The major concern for Indian students regarding overseas education is the cost involved. Overseas education is still a costly affair in India and people deem so calculative.

We are providing a comprehensive contrast of cost of education in different world countries which gives you a clear picture.

Application Costs:

• The very first stage is the application process. When you consider applying to around 4-5 colleges/universities, costs will include application fee, courier charges, cost of documentation and miscellaneous expenditure like faxing, Xerox etc.
• The average application fee ranges between $___ per US university. Some do accept applications without any fee, if applied online. But, most have an application processing fee, which is mandatory for international students.
• For UK, France and Switzerland, there is no application fee for post-graduate applicants.
• Some Australian and New Zealand universities charge an application fee, whereas some overlook them.
• Like US, most Canadian universities do charge an application fee, which is around the same costs as US universities.
• Altogether, the average cost of applying to 4-5 universities may come to Rs ____ for USA and Canada and around Rs ___ for UK, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and France.

Tuition and fees:

• For Bachelor's level, the cost of education in USA is more than for Master's level, because of the number of credits students are expected to take, per semester.

• Average cost for Bachelor's level - $ 15,000-25,000 per year.

• Average cost for Master's level (Non-MBA programs - $8,000-35,000 per year.

• Average cost for MBA programs - $ 15,000 - 50,000 per year.

• Please note that all the costs indicated are approximate and depends upon the universities and programs. These costs keep changing from one year to another.

• However, the average increase is around 5-10% per annum.

• Tuition and fees will be around Can. $ 11,000-20,000 in Canada.

• In Australia, the costs are between 10,000-25,000 Aus.$, annually.

Cost of living expenditure:

• Cost of food, without taking other expenses like entertainment, rents etc. come to approx. $ 300 per month within USA, Canada and around the same, in other countries, in their respective currencies.

• 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.

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.

Stationery:

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

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 application fee is 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.

• In summary, it would be best to plan for a total expenditure of Rs 1 lakh for USA 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!