{"id":5328,"date":"2020-03-03T11:17:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T11:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=5328"},"modified":"2020-04-06T15:42:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T15:42:51","slug":"tuition-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2020\/03\/03\/tuition-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuition Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

After paying the second half of my tuition fees,\u00a0<\/span>it\u2019s fair to say that\u00a0<\/span>money has been on my mind a lot this week. One of the reasons that I chose to come to the UK for grad school was the cost. Higher education in the US is infamously\u00a0<\/span>expensive and<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>unlike my <\/span>undergrad\u00a0<\/span>degree<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I\u00a0<\/span>would be taking on the price<\/span>\u00a0of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>grad school<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>entirely myself.\u00a0<\/span>Even factoring in the exchange rates, the cost of a\u00a0<\/span>UK MSc was still far less than one from back home.\u00a0<\/span>Pretty much a no-brainer<\/span>\u00a0to study here, right?<\/span>\u00a0However, as an international student,\u00a0<\/span>choosing to pursue\u00a0<\/span>a master\u2019s degree\u00a0<\/span>at<\/span>\u00a0Imperial\u00a0<\/span>rather than another UK university\u00a0<\/span>has\u00a0<\/span>been its own\u00a0<\/span>financial challenge. Warning: strong financial feelings ahead. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How does Imperial stack up?<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s no way to<\/span>\u00a0get around<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>it: Imperial is expensive.\u00a0<\/span>My roommate, an\u00a0<\/span>international\u00a0<\/span>MSc student\u00a0<\/span>studying\u00a0<\/span>at another London university, paid around \u00a316,0<\/span>00<\/span>\u00a0in tuition<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Admittedly, her subject area is different than mine. On the other hand, p<\/span>rograms\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>my<\/span>\u00a0desired<\/span>\u00a0field<\/span>\u00a0of climate change policy at\u00a0<\/span>UCL and King\u2019s, <\/span>cost\u00a0<\/span>around the same: \u00a316,000.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>At Imperial however,<\/span>\u00a0the<\/span>\u00a0i<\/span>nternational tuition<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>for my\u00a0<\/span>chosen\u00a0<\/span>program w<\/span>as<\/span> \u00a326,500. O<\/span>bviously the fact that I am writing this blog is proof <\/span>enough\u00a0<\/span>of my deci<\/span>sion, but I had to do some serious cost-benefit analysis to determine if attending Imperial would be worth it<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If only not eating avocados could solve this<\/h4>\n

While I was able to afford the cost of attending Imperial, my\u00a0<\/span>financial frustrations\u00a0<\/span>have been<\/span>\u00a0compounded by the<\/span>\u00a0dubiously helpful advice<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>on displa<\/span>y.\u00a0<\/span>If you visit any\u00a0<\/span>university website you will be faced with<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>pages with\u00a0<\/span>cheery<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>titles such as \u201cHow to Manage Your Money\u201d or \u201cTips for Saving as a Student!!\u201d and Imperial is no different.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Don\u2019t get me wrong, managing money is an invaluable life skill\u00a0<\/span>and I am always keen to see tips from other students about things such as\u00a0<\/span>where to see cheap performances or\u00a0<\/span>get discounted travel<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However,<\/span>\u00a0this type of\u00a0<\/span>peppy<\/span>\u00a0bu<\/span>dgeting<\/span>\u00a0advice\u00a0<\/span>rings utterly false<\/span>\u00a0in the face of\u00a0<\/span>such a large<\/span>\u00a0tuition<\/span>\u00a0difference<\/span>\u00a0as the one between Imperial and its peer institutions<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>No matter how well you budget,<\/span>\u00a0preparing meals at home<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0shopping at discount stores<\/span>, or even passing on nights out with friends<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>can<\/span>\u00a0simply not<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>make up\u00a0<\/span>\u00a3<\/span>10<\/span>,<\/span>000.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Adding insult to injury, even paying tuition in instalments cost money, since Imperial adds a charge<\/span>\u00a0for the\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>privilege<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(m<\/span>any o<\/span>ther schools, for the record, do not do this<\/span>).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s another 10k?<\/h4>\n

For the record, I have greatly enjoyed my time at Imperial so far. My classes have been<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>truly broadened my perspective on environmental problem-solving\u00a0<\/span>and I deeply value the relationships I\u2019ve built with my fellow students (<\/span>shoutouts<\/span>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>Aaliya<\/span>\u00a0and Payal if for some reason you\u2019r<\/span>e reading this). But I am concerned\u00a0<\/span>to hear<\/span> that Imperial is considering raising tuition for international students to \u00a335,000. This amounts to<\/span>\u00a0a staggering increase from an already-high sum. <\/span>If this ends up being the case, I<\/span> would be hesitant to<\/span>\u00a0recommend Imperial as a<\/span>\u00a0reasonable\u00a0<\/span>option for<\/span>\u00a0international\u00a0<\/span>postgraduate\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Of course, every perspective student must consider their individual\u00a0<\/span>situation; however,<\/span>\u00a0in my <\/span>view,<\/span>\u00a0while p<\/span>restige is all well and good<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>tuition talks\u00a0<\/span>quite loudly indeed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After paying the second half of my tuition fees,\u00a0it\u2019s fair to say that\u00a0money has been on my mind a lot this week. One of the reasons that I chose to come to the UK for grad school was the cost. Higher education in the US is infamously\u00a0expensive and,\u00a0unlike my undergrad\u00a0degree,\u00a0I\u00a0would be taking on the price\u00a0of\u00a0grad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[300890,299433,551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-student","category-masters-2","category-money"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5328"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5476,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions\/5476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}