'Expenditure' is an area which most students would like to have detailed information first, before they plan their education abroad. 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.

• 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.
• Like US, most Canadian universities do charge an application fee, which is around the same costs as US universities.
• For UK, France and Switzerland, there is no application fee for post-graduate applicants.
• 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. 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.

3. 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)

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

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.

Presently, 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.

Here is a Chart of Educational Costs: (All amounts indicated are in US $)

To sum up, a minimum expenditure of Rs.1.00 Lakh for USA is ideal towards preliminary expenditure - including coaching costs for TOEFL, GRE etc. and an additional Rs 3-4 lakhs towards tuition and fees for one semester and living expenses for two-three initial months.

In case if bank loan or any other educational loans is available, you may not need to carry much money physically, since most payments would be taken care by the loan-granting institution. Some private education loans even pay for your living expenditure when you study abroad!