UCA BA (Hons) Top-up Degree Fees 2026/27 for Nepali Students
UCA's BA (Hons) Top-up (final year) costs £18,000 for 2026/27 and £19,800 for 2027/28. Full fee table, living costs and entry rules for Nepali students.
The direct answer
The BA (Hons) Top-up degree (final year) at the University for the Creative Arts costs £18,000 for 2026/27 and £19,800 for 2027/28 for international students, including students from Nepal (uca.ac.uk). It is a one-year course with a September intake, and it finishes with a full BA (Hons) award.
Note which year you are quoting. A student starting in September 2026 pays the 2026/27 figure. A student who defers a year, or who needs a pre-sessional English course first and slips an intake, is looking at the 2027/28 figure. Families in Nepal often plan the budget in Baisakh for a September start eighteen months away and then find the published fee has moved.
UCA fees 2026/27 — all levels
The top-up sits inside a wider fee structure. Use this table when a student is choosing between a top-up, a full three-year degree or a masters, because the annual numbers are close but the number of years is not.
| Programme | Duration | Fee (2026/27) | Fee (2027/28) | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA (Hons) Top-up degree (final year) | 1 yr | £18,000 | £19,800 | BA (Hons) |
| BA/BSc (Hons) three-year degree | 3 yrs | £18,000/yr | £19,800/yr | BA/BSc (Hons) |
| BA/BSc (Hons) with Integrated Foundation Year | 4 yrs | £18,000/yr | — | BA/BSc (Hons) |
| Integrated Pre-Masters | 1 yr | £18,020 | — | Pre-Masters |
| Masters band 1 — MA/MSc (excluding Filmmaking, Luxury Business Management, Global MBM) | 1 yr | £18,540 | — | MA/MSc |
| Masters band 2 — MA Filmmaking, MA Luxury Business Management, Global MBM | 1 yr | £19,050 | — | MA |
| MArch Architecture | 2 yrs | £18,000/yr | — | MArch |
| Postgraduate Research (MPhil/PhD) | 3 yrs | £18,020/yr | — | MPhil/PhD |
| Professional Practice Year | 1 yr | £3,490 | — | Placement year |
All figures from UCA's official fees information (uca.ac.uk). Intake for all of the above is September, except postgraduate research, which is rolling.
The point of the top-up is visible in that table: one year of fees instead of three. It is the RQF 6 final year, designed to complete a degree from a diploma or HND. In this guide's wider comparison set, Arden prices a top-up from £12,000 and UCA at £18,000 — so UCA is not the cheapest top-up available, and a student choosing it should be choosing it for the creative-arts specialism.
Who UCA suits, and the honest warning
UCA is a specialist creative-arts institution across Farnham, Canterbury, Epsom and Rochester. It is placed 85th of 130 in the Complete University Guide 2027. For fashion, film, animation and illustration students it is the obvious name in this group.
The warning belongs in the same paragraph as the fee. The median creative salary is £25,998 — the second lowest of any subject — against a median UK graduate salary of £30,000 (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2023/24). The Skilled Worker salary floor is £41,700, with a new-entrant and recent-graduate rate of £33,400. A creative graduate is not typically walking into a job at those levels. Tell the family this before they sell land, not after.
Living costs at the UCA campuses
Tuition is only one half. The Home Office maintenance requirement for a course outside London is £1,136 per month, for up to 9 months — the counsellor shorthand for the 9-month total is £10,224. That amount is in addition to the tuition shown on the CAS, not part of it.
| UCA campuses (Farnham, Canterbury, Epsom, Rochester) | |
|---|---|
| Visa minimum | £1,136/month |
| Realistic monthly spend | £950 – £1,400/month |
| Rent (room or student hall) | £550 – £900/month |
The realistic and rent columns are estimates built from sector norms, not scraped figures. They exist so that a family does not budget to the visa floor and run short in month four.
Here is the catch specific to UCA. Epsom and Farnham sit inside London's cost shadow without being in London for visa purposes. The London/non-London split is a Home Office definition tied to the institution's location — it is not a judgement about how urban the town feels. The difference between the two maintenance rates is £347 a month, so confirm which campus the offer letter names before anyone opens a bank account.
The visa-side costs and the 28-day rule
These apply on top of tuition and maintenance.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Student visa application fee | £558 |
| Immigration Health Surcharge | £1,035 per year |
| TB test (UKVI-approved clinic, required for Nepalese applicants on courses over 6 months) | £65 |
Do not add these into a single number in your head and quote it as "the total". Quote each line separately, in the currency and unit given.
The refusal point I see most often is not the amount — it is the 28-day rule. The maintenance money must sit in the account for 28 consecutive days, and the closing date of that 28-day period must be within 31 days of the visa application date. A statement that is two months old, or an account that dipped for one day mid-period, fails. Second most common: funds in an uncle's account with no relationship evidence and no consent letter. Check whose name the account is in before you submit anything.
Other documents that must be in order: the CAS from UCA, academic transcripts and certificates (Nepalese documents may need official translation), English language evidence, and a passport with sufficient remaining validity.
Entry and English for the UCA top-up
UCA's published undergraduate English requirement is IELTS 6.0 overall with no less than 5.5 in any section. The top-up is an undergraduate-level award, so that is the bar to plan against — but read the specific course listing, because a course page always overrides a university-wide figure.
UCA's other published English bars, for context:
| Route at UCA | Published IELTS requirement |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate (including with Integrated Foundation Year) | 6.0 overall, no less than 5.5 (Integrated Foundation Year: 5.5 overall, no less than 5.5) |
| International Foundation in Creative Practices | 5.0 overall, no less than 4.5 |
| Pre-Masters, 13 weeks | 6.0 with 5.5 |
| Pre-Masters, 30 weeks | 5.5 with 5.5 |
| Taught masters | 6.5 overall, no less than 5.5 in any section |
| PhD/MPhil | 7.0 overall, 7.0 in writing, 5.5 elsewhere |
| Pre-Doctorate | 6.0 with 5.5 |
Academically, a top-up needs a completed diploma or HND that UCA accepts as equivalent to the first two years of its degree. For a creative course the portfolio usually decides the outcome, not the transcript. Send the portfolio early.
Run your shortlist through our free Master Reckoner to compare course, cost, entry and English side by side, and see the UK destination hub for how UCA compares with the other institutions we profile. More guides are on the blog.
Common questions
Is the UCA top-up fee £18,000 per year or £18,000 in total?
The top-up is a one-year course, so the £18,000 (2026/27) figure covers that single final year. For a September 2027 start the published figure is £19,800. Compare this with UCA's three-year BA/BSc (Hons), which is £18,000/yr in 2026/27 and £19,800/yr in 2027/28 — same annual fee, three times the years.
How much money do I need in the bank on top of the UCA fee?
For a course outside London the maintenance requirement is £1,136 per month for up to 9 months, quoted by counsellors as £10,224. That is in addition to the tuition on your CAS, not included in it. It must be held for 28 consecutive days, ending within 31 days of your application date.
Does UCA offer scholarships for Nepali students?
This page does not carry any verified UCA scholarship figure, so do not budget for one. Ask UCA's admissions team directly and get any award confirmed in writing before you plan around it (uca.ac.uk). Treat an unconfirmed discount as zero until the offer letter says otherwise.
How long can I stay after finishing the top-up?
The Graduate Route length depends on when you apply, not when your course started. A bachelor's or master's graduate applying on or before 31 December 2026 gets 2 years; anyone applying on or after 1 January 2027 gets 18 months; doctoral graduates get 3 years. A student starting in September 2026 will finish in 2027 and therefore falls into the 18-month group — plan on that basis.
Official sources
- University for the Creative Arts — fees, courses and English requirements: https://www.uca.ac.uk/
Maintenance rates, visa fee, Immigration Health Surcharge and Graduate Route lengths are Home Office figures published on gov.uk. Fees and requirements change between academic years — always confirm the current figure on the official page before you pay a deposit.