Study in the UK from Nepal: Costs, Visa and Entry
What it really costs to study in the UK from Nepal — tuition, city-by-city living costs, the 28-day funds rule, visa fees and post-study work.
The short answer
To study in the UK from Nepal you need a completed +2 or a completed bachelor's degree, an offer and a CAS from a licensed institution, tuition money plus maintenance funds held for 28 consecutive days, a TB certificate from a UKVI-approved clinic, and the £558 Student visa application. Tuition across the institutions covered on this site starts at £15,700 for a classroom-based master's and £16,100 per year for a classroom-based bachelor's, and maintenance is charged on top at £1,136 per month outside London or £1,483 per month in London.
Three things have changed since 2024 and every Nepali family should hear all three before the file is opened: dependants are no longer permitted on taught master's courses, the Graduate Route drops from 2 years to 18 months for anyone applying on or after 1 January 2027, and the Skilled Worker salary floor now sits well above the median UK graduate salary.
What tuition actually costs
Fees are set per course, not per country. These are the published figures for the institutions profiled on our UK destination hub.
Master's courses (whole course, taught)
| Institution / band | Fee | London? |
|---|---|---|
| Bradford — classroom-based | £15,700 | No |
| UCB Band 1 | £17,500 | No |
| Keele Band 1 (business/MBA) | £18,200 | No |
| Ulster — standard taught masters | £18,310 | No |
| Huddersfield MA/MSc | £18,700 | No |
| Huddersfield London MSc | £18,700 | Yes |
| London Met (from) | £20,000 | Yes |
| Gloucestershire Band A | £20,190 | No |
Note the Huddersfield line. A London campus at £18,700 — the same fee as the Yorkshire campus — but the London maintenance rate of £1,483 per month applies to it, not the £1,136 rate.
Bachelor's courses (per year)
| Institution | Fee per year | London? |
|---|---|---|
| Bradford — classroom-based | £16,100 | No |
| UCB Band 1 | £16,500 | No |
| Ulster | £17,490 | No |
| Huddersfield | £17,600 | No |
| Huddersfield London | £17,600 | Yes |
| UCA (2026/27) | £18,000 | No |
| Exeter — science/engineering | £31,200 | No |
Pathway courses, if direct entry is not possible
UCB's International Foundation Diploma is £11,000. The University of Liverpool International College (UoLIC) Foundation Certificate in Business, Law and Social Sciences is £22,640 and its Pre-Master's in Business, Economics and Finance is £25,210. The catch families miss: a pathway fee buys the preparation year only. After it, the family pays University of Liverpool degree fees for the remaining years. Ask for both halves in writing.
Other costs that are easy to overlook: a placement year is priced separately — Huddersfield £3,300, MMU £1,955, Gloucestershire £2,575, UCA £3,490. Ulster charges a separate clinical placement levy of £12,133 on relevant programmes. Keele caps any 2026/27 fee increase at 5% and notifies by 30 April 2026. Plymouth states on its own fees page that it reserves the right to increase fees if a UK Government levy on international tuition fee income is implemented.
Living costs: the visa floor versus the real bill
The "visa minimum" column below is the Home Office maintenance requirement and is official. The "realistic" and "rent" columns are estimates built from sector norms — they are there so a family does not budget to the visa floor and then run short in month three.
| City (institutions) | Visa minimum | Realistic | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| London (UWL, City St George's, St Mary's, Huddersfield London, London Met, Arden London) | £1,483/month | £1,300 – £1,900/month | £800 – £1,300/month |
| Manchester (MMU, Arden Manchester) | £1,136/month | £950 – £1,350/month | £550 – £850/month |
| Birmingham (UCB, Arden Birmingham) | £1,136/month | £900 – £1,300/month | £500 – £800/month |
| Belfast / Coleraine / Derry (Ulster) | £1,136/month | £800 – £1,150/month | £400 – £700/month |
| Bradford / Huddersfield | £1,136/month | £800 – £1,150/month | £400 – £650/month |
| Keele / Staffordshire | £1,136/month | £800 – £1,150/month | £450 – £700/month on campus |
| Liverpool (UoLIC) | £1,136/month | £850 – £1,200/month | £450 – £700/month |
| Cheltenham / Gloucester | £1,136/month | £850 – £1,250/month | £450 – £750/month |
| Plymouth / Exeter / Cornwall | £1,136/month | £900 – £1,300/month | £500 – £850/month |
| Farnham / Canterbury / Epsom / Rochester (UCA) | £1,136/month | £950 – £1,400/month | £550 – £900/month |
London and non-London is a Home Office definition tied to the institution's location — it is not a judgement about how urban a place feels. Epsom and Farnham sit in London's cost shadow without being London for visa purposes. Check which campus the offer letter names.
Bradford and Huddersfield are the lowest-cost region on this list, and Bradford also carries the lowest tuition. Ulster in Northern Ireland is the next strongest on total cost. You can compare course, fee and entry side by side in the free Master Reckoner.
Entry requirements from Nepal
From +2 / NEB
Most institutions here accept +2 for direct Year 1 entry at about 60% or GPA 2.5–2.8. UWL asks 60% or CGPA 2.5/4.0. Ulster asks 60% / GPA 2.8 including 50% in five subjects. Plymouth asks GPA 2.8. Bradford maps GPA 3.8 to 136+ UCAS points, GPA 3.4 to 120–135 and GPA 3.2 to 96–119.
The exception matters: City St George's, University of London does not accept the Nepal school-leaving qualification for Year 1 entry at all. That student needs a foundation year, A-Levels or the IB. SEE / Class 10 alone is not enough for any UK degree — +2 must be completed first.
From a completed bachelor's
Ulster publishes the Nepal map precisely: a UK 2:1 equals a 3-year bachelor's at 70% or a 4-year at 65%; a 2:2 equals a 3-year at 60% or a 4-year at 55%. Bradford treats a 4-year bachelor's at 80% / GPA 3.5 as a UK First, 65% / GPA 3.0 as a 2:1, and 50% / GPA 2.5 as a 2:2.
English
IELTS, PTE or TOEFL requirements are set by the course, not by the country page — always read the course page. Some institutions accept an approved national qualification instead; London Met and UWL both publish approved lists for Nepal.
CTEVT and Tribhuvan diplomas
UWL accepts a Tribhuvan University or CTEVT diploma. Ulster accepts a CTEVT diploma at 50% overall. A UK HND with merit can enter Year 2 or the final year at UWL. Advanced standing is decided case by case — never assume a year of credit before it is confirmed in writing.
The visa, and where Nepali applications actually get refused
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Student visa application (from outside the UK) | £558 |
| Student visa extend / switch (inside the UK) | £558 |
| Immigration Health Surcharge | £1,035 per year of stay |
| Maintenance funds — London | £1,483/month, max 9 months = £13,347 |
| Maintenance funds — outside London | £1,136/month, max 9 months = £10,224 |
| Graduate visa later, if taken | £937 + IHS £1,035/yr |
Maintenance is capped at 9 months regardless of how long the course runs, and it is in addition to the tuition shown on the CAS, less any fees already paid.
The single most common refusal point is the money, not the grades. The maintenance amount must sit in the account for 28 consecutive days, and the end of that 28-day period must fall within 31 days of the visa application date. The account must be in the student's name or a permitted sponsor's name — if it is a sponsor's, you need relationship evidence, a consent letter and the sponsor's statements. Prepare the statements around the application date, not months in advance.
The other documents: CAS, academic transcripts and certificates (Nepali documents may need official translation), English evidence, a TB certificate from a UKVI-approved clinic for courses longer than 6 months, a valid passport, and an ATAS certificate for some sensitive science and engineering subjects at postgraduate level. Book the TB test before the visa application.
Deposits vary before the CAS is issued: £1,000 at UCB (within one month of offer), £4,000 at Ulster before CAS, and up to 50% of first-year tuition at London Met and UCB. Huddersfield London also charges a £260 non-refundable confirmation fee before the CAS request.
Work, and what happens after the degree
Permitted working hours depend on the course level and whether it is term-time or vacation, and they are set per case — check the CAS rather than assuming the familiar 20-hour figure. At the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour (21 and over, from 1 April 2026), 20 hours a week is about £254 gross a week. That helps with living costs. It does not pay UK tuition, and a family that plans on it doing so has mis-budgeted.
The Graduate Route gives 2 years of unsponsored work to a bachelor's or master's graduate applying on or before 31 December 2026, and 18 months to anyone applying on or after 1 January 2027. Doctoral graduates get 3 years. Turning that into a long-term UK career means a licensed sponsor and a Skilled Worker visa, which since 22 July 2025 requires at least £41,700, or £33,400 on the new-entrant/recent-graduate discount. The median UK graduate salary is £30,000 (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2023/24). The typical graduate does not clear even the discounted floor.
That is not an argument against the UK. A one-year taught master's means one year of fees and one year of living costs, and the qualification carries real weight with employers across South Asia and the Gulf. Returning to Nepal with a UK degree and UK work experience is the most common realistic outcome, and it is a good one. More country guides are on the blog.
Common questions
Can I bring my wife or husband on a one-year UK master's?
No. For postgraduate courses starting on or after 1 January 2024, dependants are permitted only on a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8) or a research-based higher degree, or for a government-sponsored student on a course longer than 6 months. A taught MSc, MA or MBA does not qualify. Settle this with the family at the first meeting, not after the deposit is paid.
How much money do I need to show in the bank?
£1,483 per month for a London course or £1,136 per month outside London, for each month of the course up to a maximum of 9 months — so £13,347 or £10,224. That is on top of the tuition fee shown on the CAS, less anything already paid. The money must be held for 28 consecutive days, ending within 31 days of the application date.
Will my +2 get me straight into first year?
At most institutions on this list, yes — the common bar is about 60% or GPA 2.5–2.8. UWL asks 60% or CGPA 2.5/4.0, Ulster asks 60% / GPA 2.8 including 50% in five subjects, and Plymouth asks GPA 2.8. City St George's, University of London does not accept the Nepal school-leaving qualification for Year 1 at all.
Which option is cheapest overall?
Bradford, on both halves of the sum: £16,100 per year for a classroom-based undergraduate degree and £15,700 for a classroom-based master's, in one of the lowest-cost parts of the UK. Ulster in Northern Ireland is the next strongest total-cost option, with the lowest living costs of any UK region here. Compare tuition and the monthly living figure side by side before deciding — do not judge on fees alone.