Support and funding

Money is probably one of the things you’re likely to worry about as a parent when your son or daughter decides they want to study or work abroad.

There are a lot of funding opportunities for young people who want to do a year abroad as part of their university course, or even study the full course abroad. Depending on where they go, they may even save money by studying in another country!

It’s worth finding out about the funding available to help make those study choices affordable and achievable.

Full course

If your student wants to study their full course in an EU country, they may even find that they can save money compared to studying here in the UK. Universities within the EU will charge UK students the same fees as their home students - and there are still countries who charge very low fees.

Lots of countries also offer grants for students to help with accommodation, studies and more. You can find out more about these funding opportunities in our funding pages and the country web links page.

Short courses

If the student in your family is planning to study or work abroad as part of their university course, there’s funding available to support them.

Perhaps the best known is the EU’s Erasmus scheme, which encourages students to study or work in other European countries. Erasmus is open to students of all disciplines across the EU.

If your student is heading outside the EU, there are a range of schemes available through universities. The best place to start the search for information on this is through their home university.

Another thing to note is that your student can still receive student loan payments while they study abroad. Along with these payments, the student loans company can refund some travel and other costs – so it’s important to keep all receipts to send in with any claim for a refund once your student is back in the UK. This can really help bring down the expenses.