Funding degrees with a year abroad...

You need to be wealthy to afford to do this, unfortunately. 99% of the time you'll/she will need to fund from her Student Finance/your pockets.

From friends who have kids doing foreign language degrees with years in Europe, most unis are incapable of figuring out the 90 day post Brexit rules.

What’s wrong with Europe? We funded two years of study in Spain# after a year in Ireland. I’d like to say my son came back with fluent Spanish and an appreciation of food and culture. I’d like to but…. Instead he came back with a Russian girlfriend who has a European student visa. She spent six months in Utrecht for part of her study. Paris would be a better choice than the US by far. Canada is much more pleasant, but get her into Amy in Paris 😉

#He had to apply for Spanish residency which was granted as a student. Was renewed after one year. The process wasn’t that hard. But passport was stamped every time he left and entered Spain.

AS others have said, this is largely only available for the well off. Even with schemes like British Council (which pay around 800 euros a month to work for 16 hours teaching English) the amount available barely covers rent in cheapre locations, (and doesn't come close in more expensive ones), they take months to pay requiring significant savings or parental support before the money comes in, and things like travel, insurance, etc are not factored in. You are also not supposed to work more than 16 hours on top of this (and in many places cannot work at all).

The new Turing scheme is pretty poor for university students (and doesnt come close to the Erasmus scheme it supposedly replaced post Brexit.

in short - you need to find sponsorship/bursaries, or pay for it yourself.

My daughter chose to work not study in her year abroad, in ‘22–‘23. When I say “chose”, I mean it was the only way to afford it. It was a minefield of consulate interviews and proving no local could do the job to get a work visa (thanks Brexit) but it meant that she got paid and had cheap, safe shared accommodation (in a building owned by the equivalent of the LEA in France) out of the deal. Also got the last year of Erasmus payments (yeah, I was surprised she hadn’t missed it as well), which basically paid for all food (no longer an option of course, thanks again Brexit). Study aboard is only for the rich now.

Nothing wrong with Europe at all - she’s pretty fluent in French already and Paris is high up the list. Montreal was also attractive because it’s french speaking but not France.

i don’t think working instead of studying is offered as an option and I guess Brexit will have screwed the “working in a bar at weekends” option?

was posting to find out if there were bursaries etc available.or where to start looking  I didn’t know about the British council thing for example.

better get saving I guess! ☹️

Unis can’t really offer to arrange work for many of their students anymore (you know why) but your young person could look into it, and propose it to the Uni. The key thing for France is to do something locals can’t do… so something where English as a first language is a requirement. Studying and working on the side isn’t really an option any more, unless you can find a flexible employer who can prove they need a Brit. Not bar or other informal work, that’s for sure (you know why). Teaching was the only path my daughter could find (if you have contacts in France, other options might be available)… turned out fine… she really enjoyed it (and was surprised to find that she did). Sadly this has made her consider teaching after Uni… so unlikely to ever be rich now. 😉

I employed non-EU nationals in France, even though it was clear they had skills locals didn't have it invloved much form filling and paying a tax for the privilege. Whoever wants to employ a Brit will follow the procedures outlined here:

https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F22782?lang=en

Son briefly looked at it but has not progressed it - cost was certainly one of the barriers.  Two school friends of his are abroad right now.  One in the US, and on top of the actual costs which were high (although I don’t think the true living costs are much worse than Edinburgh? Although will depend on institution - most stuff is laid on for them and he said the American students rarely leave the campus!). On top of the actual money he had to show he had, and would continue to have something stupid like $20,000 USD in his bank to get the VISA.  That involved a loan from the bank of Gran and Granny!  Another is in Switzerland and when I saw him at Christmas he said living costs were stupidly expensive (no surprise to anyone who’s been there) but he does get some financial support from the Swiss gov - so works out about the same.

My nephew chose to come to the UK from the States for university. Apparently going to St Andrews will be significantly cheaper than an American education so a year over there is probably just for the wealthy.

You fund a year abroad the same way you fund any year at Uni, mix of grants, loans, funding, saving, family. In many cases 3 year course becomes 4 so it certainly adds to the overall bill but if it upgrades to a Masters can still be good value.

Daughter is currently in Singapore on her 3rd year in total it's going to cost less than an equivalent year in the UK and also getting travel plus cultural experience included. Some other locations (NZ, USA) were certainly more expensive, a good £10K or more, maybe that's why parents in those countries often set up college funds.

Just one thing to mention most study abroad options for my daughter didn't allow working abroad, not even volunteering, so they need to earn and save as much as possible before going. She also had to prove financing, contingency funding and return flights, it was quite detailed but I suppose the University don't want to be bailing out students who run out of cash.

This government has ruined everything.... I spent my 3rd year in Sweden in 1984-85 and I was paid to do it via an incremented grant - WTF has the UK become!

I genuinely misread the title as saying dungarees and opened this thread with intrigue.