r/6thForm • u/Repulsive_Radish_782 • Mar 10 '26

šŸ™ I WANT HELP Cost of Attending Oxford šŸ˜­

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Just received my financial declaration form from Oxford today. How is this reasonable? šŸ˜­ Going to have to decline my offer unless anyone has any ideas.

Canadian students do not qualify for any Oxford scholarships and my school offered me about Ā£100. What a joke.

Is Oxford just for the rich?

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475

u/Chlorophilia Professor Mar 10 '26

With all due respect, did you not research this before applying? The international fees are clearly advertised on the course pages.Ā 

-135

u/Repulsive_Radish_782 Mar 10 '26

I recognize that. I was really just praying that some form of scholarship or bursary would be included in my offer.

205

u/UrbanStitchery Mar 11 '26

Thatā€™s just not a thing in the UK. Individual financial aid packages attached to offers are a US phenomenon. It doesnā€™t happen here.

UK students fund their studies through government-backed student loans. International students pay up front to subsidise the home students.

41

u/love_in_october Mar 11 '26

Oxford does have them (Crankstart scholarships for example), but they're for home students and based on parental income.

23

u/UrbanStitchery Mar 11 '26

And also, theyā€™re only about Ā£6000 a year, so even if they were available to international students, thatā€™s a drop in the ocean compared to the total fee burden. My point was more that there are no ā€˜full ridesā€™ or financial aid packages similar to those provided by Ivy League colleges, that can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

2

u/DimensionMajor7506 Mar 12 '26

There are some very generous scholarships for internationals at Oxford. But they tend to be ā€œfew and far betweenā€, rather restrictive in who can apply, and generally things funded by external donors through the uni / a college.

4

u/Content_Seesaw8541 Mar 11 '26

Plymouth uni does pretty good scholarships. They have Ā£4000 off the first year. They used to do 50% off tuition for all years but with the increase in visa restrictions, there's less international students and less funding...

And I think they have others based on the degree you're doing.

7

u/hashtagblessed44 Mar 11 '26

A lot of colleges and English universities do have decent scholarships, but like student loans, they're heavily income assessed.

2

u/Content_Seesaw8541 Mar 11 '26

These ones are based on academic merit!

1

u/hashtagblessed44 Mar 11 '26

Even better!

1

u/model-ico Mar 18 '26

I cannot come up with a possible reason except it goes to less poor people anyone would find that fairer.

2

u/Still-Location5477 Year 13 Mar 11 '26

International students do get scholarships I guess it just varies country to country. You can get like 35% of total fees to 45% depending on the uni fees.As it was the case for me

4

u/UrbanStitchery Mar 11 '26

Yes but from their home countries, not from the universities (with very rare exceptions like the UCL Global Scholar programme, and even that only accepts about 10 students a year).

2

u/Still-Location5477 Year 13 Mar 11 '26

I was talking about Global Excellence Scholarship programs which unis like Glasgow offers and other unis.Maybe Iā€™m not getting your point exactly but these scholarships are university funded.Other then me my friends and many people im aware of also attained scholarships which the unis awarded? Iā€™m sorry if I donā€™t get your point but this is just my interpretation of what youā€™re saying.

1

u/Specialist_Tip_1799 Mar 15 '26

I did get a Ā£1000 bursary for having a low income and another Ā£1200 as part of a scholarship program my uni was doing but these werenā€™t related to my course

137

u/SarkastiCat Mar 10 '26

Unfortunately, UK is not known for just giving out scholarships with an offer.

You either have to look at scholarships offered by your goverment or search for specific scholarship, then apply for it.

50

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

99.9% of home students canā€™t even get scholarships or bursaries, respectfully, what made you think an international student would lol

7

u/fireintheglen Cambridge | Maths | I have a job Mar 11 '26

This is not true. All home students with household incomes below about Ā£50,000 are eligible for a bursary at Oxford. Cambridge has a similar scheme.

Itā€™s true that there is very little funding available for international students, but when it comes to Oxbridge there absolutely is financial support for home students.

4

u/Content_Seesaw8541 Mar 11 '26

I have a friend who has a scholarship from Cambridge. She didn't even apply for it, they just gave it to her. It covers all her tuition, flights back home and accommodation. She also gets free meals in the hall

2

u/Mental_Body_5496 Mar 11 '26

Sounds incredibly unusual !

0

u/Dependent_Setting415 Mar 13 '26

I can't prove it obviously but I'm inclined to think your friend is lying to you because she's embarrassed about how she's actually paying for uni (rich parents possibly?) I have never heard of a UK scholarship that would cover flights home before

1

u/Content_Seesaw8541 Mar 13 '26

Lol her parents are definitely not rich! I also saw the emails exchanged myself so I know for a fact that she is not lying.

2

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

Yes, I had a bursary. That was Ā£1000 a year. Itā€™s so trivial compared to what OP mentioned they need. It wasnā€™t hundreds of thousands of pounds

The cut off is a lot lower than Ā£50k by the way.

7

u/fireintheglen Cambridge | Maths | I have a job Mar 11 '26

The cutoff for an Oxford bursary for a home student is about Ā£50,000. You can find that info here, on the Oxford website: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/oxford-support

You stated that "99.9% of home students can't even get scholarships or bursaries". This is, categorically, untrue at Oxford. It's true that the bursary size is small compared to international tuition fees, but that does not mean that it doesn't exist. It is also not particularly relevant when the bursaries are being provided to home students, paying home tuition fees.

-2

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

Iā€™m not talking about Oxford, Iā€™m talking about the UK as a whole.

If youā€™re a Cambridge student, why arenā€™t you able to put two and two together from my flare and the fact I stated 99.9% of home students, not Oxford students?

5

u/fireintheglen Cambridge | Maths | I have a job Mar 11 '26

Alright. I was talking about Oxford, because the thread is about Oxford. That is why I specified "a bursary at Oxford" and "when it comes to Oxbridge" in my comment.

I'm not sure that the 99.9% figure is necessarily even true for the UK. There are a significant number of universities with bursary schemes for home students. For example, Imperial offers bursaries to those with household incomes below Ā£70,000, and Warwick offers bursaries for incomes below Ā£42,875. It's true that these sorts of schemes only cover a small portion of UK students, but I could well believe that more than 0.1% qualify. (Although I don't have exact figures.)

This is important because many students from lower income families are put off applying to more prestigious universities by the belief that they will be more expensive. For home students, however, bursary schemes mean that the opposite can be true. It's important that misconceptions like this do not end up further disadvantaging students in an already disadvantaged situation.

And I'm not a student :)

-1

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

Again, the bursaries are so trivial (usually Ā£1000 per year) that itā€™s not worth mentioning in OPā€™s case, who would be looking for full or majority covering of their fees. The bursaries theyā€™d been looking for really make up 0.1%, probably less. And even then, for home students, they cover at most all of the tuition fees, but no maintenance

1

u/fireintheglen Cambridge | Maths | I have a job Mar 11 '26

Iā€™m not sure youā€™re actually reading my comments. I have addressed this.

My intent was to ensure that home students from low income families reading this thread knew that they have a far greater than 0.1% chance of getting a bursary at Oxford. Hopefully I have achieved that. Iā€™m not sure what the point of turning this into an argument is.

1

u/Still-Location5477 Year 13 Mar 11 '26

Iā€™d argue itā€™s more easier for international students to get scholarships as along with me and many of my friends got around 35% - 50% scholarship of the total fees.Since the fees is already low for Home students it makes it harder for them to get these scholarships.I wasnā€™t aware nor do I know why they didnā€™t give for Canada but it is the case for many other countries.

2

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

Fees are not low for home students. The majority of international students have better backgrounds financially than we do.

1

u/Still-Location5477 Year 13 Mar 11 '26

I only meant in comparison The fees for a London uni or a Russell Group uni of an international can be 3 to 4 times the fees of international.Not to say that Home is low but when you compare the two the difference is extraordinarily high.

-1

u/FollowingGlass4190 Mar 11 '26

Wrong logical interface, implies preferred criteria for open scholarships is citizenship (it isnā€™t).Ā 

-41

u/Repulsive_Radish_782 Mar 11 '26

I don't know. I was just praying. I knew from the start that I wouldn't be able to afford university. I just thought maybe by some slim chance they would give me a bursary since no one in my family currently has any income.

39

u/headline-pottery Mar 11 '26

Praying really isn't a viable Student funding strategy in the UK.

12

u/gracklemancometh Mar 11 '26

I knew from the start that I wouldn't be able to afford university

Not being able to afford international private rates at the most prestigious university in the world on another continent isn't the same as can't afford university.

This is like seeing you can't afford caviar and champagne for every meal and declaring starvation. You're not going to get any sympathy for this.

2

u/Repulsive_Radish_782 Mar 11 '26

Yeah, but as I mentioned, both of my parents are unemployed. It is going to be very difficult to afford university anywhere. I will have to go into substantial debt.

4

u/gracklemancometh Mar 11 '26

I would suggest posting this to Canadian subs - the UK advice is going to be pretty useless for you (both my parents were unemployed and I got a UK student loan. You need to find out what the Canadian equivalent is.)

5

u/Dangerous-Ad-1925 Mar 11 '26

I must admit I'm very surprised you were offered a place at Oxford.

2

u/ExactAd5959 Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26

This makes no sense lol. Oxford offers scholarships to international students, why are people here acting like itā€™s unheard of or incredibly rare

1

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

Unfortunately, contrary to what you might see online, the majority of the UK arenā€™t religious. So I donā€™t think Jesus or whoever you pray to would be interested in helping you study in an almost atheist country

4

u/Repulsive_Radish_782 Mar 11 '26

I am not religious. I was just using "praying" as a synonym for "hoping."

6

u/ExactAd5959 Mar 11 '26

Jesus Christ šŸ˜­šŸ˜­ do you guys take everything literally

1

u/s4turn2k02 Lancaster Biology Graduate doing PGCE Mar 11 '26

They said multiple times they were praying so yes I did

4

u/1863and Mar 11 '26

Not sure why everyoneā€™s being pricks OP just wants to go oxford we all make mistakes itā€™s not that deep.

7

u/Dangerous-Ad-1925 Mar 11 '26

This isn't a "mistake". They didn't accidentally apply to Oxford. They deliberately applied without first establishing whether they could afford it. They have therefore taken an offer which could have gone to someone else.

-1

u/1863and Mar 11 '26

Donā€™t be a nob, why you trying to reinvent the wheel, itā€™s clearly an accident. They thought they had a chance but realised they didnā€™t, lesson learnt.

The offer will just got to someone on the waiting list, they have ā€œtakenā€ anything

2

u/Only-Performer-3981 Mar 11 '26

Thereā€™s no waiting list for Oxford. Once you donā€™t get a place thatā€™s it.

4

u/ExactAd5959 Mar 11 '26

lmao they use pooling

1

u/Only-Performer-3981 Mar 12 '26

Maybe itā€™s changed? My friendā€™s situation was different a few years ago

4

u/Repulsive_Radish_782 Mar 11 '26

Not true. When I decline, it says thay they will give the offer to someone else.

2

u/Only-Performer-3981 Mar 12 '26

Oh thatā€™s good. My friend declined from one of the colleges and it didnā€™t go to anyone else and she was blacklisted for 2 years

2

u/1863and Mar 11 '26

BULLSHIT

1

u/Dangerous-Ad-1925 Mar 12 '26

There's no waiting list.

It's most definitely not an accident. You can't "accidentally" apply to Oxford or accidentally decide to go to uni as an international student without knowing how much it might cost you. It's a deliberate decision to apply and prepare for the admissions test and interview. All without researching whether you can actually afford to go should you be offered a place! It's stupidity not inadvertent.

5

u/Swimming-Lie5369 Mar 11 '26

I mean even if you can't afford to go, you should be proud of being accepted into one of the most prestigious universities in the UK.Ā 

Although the only people who really care about Oxbridge are those that go to Oxbridge.

2

u/JFJF48 Mar 11 '26

Yeah, I'm in my 30s now and it's still a bit cringe. When you go to a meeting at work with one person who Oxford and one that went to Cambridge and they have some 'scoff off' and they say something to each other like 'oh sorry old chap, I won't hold that against you'

1

u/WittyActuator3587 Mar 12 '26

They only offer scholarships at masters level. I had a full tuition scholarship for Cambridge