International students
Advice and guidance for international students who are looking to pay their tuition fees.
Immigration and visas
If you are an international student who requires a visa to study in the UK, you must ensure you have enough funds available to cover your tuition fees and living expenses. This is a requirement of current UK immigration rules.
We are obliged to inform the United Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI) about any student covered by the immigration rule who is withdrawn from their programme of study due to non-payment of fees.
Defaulting on payment and the collection policy
Paying tuition fees
Your tuition fees must be paid in full on or before matriculation at the start of each new academic year, unless you are paying in instalments. The payment methods available to you will depend on who is paying for your tuition fees.
Self-funded student payment methods
Externally-funded student payment methods
Exchange rates and advance payment
If you are considering studying overseas then you need to be aware, and willing to assume the risk, that currency exchange rates can fluctuate considerably. This could result in a much higher cost of education than you originally anticipate.
You may choose to make an advance payment in full if you need to take currency exchange rates into consideration.
Advance payment
Paying by instalment
If you require a visa to study in the UK, and you choose to pay by instalment, then the Income Section need a copy of the financial support information used for your visa application. Please send this information as an attachment to finance.helpline@ed.ac.uk
Non-sterling transactions
All tuition fees are charged in pound sterling because this is the legal currency in Scotland.
If you wish to pay in a different currency then you can use our payment services which offer competitive exchange rates. These rates are guaranteed at the time of the transaction. The payments sent using these services are then given to the University in pound sterling.
If you chose to use another method (other than our payment services) and are paying in a different currency then you must ensure enough funds are sent to cover transfer and transactional costs charged by the payment service used.
Bank transfer and online payment platform
Find funding
You can find information about possible funding for international students on the scholarships and student funding site.