Funding your study abroad

Students do not pay additional tuition fees to the host institution when studying abroad at an exchange partner institution.

If you Study Abroad for part of the year (semester 2 only) the full tuition fee is payable to LJMU, as normal.

If you study and/or work abroad for a full year a discounted fee of 20% of the total fee is paid to LJMU. No tuition fee is paid to the host University abroad. This applies only to situations where the full year is spent abroad.

A range of grants and bursaries are potentially available, depending on where you are studying, and whether you meet eligibility criteria. Funding might be competitive:

The UK Government has decided to not participate in the new Erasmus+ programme (2021-2027), which started June 2021. This means that there will be no new Erasmus+ funds available to UK universities to support future student mobility

Students will now receive the Turing mobility grant from the UK government.

Turing Funding is a UK Government Funding Programme to enable students to participate in international opportunities with a minimum duration of 4 weeks and a maximum duration of 12 months. Individual student funding comprises a ‘maintenance grant’ contribution towards living costs, students from a disadvantaged background are also eligible for a ‘travel grant’ as a contribution towards travel costs.

Please note
Funding is not guaranteed and to be considered for funding participants must be a fully registered student at LJMU and complete and submit all the necessary paperwork by the deadline.

Under the Turing Scheme, UK organisations with successful applications will receive funding towards delivering overseas placements. This includes providing participants with grants to help cover the general costs of living while they are abroad.

The amount of funding provided towards the cost of living for each participant will vary depending on the sector and destination country/territory.

Destination countries/territories will be grouped into three categories:

• Group 1 (high cost of living)
• Group 2 (medium cost of living)
• Group 3 (lower cost of living)

To find details of which countries/ territories are in each group, check out the Turing website. 

Country group 1

Standard monthly grant: 380
Widening Participation monthly grant (carers/care leavers/ estranged, household income <£25K, refugees and asylum seekers): 490

Country groups 2 and 3

Standard monthly grant: 335
Widening Participation monthly grant (carers/care leavers/ estranged, household income <£25K, refugees and asylum seekers): 445

Please note
All money is received in pounds (£)

Widening participation students are also entitled to funding towards the cost of flights. This will be dependent on distance between the home and destination organisation and will support the cost of the round trip. All amounts available have been outlined below:

Widening participation student travel support

• 10 to 99km = £20
• 100 to 499 km = £165
• 500 to 1999km = £250
• 2000 to 2999km = £325
• 3000 to 3999km = £480
• 4000 to 7999km = £745
• 8000 to 12000km =£905
• 12000 km+ =£1360

During the period that you are abroad, you can continue to receive funding which you might normally receive whilst you are at LJMU, including via Student Finance. For further information please read

• Student Finance England: Funding for Study Abroad (England).
• Student Finance Wales: Funding for Study Abroad (Wales).
• Student Awards Agency Scotland: Funding for Study Abroad (Scotland).
• Student Finance Northern Ireland: Funding for Study Abroad (Northern Ireland).

Student Finance have a video which explains a little more about what is available and what to do.

Additional Travel grants are also available to eligible full-time students who are studying abroad as part of their degree. All queries regarding eligibility should be directed to Student Finance; all reimbursements are at the discretion of the relevant Student Finance company. Please contact Student Finance England for more information.

Please note:
The responsibility for completing any relevant forms and for notifying the relevant Student Finance authority (for example England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) remains with the participant and not the LJMU.  LJMU cannot confirm if the relevant Student Finance company will accept any particular expense claims or not; as such students are advised to check any arrangements with their Student Finance company directly if they are unsure.

Turing provides funds on a case by case basis and applications and depend on level and type of support required.

BUTEX Scholarships

There are also eight scholarships available for undergraduate students currently registered at a UK University through BUTEX (British Transatlantic Exchange Association). To be eligible to apply you must have been offered a place as a Study Abroad or exchange student in a USA or Canadian university. Full details can be found on the BUTEX website. Any eligible student applying for a BUTEX scholarship is requested to inform the Erasmus & Study Abroad team.

BUNAC

Students who will be studying in the USA are also encouraged to apply for BEST Travel Award. The Travel Award will consist of an award of $1,000 to be used towards the cost of travel to the USA and is provided by BUNAC (British Universities North America Club).

Above is information on the funds you will receive but you need to research your preferred location and you can look at the hosts website for information such as accommodation, the countries border agency for visa, travel providers for flights and cost of living at websites such as Cost of Living Comparisons, 2021 data. (expatistan.com)

This depends on country and institution however you should expect to pay for

• services which you would normally expect to pay for at LJMU e.g., housing, food, travel, social activities etc.
• entry/study visa (where required)
• insurance – most non-European universities insist that exchange students take out their mandatory insurance coverage in order to join their Study Abroad Programme. Please make sure you are fully aware of any possible charges when considering possible destinations. Eligible students might be able to retrospectively recoup some/all of the costs incurred for the Mandatory Medical Insurance claim from Student Finance (via the Student Finance Travel Grant).
• a small application charge – details will be noted on the partner’s website (although this is rare).
• additional small charges not covered by the tuition fee waiver – e.g. Art consumables etc. This should be comparable to what you would expect to pay if studying at LJMU. Your host institution will advise you of any additional small charges which are to be levied at the time of application

Living in certain places can cost more such as the US and Australia.

Students who Study Abroad as part of their degree programme can be covered by the LJMU Insurance policy for the duration of their study period. This coverage is for legitimate academic activity only; for non-academic activity, you will need to get extra additional insurance.

Students will be provided with a copy of the insurance cover note and a letter confirming the situation.

Many universities insist that students purchase their mandatory insurance coverage in order to join their Study Abroad Programme – particularly outside of Europe. This is certainly applicable for most partnerships in Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, and the USA. Please make sure you are fully aware of any possible insurance related charges when considering possible destinations.

Many European universities now require you to have a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) this has replaced the EHIC card that was used when we were in the EU. Further information about the GHIC can be found on the Government website.