Funding for Exchange & Visa Info - His Uni Exchange: Part 2
Part 2: Back again to help answer...How can I afford to go on exchange? & Will I need a visa to live & study abroad?
After last week's blog (see here) set the scene for the initial decision of going on exchange, part 2 will start to look at some very important aspects of studying abroad. Knowing how much money you have at your disposal & about any visa requirements, are both extremely important for any time abroad. This blog draws on my personal experiences as an Australian & the access this allows me to certain funding options, as well as, what I had to do to arrange my UK visa.
Financing my Exchange
As much as we'd like it not to be the case, money can somewhat dictate your opportunities or choices abroad. Having a reasonable money pool to draw upon can be handy to help get you overseas, pay for your living costs, any extra travel & returning home. For me I had three main sources of funding to support my year:
1) Home University Grant = $2,500 (£1,400/$1,845USD)
From my home uni (Griffith University), they support students with an International Experience Incentive Scheme (IEIS) grant of either $500 or $2,500 to their students per exchange. For anyone, the $500 is available, however, if your GPA is 5.5 or greater, the uni will grant you the $2,500.
I was fortunate to be above a 5.5, which allowed me to put this grant money towards my flight over & my UK visa. It is definitely worth checking if your university has any similar incentives available, or even scholarships you can apply for to help fund your exchange.
2) OS-Help Loan 2x = $6,600 (£3,700/$4,900USD)
For Australian citizens, the Federal Government assists students undertaking exchanges with access to a maximum of two zero-interest loans. As of 2018, for every six-month study period you are abroad, you can apply for an OS-Help loan of up to $6,665 (or $7,998 if studying within Asia). This loan is added onto your HECS or Fee-Help debt, which is repaid under the same scheme.
If you are considering a year-long exchange, after the first 6-months lapses, you can apply again for the 2nd & final OS-Help loan. For me, this was a significant sum of money & having roughly an extra $13,000 (£7,400), went a long way to covering rent & the daily living costs of the year.
3) Personal Savings = $10,000 (£5,570/$7,375USD)
Depending on your personal circumstances, this may be your most important portion of your total money pool for exchange. Leading up to my flight away, I was working 3 jobs & being very tight-arsed to give myself as much personal capital to support my year. I ended up with around $10,000, which I planned & ended up using for travelling on the various trips I've done & the social things of the year.
4) My Total Funds = $28,700 (£16,000/$21,150USD)
At the time of leaving, I was happy with my efforts to save & confident with the total funds I had behind me for the year away. Everyone has different circumstances & you'll will need more or less than this to support yourself in a place such as Leeds, UK.
I plan to do a full blog on my yearly exchange expenses after we leave next week. But, I can say now that I didn't spend anywhere near the total amount, allowing Ruby & I an opportunity to continue travelling over the back-half of 2018.
Additional Questions:
What if I receive a government student/youth allowance?
For Australians, if you receive fortnightly youth allowance benefits while studying in Australia, you can continue to receive these while abroad. However, you will only receive them for the period of study stated on your exchange uni's letter of acceptance or visa. You may also have issues if you travel outside Australia before this period, particularly if you want to travel in the time you have between your home uni's & host uni's academic calendars.
You should receive fortnightly allowances between your specified exchange course dates, but do make arrangements to outline this clearly. NOTE: Ensuring you have someone that can act on your behalf with Centrelink, can make contacting them somewhat easier when you're out of the country. This may not apply to everyone & will definitely vary from country to country, but such social payments can help your exchange budget.
Do I have to pay tuition fees while on exchange?
Technically yes, but it's really business as usual. As long as you are enrolled in the Exchange Program course at your home university, it will be as if you were still studying there. Your HECS/Fee-Help/tuition fees for the semester or year, are recorded on your home university balance.
This occurs because it literally is an exchange between students, in that for you to go abroad to another uni, someone from that uni will be taking your place & paying the same to their home uni. Though for any short-term programs, you will likely have to pay certain tuition fees to partake.
Visa Information
When planning on living & studying in another country, it is very likely you will require some form of student visa or authorisation to gain entry. For my time in the UK, I required a Tier 4 Student Visa as I was intending to be a resident for over 6-months. The following is how I went about obtaining it.
However, before continuing, I would caution that any visa information is extremely subjective to one's certain situation, so treat this as an overview rather than a strict step-by-step guide. You should always contact the relevant embassy or consulate to obtain information & details relevant to your situation.
Here's how I got my Visa...
1. Student Visa & Documents
After gaining acceptance to Leeds Uni, they provided guidance on likely visa requirements, supplied documents (CAS statement) to support an application, as well as, details of consulate information relevant to me. If your exchange is for a university course over 6 months or an English language course over 11 months, you'll require a Tier 4 (General) student visa.
2. Applying Yourself
To apply for the student visa, it is up to you to complete the application yourself, but it is pretty straightforward & if you really get stuck, there are some paid options to aid the process. Check out these options here.
3. The Online Application
You will need to apply through the UK Government visa site (here). You can start the online application form at any stage & it'll update your process, however, be aware that you can only finalise the application & submit it 3-months prior to the start date.
I learnt this the hard way when looking at my start date at Leeds as 11th of September, yet I was mindful that I was meant to leave mid-July to travel before I started. I had limited time to fit the following interview in, as well as, wait for the visa approval & returning of my passport, so I accidentally submitted the application a day earlier than I was supposed to. It worked out in the end, but it's worth planning for the time restrictions on this & even considering fast-tracking the process.
4. Visa Fees
When you have finalised the online form & waited till less than 3-months until your exchange, you complete the online application by paying the fees associated with both the visa & a healthcare surcharge. These are significant costs for your overall exchange & it is important to factor the amounts of:
Visa = $702 (£348)
Surcharge = $270 (£200)
5. Interview & Biometric Testing
Once you have submitted the application & paid the visa fees, you'll be able to book your interview as the next part of the application. You'll have to specify a time & location for this interview at a British consulate, but be aware it can only be carried out in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, as well as, slightly different processes in Adelaide & Hobart.
Again, you'll have to make arrangements if you need to travel to a consulate/visa processing centre. The interview itself, confirms the online documents you provided are accurate, whilst also taking your fingerprints & photograph as part of the application. I completed mine in Brisbane & the whole process took no more than 20 minutes.
NOTE: You'll also have to supply them your passport, which will mean you will be without it for a period of time. So plan for this or again, there is the option to fast-track the process.
7. Approval
The UK visa office outlines applications will be processed within 15 working days & are likely to grant you one if completed appropriately. I had to select the postal return option to avoid travelling back up to Brisbane from the Gold Coast, which incurs an additional fee.
Once processed, your passport will be returned with the visa inside. The visa occupies a page in your passport, which you'll have to show upon entry to the UK. Apart from when you arrive (see below), that's everything done for now, so well done.
8. When you Arrive
The final step to the process is to collect your Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs), which are issued to those travellers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) & staying in the UK for over 6-months. In the parcel that contained your passport & visa, there are also details about collecting your BRP from the closest post office to the UK residential address you supplied in the application.
Be aware, you'll have to collect this within 10 days of arriving in the UK. This is worth considering when making plans before your exchange study starts & planning to travel throughout the UK. Ensure you can collect your BRP within these 10 days to avoid any non-compliance issues with your visa requirements.
So that's it for this blog, I hope this clarifies a few important things for you to organise for your exchange. Again, I've put in quite a bit of information in this part of the series so I'll leave it there, but I hope it helps. I promise I'll get to more of my actual time & experiences at Leed Uni very soon. If you have any questions about any exchange related things, don't hesitate to get in touch via our email hishertravelings@gmail.com. Thanks for your time & have a good week.