Dublin, Ireland.

I found a program that I hadn't even heard of in the U.S., and am really excited at the possiblity of living in another country.

Hopefully I'll find out about my status soon!

maybe it's more of a PhD, and possibly even more so a technical-degree thing, but many u.s. students get paid while getting their grad degree. it's still a good ways down the road for me, but almost all the programs i've looked at in the U.S. would be paying me a stipend to go to school. this does, of course, require me to be a teaching assistant, possibly some other small commitments. almost all of the stuff PhD students do are essentially working for the school (research), so it makes sense that they wouldn't pay for this.

i'm glad to hear that it is like this in europe, as doing grad school abroad is something that i have been thinking a lot about lately. my real concern is equivalence, though. i will be doing nuclear engineering, a field that is all about standardization, equivalence, etc. would i realistically be able to get a PhD in europe, then come back to the U.S. and not miss a beat? in general, are grad programs there and here highly equivalent?

quote:

Originally posted by gtrob:
my real concern is equivalence, though. i will be doing nuclear engineering, a field that is all about standardization, equivalence, etc. would i realistically be able to get a PhD in europe, then come back to the U.S. and not miss a beat? in general, are grad programs there and here highly equivalent?

I don't think you can generalize it. I think it would have to be dependent on your programme. For me, the best programme is in Europe. But I'm a musician... I know exactly less than nothing about nuclear engineering, so you'd have to do some research to find out who has the best and most up-to-date programme.

I'm starting grad school at the University of Glasgow in the fall. I went through a lot of pros and cons in the decision making process.

If you're not part of the EU you will pay higher costs. (A friend of mine works for Brunell in England and jokes that my unconditional offer was because they wanted my money unconditionally )For me that comes to about 20,000 dollarsa year for tuition and housing. (Pay attention to that exchange rate!) Then there are all the other costs like food, visa, transportation... It definatly all adds up. In the end it is not much less per year than the American university I was considering. BUT, I can get my masters degree in 12 months as opposed to two years here in the US. Money and time-wise it made a lot of sense to go abroad.

For a lot of grad students in the US, tuition is offset by working for the university as a Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant. One of my big questions was about being a TA. I wanted to make sure that was an option at Glasgow because I want to be a professor and really need that experience. I can do that at Glasgow so that was a big worry off my mind.

There is a strong tradition of Humanities and Theological studies in Scotland and I had professors who know faculty in Scotland so I was sure that the program had a strong foundation in what I want to do. As for equivalency, that really depends on the employer. I only asked HR people at colleges here in the States so I don't know about other professions. But, if an employer does require some documentation in addtion to the degree there are all kinds of private companies that do degree certification for people who've studied abroad or who are immigrating with foriegn degrees.

All the pros and cons in the end just being practical support that allowed me to do what I've always wanted to do, go back abroad for grad school. I found the perfect program in one of my favorite countries and I can't wait to leave!!

Becca

I'm from the US and currently applying for masters programs in London, Brighton, and Glasgow, and was wondering if anyone has suggestions about funding. Do you apply for loans and scholarships from British sources or American, or both? Also, does anyone have an idea how difficult it is to get into different graduate schools there? I don't have a sense of how competitive the schools are, aside from Oxford, Cambridge, and LSE.

Thanks...

Erin

I start grad school in London next fall. I've learned a lot since I was accepted. For funding, you can apply to both British and American sources. I'll put some links below. Depending on what your major is, you may find more. These are the best ones/sites I found.

Good search databases -

www.fastweb.com
http://www.britishcouncil.org/usa-education-graduate-funding.htm

Good scholarships and grants -

http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html
The Marshal Scholarship (don;'t have a link; Google it; didn't apply because you have to be under 25)
http://www.theihs.org/scholarships/

If you know of any other site, can you please post them here as well?

I'm looking at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, in Geneva. But I'm a bit confused on their tuition. Here: http://hei.unige.ch/adm/tax.html it says that Master's students' semester fees are 2500 CHF--so does that include tuition for the semester's classes? Here in the states tuition is completely different from fees, at least in my school. But if that is all inclusive, it's only about two grand per semester!

By the way, thanks for the links Mercutio

quote:

Originally posted by EricaT:
I'm in the process of applying to graduate school in Dublin, Ireland.

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Ireland!

For me, doing a postgrad will cost at most €5000 ($6500).
I thought that was a lot! Paying for education just isn't a thing we do here. We have to pay almost €1000 in admin costs and people are complaining about that all the time.

I want to do my postgrad abroad. I'd love to study in India. Must see if there's any info about that around here....

Out of interest, how much is grad school roughly in the US?

LOL. 6500 Euros is cheap. People typically spend at least $40,000 on a 2 years MAsters in the US. Thats almost 31,000 Euro's!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by cybersusst:

quote:

Originally posted by EricaT:
I'm in the process of applying to graduate school in Dublin, Ireland.

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Ireland!

For me, doing a postgrad will cost at most €5000 ($6500).
I thought that was a lot! Paying for education just isn't a thing we do here. We have to pay almost €1000 in admin costs and people are complaining about that all the time.

I want to do my postgrad abroad. I'd love to study in India. Must see if there's any info about that around here....

Out of interest, how much is grad school roughly in the US?

I'm really excited that I found this forum!! I'm applying to grad school at U of Swansea, Leeds and Edinburgh. I think it's great because they have totally different programs then in Canada, and you can do it in 12 months. Yes it costs 11, 000 pounds, so that comes out to about 30,000$$ but really if I were to do my Masters here it would be 2 years, and about 10/15 000 a year.

Does anyone know if it's as hard and competitive to get into Schools abroad - I know it probably depends on the program, but generally? It doesn't look like there is any standardized tests...and I'm finding it difficult to figure out whether my degree will be "second class honours" or not - what does that mean?

quote:

Originally posted by nerokerr:
The conservatory I'm looking at for grad school in A'dam is $1500 for a year. $1500!! I nearly shit myself. I think I paid that much for 1 frickin class in the US. Good thing, too, cuz all the rest of my money will be going to living expenses.

What school are you talking about? I have been researching some programs there and I find them to be around $12,000 or so per year, and thats just tuition. Please let me know thanks