Will your government help pay for it?
We checked 59 schemes in 34 countries. Eleven can fund a UK degree.
On the cover: Durham Cathedral and Palace Green, at the heart of Durham University — one of the UK universities where American students can use US federal Direct Loans. Photo: Jeffrey Zhang / Unsplash.
The Bottom Line
A UK undergraduate degree costs an international family a median of £118,308. The first place most families look is their own government — a national student loan, an education fund, a scholarship board.
So we checked. Every government loan, guarantee and scholarship scheme we could identify across 34 countries, read on the administering agency's own pages. 59 schemes. Eleven can fund a complete UK undergraduate degree from the start. Three of those eleven are loans; most of the rest are government scholarships.
What you absolutely need to know:
- Eleven schemes out of 59 can fund a UK undergraduate degree
- Only three of them are loans you can apply for today
- One qualifies on paper but is closed to anyone starting now
- One pays living costs and not a penny of tuition
- Most national student loans are tied to a list of institutions at home
- Several schemes fund a term abroad, not a degree abroad
- For some countries nobody can give you a straight answer — including us
1. Eleven schemes out of 59 can fund a UK undergraduate degree
Of the 59 schemes we examined, 48 cannot fund a UK undergraduate degree and eleven can.
| Schemes | |
|---|---|
| Loans | 40 |
| Scholarships or grants | 17 |
| Loan guarantees | 2 |
| Of all 59, can fund a full UK undergraduate degree | 11 |
59 schemes across 34 countries. Source: Telariq data.
The eleven are three loans — the United States (Department of Education Direct and PLUS loans), Canada (the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program) and Japan (JASSO's Type 2 Overseas Loan Scholarship) — and eight grants and scholarships: Germany (BAföG), Ireland (SUSI), Hong Kong (the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Overseas Scholarships and the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme), Japan (JASSO's grant for a bachelor's degree abroad), Saudi Arabia (the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program), Qatar (the Government Scholarship Program for Students) and Kuwait (the Merit Scholarships).
The scholarships are competitive, and almost all are for citizens. Hong Kong's Youde scholarships, for example, are worth up to HK$280,000 a year for up to three years, and scholars are expected to contribute to Hong Kong's development afterwards. Kuwait's Merit Scholarships fund a bachelor's degree at leading universities in the UK and five other countries.
That is the entire list, from 34 countries.
2. Only three of them are loans you can apply for today
The United States. The Department of Education's own list of international schools participating in the federal student loan programs names more than 140 UK institutions. Direct and PLUS loans can be used at those institutions. Federal grants, including Pell, do not travel.
Canada. The Canada Student Financial Assistance Program reaches UK study through its designated-institutions list. Designation is confirmed by your own province or territory, not once for the whole UK, so it has to be checked for your specific institution before you rely on it.
Japan. JASSO's Type 2 Overseas Loan Scholarship is an interest-bearing loan aimed at people seeking a bachelor's degree at an overseas university, and it names UK foundation-year courses as covered where the UK system requires them. It is the only one of the three that was not in our earlier picture of this, and it is a genuine route.
3. One qualifies on paper but is closed to anyone starting now
Germany's BAföG appears in our qualifying eleven, and the detail matters. Official guidance describes funding a stay in the United Kingdom as generally possible for up to one year after the end of the Brexit transition period. Full-degree funding through to completion is confirmed only for students who began or continued a UK study phase before 31 December 2020, under a grandfathering clause.
A family applying for 2027 entry is not in that group. We record BAföG as qualifying because the scheme's own guidance says so for the people it covers, and we say plainly that those people are not new applicants.
4. One pays living costs and not a penny of tuition
Ireland's SUSI lists an undergraduate course in the EU or UK as eligible for its Maintenance Grant — and leaves the student contribution and fees column blank for that row. It funds living costs. It does not fund tuition.
It is also a grant rather than a loan: nothing is borrowed and nothing is repaid. That makes it valuable and it makes it something other than the thing most families are looking for.
5. Most national student loans are tied to a list of institutions at home
This is the mechanism behind the short list, and understanding it saves a lot of searching.
Forty of the 59 schemes are loans. Thirty-seven of those 40 cannot fund UK study, and nearly always for the same structural reason: the scheme names a list of approved institutions inside the country, or tests where the applicant lives, or both.
China's national student loan requires an institution on a Ministry of Education list, and requires the student's and the co-borrower's household registration to be in the same home county — a condition with no overseas equivalent at all. Kenya's Higher Education Loans Board funds study within the East African Community. Ghana's Students Loan Trust Fund requires admission to an accredited institution located in Ghana. South Africa's NSFAS, Sri Lanka's interest-free scheme, Thailand's Student Loan Fund, South Korea's KOSAF, the Philippines' UniFAST, Malaysia's PTPTN, Brazil's FIES — all the same shape.
These schemes are not refusing overseas study. They were built around staying.
6. Several schemes fund a term abroad, not a degree abroad
A second group looks like an exception and is not.
Australia's OS-HELP funds a short overseas period inside an ongoing Australian degree, and requires the student to return to Australia to finish. Singapore's Higher Education Student Loan funds subsidised courses at named local institutions, with an overseas component covering a single exchange period. France's state-guaranteed student loan requires enrolment at a French institution issuing a French diploma. Japan's other JASSO tracks — as distinct from the Type 2 loan above — require the student to stay enrolled at a Japanese institution while abroad for between three months and a year.
All are real money. None will fund a UK degree from the start.
7. For some countries nobody can give you a straight answer
We could not reach the evidence for nine schemes across seven countries. Qatar's approved-university list, Oman's scholarship terms document, Malaysia's MARA eligible-institution list, Vietnam's national student credit scheme pages, Nigeria's student loan fund, two Indian portals and one Thai commission — each exists, and each was unreadable when checked.
For three countries — the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bangladesh — we found no government loan or scholarship scheme for undergraduate study abroad at all.
We would rather tell you that a gap is a gap than fill it with an inference. But it does mean that for those countries, a family's own enquiry to the ministry is not a second opinion. It is the only opinion available.
Our advice
Do not assume your government funds overseas study. For 48 of the 59 schemes we checked, it does not, and the reason is usually structural rather than discretionary. Finding that out in an afternoon is better than planning around it for a year.
If you are American, Canadian or Japanese, start with the government route, and if Canadian, confirm designation with your own province before anything else. From Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Kuwait, look first at your government's scholarship schemes.
Look below the national level too. Our wider research found 22 state and provincial schemes that can fund a UK degree — most of them Canadian provincial aid and Malaysian state foundations — and many more routes from sponsors and non-bank lenders. Who will actually lend you the money? sets them out.
Ask, in writing, and keep the answer. Ministry pages change, schemes are suspended and reinstated, and several of the pages we tried to read were unreachable on the day. A written answer from the administering body is worth more than any summary, including this one.
Confirm any scheme's terms with the administering body before you rely on it.
The not so fine print: what was excluded in this report
- Interest rates, fees and the cost of borrowing — we record what exists, not what it costs
- Postgraduate-only schemes, except where noted to explain why they do not apply
- Commercial and bank lending, which is a separate report
- University scholarships, which are held separately
- Any scheme we could not confirm on the administering body's own pages
A note on this guide. This is what we found when we read each provider's own pages. Its purpose is to show you that options exist and where to start looking. There will be routes we haven't found yet, and some here may have changed since we checked — so treat it as a starting point, not a complete list, and confirm everything with the provider before you rely on it.
Have a question? We'd love to hear from you — admin@telariq.com