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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To OP - just a comment if money is an issue for you.  I have a grad student at Oxford.  Total cost for two years will be about $125,000.  No problem but what surprised me was that Oxford wanted a certified letter from our bank or CPA proving that we could pay for the full two years.  I've never heard of an American School requiring that.  Then Oxford wanted all of its tuition upfront in October.  Fortunately, we knew that was coming so had DC's savings and ours ready to go.  Room and board is paid monthly to the College.  Check and see how you pay for Cambridge.[/quote]

Cambridge parent here (undergrad, though). Yes, this is generally the same at Cambridge. We needed proof of ability to pay the first year including living expenses (we were asked for a bank statement and letter from employers re: salaries) and they do charge up front for university and college fees. Room and board is assessed termly at my DC's college. [/quote]

Thank you both. I think I saw this on the financial info website but good to know. [b]PP w/ grad student, I am really hoping that grad cost is more expensive than undergrad[/b].  I think based on the PP w/ an undergrad + the info on financial website, it will be between $50k and $56k per year. Definitely something to think about. Hoping she can get Home status for the 4th year if she gets in and decides to attend.[/quote]

OP - this is the American Oxford grad student parent.  I asked DC to confirm the figures this evening and this is what he said.

Graduate tuition for his particular field is 28,462 pounds.  By today's exchange rate that comes to about $42,000 per year (he is in a two year MPhil program).  That is the amount we paid in early October in full to Oxford.

I think undergrad tuition is cheaper but don't know what it is for an American undergrad at Cambridge.

He pays about $800 a month pounds a month to his college.  He keeps the room for 12  months so that is 9,600 pounds a year or as he put it, $13,000 for the room on the 12 month plan (that way he doesn't have to haul books and everything else back to the U.S. or beg a friend for storage  - you can pay for just 9 months at Oxford but then you relinquish your room).  Some rooms at his college are more, some are less.

He pays daily for his food at the dining hall in his college.  It's subsidized.  That's the good news.

For a collected estimate, Oxford says to expect to pay between $14,106 and 20,520 pounds in living expenses.  https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/fees-funding/living-costs.

Finally there is airfare, which we just booked.  It's $5,500 coach one way.  We anticipate six one-way tickets this year (but we are buying the more expensive refundable and transferable  tickets due to covid problems) so that means $33,000 in airfare if your child wants to come home after each term for the long break.

But the real shock are the hidden fees: "Oxford nickels and dimes you on everything" . He puts that figure at $5,000.  He says "Oxford is a VERY expensive place to live". There are also Visa fees and lots of PRC test fees to prove he's  covid-free

So that comes to roughly:
$42,000 tuition
$30,000 (the high end of living expenses given by Oxford at 20,520 pounds. That would include dorm and food)
$ 5,000 hidden fees that no one talks about
$33,000 in airfare
_________________
$110,000 per year x 2 = $220,000 for the MPhil.   Of course, you can save by not flying three round trips a year and also eating only in the dorm.  Oxford told us to expect $65,000 a year, which is $130K for both years but I see now it wasn't allowing for the hidden fees or flights to the U.S. and it used the much lower figure for cost of living.  Also note that the schools don't count in the cost of taking parents and siblings over for graduation at the end of all of this. I hope your results vary!  Good luck.
____________________[/quote]

OP here. One last Q -- how did airfare end up being $33k per year? What all factored into that figure? We won't need a visa or 12 mo housing b/c DD is a UK citizen, and we have lots of family there for her.

I think there are several people asking questions here, not just me. So, not intending to pester you![/quote]

SORRY . Husband misspoke last night. He had just booked the return for early Dec and sad it was $5553.47 (that includes $881 in extra taxes and fees) one way. Turns out that was actually the return of September’s round trip tickets. We are booking DC in premium economy on British airways but paying more to get refundable tickets (due to COViD he might have to fly back sooner, etc.).  So for us it will be $16,500 a year in airfare because he plans to go and return during the two long breaks = $5553 x 3 round trips so $16,553 etc.  We did not go over for matriculation due to COViD and expense. We all plant to go over for commencement-that will cost a bundle. Yes we are trying to amass British Airways points.[/quote]

Uh... whut?

I looked at google flights and right now I can buy tickets for the last two weeks of December aka Christmas holidays for 1500. How are you coming up with $33k PER YEAR in flights?

Are you flying first/business and flying every month?

I am tell you are a wealthy family so perhaps your perspectives are skewed by living to the maximum of the recommended living expenses, picking the nicest accommodations, eating and dining well, and flying extensively as a natural right. But I do suspect a normal student, whether grad or undergrad, can figure out how to live much more modestly. [/quote]

READ 8:43 immediately above.  No we are not a wealthy family but, by all
means continue to insult me FB that makes you feel superior. I’m trying to help OP. [/quote]

A family that can afford to spend $220k on an unfunded MA degree at Oxbridge is a family I'd classify as wealthy. And there was nothing in the post insulting to you.

And I am still puzzled at the flight expenditures. I'm looking at the BA website right now. I can buy a ticket departing December 10th and returning January 10th for about $1750 USD. And that's Premium Economy. And who knows how much cheaper it'd be had I booked earlier. If I was willing to fly out of New York/Newark, it's even cheaper. And that's a last minute booking. You'd be better off buying last minute economy tickets than paying $5500 for fully refundable tickets in advance (and being able to pay $5500 for a ticket definitely puts you in the category of the well-off). Either way there's a lot of options for the budget conscious.

When I was a grad student I knew plenty of European grad students. They went home once, maybe twice a year. That's not to say there's something wrong with your family wanting to travel more often, because it isn't, but I stand by my argument that you are putting out unrealistic flight budgets. It's a bit of a disservice to the OP.

[/quote]
You didn't read 8:43.  I clearly stated that OP could economize (further up in the thread) by having her child stay the full year and not come home on the two long breaks (which is six weeks BTW).  I also said they could economize by eating just the college food.  I then came back to clarify that we are talking about three roundtrip tickets at a cost of $16,000, which is true.  Bear in mind that the dollar to the pound is dropping daily. The discounts you speak of are during off-season for British airways  (or obscure 17-hour flights) when a student does not want to fly to London, so irrelevant.  FWIW, my kid comes in on Monday at Dulles on British Airways and the cost of a one-way ticket is $2,867 economy.  An important thing to remember (which you have ignored) is to purchase tickets that are refundable or transferable because we don't know how Omicron is going to affect Oxford or Cambridge.  As it is, DC just learned two days ago via Biden's press conference that he needs a PCR within 24 hours of departure.  By then, he may need another upon arrival here (he had to do one to leave and one upon landing in England).  If it appears that England is going to curtail flights in, then he has to have a refundable ticket in order to switch flights easily.  Refundable tickets are more expensive than the 17-hour Luftansia budget flights you are talking about.

Unfortunately you are still avoiding the simple reality you can get much cheaper flights (and no, they aren't 17 hour flights either). You chose to pay through the nose for extreme flexibility but one can do the same with domestic flights too. You're simply getting affronted by someone pointing out your flight expenditure estimates are substantially (substantially!) above what most people would need to spend, and I'm not sure why someone feel the need to call me a troll. I think going to Oxbridge is a wonderful experience but your flight budget really was a whoa! moment so for OP's sake I wanted to offer a counterpoint perspective.

FYI I can buy a round trip ticket on BA to Dulles from LHR tomorrow (Monday, and non-stop) with a return in January for 546 pounds in basic economy. Worst come to it, I just don't use the return leg. You're not prosecuted nor banned from the airline for not using the return leg. Just call up and say I'm not flying on it.

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