Fees and funding

Tuition fees

As an exchange student you will not pay tuition fees to your host university, though you may be asked to pay extra costs students usually pay there. These can include fees for field trips, student unions, accommodation applications, administration fees and campus insurance.

You should ensure that you notify your funding body of your intention to go abroad. Please be aware that, where your loan funding body and/or mobility programme does not meet the full costs of tuition, students will be liable to pay your tuition fees to St Andrews.

For advice about arrangements with your funding body, please contact the University's money adviser by emailing money.advice@st-andrews.ac.uk.

There will be a St Andrews tuition fee generated for you, whether you pay your own tuition fees or have them paid on your behalf. Please see the Tuition fees page for further information.

Student Loans Company (SLC) funded students

For 2024-2025, tuition fees for eligible students who are subject to the RUK (England, Wales, N Ireland) student support arrangements and who will spend the full academic year abroad may be covered by the Turing Programme arrangements. This Turing funding reduces your tuition fee liability to St Andrews. Please see here for details. You must apply for the Turing programme in order to benefit from this funding. Late applications may not receive the Turing funding and benefit from these arrangements.  This applies to students who are studying abroad or undertaking a work/ external placement.

One semester students are not eligible for tuition fee funding under the Turing Scheme , and will be liable for their normal St Andrews tuition fees for the full academic session and should apply for a tuition fee loan as normal.

Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) funded students

Eligible Home (Scotland/EU) students must apply to SAAS for tuition fee funding whether full year or one semester Turing Scheme students.  This applies to students who are studying abroad or undertaking a work/ external placement.  If you apply for tuition fees from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) and are undertaking a full year placement for Biology or Chemistry, a half tuition fee grant is available from SAAS.

International students

Tuition fees for Overseas students are not covered under the Turing Scheme arrangements and should be paid as normal.

US Federal Loans

If you normally apply for a US Federal Loan, you should contact the US Loans Team (usloan@st-andrews.ac.uk) at St Andrews as early as possible to discuss your funding options.

Funding information:

Awards for Turing are made based on our institutional application, which are submitted annually in March The Global Office will circulate a call for applications each year from students participating in study or work abroad opportunities, and the University will then communicate results directly to students who have responded to the internal application for the scheme once we have our institutional award which is usually received at the end of the summer.

The following is an indication of the levels of funding one may expect to be in place for 2023-2024. We will confirm the amounts in due course:

  • Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living), Group 3 (low cost of living)     
  • Student placements with a total duration of four to eight weeks will receive:
    • £545 per month (equal to £136.25 per week for Group 1 destinations)
    • £480 per month (equal to £120 per week for Group 2 and 3 destinations).
  • Student placements with a total duration of nine weeks to twelve months will receive:
    • £380 per month (for Group 1 destinations)
    • £335 per month (for Group 2 and 3 destinations)

The students’ bank details on MySaint must be up to date for the funding to be processed.

Please note that placements lasting nine weeks to twelve months will receive the rates identified for this category for the full duration of the mobility and not the higher rates for the initial period of eight weeks. The minimum duration of 4 weeks for Higher Education placements is equal to 28 working days.

Please be aware that the mobility start date is not the date on which you arrived at your placement, but the first date on which you must be in attendance at your placement.

Additional Support:

Extra funding may be available for students from disadvantaged backgrounds or who meet the UK government's special education needs or disabilities criteria for additional support. Contact us at studyabroad@st-andrews.ac.uk for more details. The University will apply for this uplift in funding on your behalf if you have indicated to us that you may be eligible.

For participants with specific educational support requirements, the Turing Scheme will also fund up to 100% of actual costs for support directly related to their additional needs and we invite participants to let us know of relevant costs where they relate to mitigations for needs outlined by the UK government as being eligible for this additional funding as listed below:

However, please note that support for the additional needs listed above can only be funded with receipted expenditure. Evidence must be provided at the start of the placement to be able to request this funding, so we encourage students to make arrangements at their host destination as early as possible to allow a quick collection of evidence.

Documentation:

Students are required to sign and return documents before, during and after their time abroad. For more information, please refer to the documentation webpage.

  • Attendance at the Pre-Departure meeting in April each year is compulsory for funded students on study and work placements which are part of their degree.
  • Pre-Departure Agreement - must be uploaded by May 31 using the Outbound Documentation Tool for the same group of students.

 For all funded students.  

  • Award letter – must be signed and returned (first payment will usually be made within the week after letter is returned).
  • After each payment has been received, the Global Office will require receipts in the form of a Student Acknowledgment of Receipt of Grant form (SARG), which will be sent directly to the student. SARGs are due four weeks after the receipt of each grant. Further payments cannot be made until you have returned your receipts. SARGs should be uploaded to the Outbound Documentation Tool.
  • A Certificate of Attendance to be signed by all parties, including the host institution, as evidence of dates of placements, and should be uploaded to the Outbound Documentation Tool.

Timeline:

  • The Award Letter is sent towards the start of the placement.
  • First payment is sent within two weeks of the Award letter being signed and returned.
  • The first SARG must be sent back to the Global Office in order to receive the next payment.
  • Semester abroad students or students on placements shorter than a semester receive 90% of their funding at the start of their placement and the final 10% as a balancing payment at the end of their placement. (2 SARGs to sign in total). Please note that students will not receive their final payment until the Certificate of Attendance is returned.
  • Year Abroad students receive 45% percent of their funding at the start of their placement, with a further 45% at the start of semester two and the final 10% as a balancing payment at the end of their placement. (3 SARGS to sign in total). Please note that students will not receive their second payment if their first SARG is not returned, nor their final payment until the Certificate of Attendance is returned.
  • The Certificate of Attendance document is sent to students and a signed copy must be returned prior to the end of the placement. Should the placement end early, it is possible that the Global Office may request repayment of a proportional amount of the funding for onward repayment to the National Agency.