Study Cost Benchmarks: Official Living-Cost and Tuition Benchmarks for the UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand

Direct answer

An official study cost benchmark is a published threshold used to assess financial capacity for a student visa. The national figures here are regulatory floors for living costs, not tuition prices and not total study budgets. The UK, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand publish different amounts and periods in different currencies. A separate University of Cambridge table shows 2027 international undergraduate tuition for one named institution.

What a study cost benchmark means

A study cost benchmark is an official published threshold applied by a country’s immigration authority when assessing whether an applicant can support the required period of study. These figures are regulatory floors for financial capacity. They are not estimates of what a particular student will necessarily spend.

Every national amount described below is a living-cost or financial-capacity threshold. None is the cost of obtaining a degree. Some official rules also identify course fees, deposits or other financial requirements, but those amounts remain separate from the living-cost benchmark.

A visa threshold serves as an eligibility test rather than a budgeting model. It does not show the cost of accommodation in a particular city, the tuition charged by a particular university or the full range of expenses a student may encounter. A student should therefore use the immigration threshold to understand the regulatory requirement and develop a separate, institution-specific budget.

Canada and Germany are omitted because their official figures were not retrievable for this article. No Canadian or German amounts are included.

United Kingdom financial thresholds

The official GOV.UK student visa money guidance sets maintenance requirements of £1,529 per month in London and £1,171 per month outside London, for a period of up to 9 months.

The course-fee requirement covers 1 academic year up to 9 months, as shown on the applicant’s CAS. This requirement is not a nationwide tuition price. The amount depends on the course and the CAS, so the monthly maintenance figures should not be mistaken for the cost of the course itself.

The related GOV.UK financial documentation guidance gives dependant maintenance figures of £845 each month in London and £680 each month outside London, up to a maximum of 9 months.

Applicants must select the applicable London or outside-London amount. Adding the two rates, using the dependant rate for the main applicant or treating the maintenance threshold as full course cost would misapply the published rules.

Australian financial thresholds

Australia’s official Student visa Subclass 500 guidance publishes separate 12-month living costs of:

• AUD29,710 for a student
• AUD10,394 for a partner
• AUD4,449 for a child

These are distinct family-member amounts rather than interchangeable versions of one figure. The published living-cost amounts do not provide a combined family budget.

Students must also show the first 12 months of course fees. Amounts already paid may be deducted when supporting documents are provided. The course-fee requirement is therefore separate from the published living-cost figures and should not be described as an Australian tuition average.

Where the official pro-rata method applies, the stated method is to divide the annual cost by 365. This instruction should be applied to the relevant annual cost rather than used to create an unsupported combined family or tuition estimate.

Irish financial thresholds

Ireland’s official Information on Student Finances guidance requires students beginning academic courses after 1 July 2023 to show immediate access to at least €10,000. This is described as the estimated living cost for a student for 1 academic year.

For courses of 8 months or less, the alternatives are €833 per month or €6,665 in total. The duration-specific figures should not be replaced with the longer-study amount merely because the applicant intends to remain in Ireland beyond the shorter course period.

The living-cost threshold does not replace course fees. The official guidance also requires course fees for each subsequent year. Treating €10,000, €833 per month, or €6,665 in total as an all-inclusive education cost would omit those separately required fees.

New Zealand financial thresholds

New Zealand’s official fee-paying student visa guidance sets different thresholds according to the type and duration of study.

For tertiary study, the amount is NZD 20,000 per year, or NZD 1,667 per month for shorter study. For compulsory schooling, it is NZD 17,000 per year, or NZD 1,417 per month.

The tertiary and compulsory-schooling amounts apply to different study categories and should not be added or substituted for one another. They are financial-capacity thresholds rather than tuition prices or complete family budgets.

Currency and comparison limits

The figures use pounds, Australian dollars, euros and New Zealand dollars. No exchange rate is provided, so the amounts cannot be added together or converted in this article.

Converting them would also require more than a currency rate. The benchmarks cover different durations, applicant categories and expense categories, so a common currency would not by itself make them equivalent total-cost measures. Each figure should remain in its original currency and be interpreted under the relevant national rule.

Country comparison

Why a visa threshold is not a budget

Visa thresholds do not itemize every cost involved in studying abroad. They do not represent travel expenses, visa fees, deposits, books or equipment. The difference between the regulatory threshold and actual spending also cannot be inferred from the threshold alone.

A student may need to account for a course fee, a College fee, accommodation-related costs or other expenses identified by an institution. Those items should be recorded separately instead of being hidden inside a supposedly precise visa benchmark.

Cambridge describes its own living-cost framework as including accommodation, food, study costs and personal expenses. It also states that students are expected to live and study in Cambridge during term time, which is usually 9 months. That institution-level description illustrates why a visa maintenance threshold should not be treated as a complete personal budget.

The safest approach is to keep two calculations separate: use the immigration threshold for the regulatory financial test, and use the chosen institution’s published fees and cost information for a realistic study budget.

Worked tuition example: University of Cambridge 2027

The following is one named institution’s published 2027 international undergraduate tuition table. It is not a UK average and must not be used to estimate the fees of any other institution or country.

These amounts are tuition charges, not the living-cost or financial-capacity thresholds described for the national visa systems. All international/overseas fee-status students normally have to pay an annual College fee in addition to University tuition fees. College fees may vary.

A reader should match the relevant course listing rather than treating the table as a national range. The University tuition amount also cannot be converted into a single all-in Cambridge education cost without the applicable College fee. It provides neither a UK-wide benchmark nor a basis for estimating tuition in Australia, Ireland or New Zealand.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Student visa money requirements — accessed 3 October 2026.
• GOV.UK — Student and Child Student financial requirements — accessed 3 October 2026.
• Australia — Student visa Subclass 500 — accessed 3 October 2026.
• Ireland — Information on Student Finances — accessed 3 October 2026.
• New Zealand — Fee-paying student visa — accessed 3 October 2026.
• University of Cambridge — International fees and costs — accessed 3 October 2026.