Applying to university in Australia - Any advice?

seven_eleven

Hi guys, I'm applying to several australian universities for Febuary 2014. It seems straightforward enough, but I'm wondering if there is anybody here that has done something similar?
Just looking for any pointers or tips thye can share. Fee's seem to be about 6000aus$ a year, and it seems like they will give you a visa no problem if a uni accepts you.
I'm just wondering if after 3-4 years of uni if I get work can I become a citizen of australia or what?

mandrake04

seven_eleven wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm applying to several australian universities for Febuary 2014. It seems straightforward enough, but I'm wondering if there is anybody here that has done something similar?
Just looking for any pointers or tips thye can share. Fee's seem to be about 6000aus$ a year, and it seems like they will give you a visa no problem if a uni accepts you.
I'm just wondering if after 3-4 years of uni if I get work can I become a citizen of australia or what?

You can get a 485 temporary visa on graduating from an Australian university, this will give you between 2 and 4 years visa depending on your course.

For Permanent Resident visa you would still need to meet the criteria there is no Automatic route you can only meet the criteria for citizenship if you have jumped through the PR hoop.

universe777

You're a bit off on your fees...
Take RMIT for example - a business degree will set you back close to $25k per year. They are international student fees so unless you have PR or citizenship you pay that.
If you have citizenship or PR it is around 6-10k a year maybe.

seven_eleven

universe777 wrote: »

You're a bit off on your fees...
Take RMIT for example - a business degree will set you back close to $25k per year. They are international student fees so unless you have PR or citizenship you pay that.
If you have citizenship or PR it is around 6-10k a year maybe.

Oh wow I just doubled checked that and you appear to be correct. About $23,300 a year in ECU. Which I'm willing to pay as long as its manageable and not upfront, I'm sure I could seek the help of loans, grants, and similar options presuming they are there.

Cooperspale

As a foreign student you won't be entitled to Australian grants and I doubt an Australian bank will loan you the money if you just show up here. You'd have to look at scholarships.
As a foreign student it usually works out at $3000 per subject per semester for an arts degree, 2 semesters and most people take 4 subjects. So easily $24,000 per year and accom, living etc after that.
Medicine, science, engineering $40,000 or higher per year for foreign student.

Regarding the 23,300 at ECU, they probably want half of that upfront.

Australian universities make a lot of their money from foreign students! I think it's pretty much the same with Universities in Ireland especially in the medical faculties.

jackbhoy

seven_eleven wrote: »

Oh wow I just doubled checked that and you appear to be correct. About $23,300 a year in ECU. Which I'm willing to pay as long as its manageable and not upfront, I'm sure I could seek the help of loans, grants, and similar options presuming they are there.

The chances of getting a grant or scholarship for an undergrad course are virtually zip.

You must also pay for private health insurance as part of student visa criteria. As far as I can remember this was c. $3.5k for 4 years for my partner and I, sounds steep but is a fantastic bargain compared to regular insurance.

There are cheaper options such as TAFE courses but the standard and reputuaion of qualification might also drop in line with costs.

As Cooperspale says, tertiary education is big business in Oz and although business has slowed in recent years there are still many thousands of cash rich Chinese and Indian parents willing to fork out $200k to get their kids a good local qualification and path to Aus residency. Personally, unless you are minted and are willing to pay through the nose for (mostly) average qualifications, I would get my degree in Europe and then look to Oz for Post-Grad or WHV once qualified.

Peregrinus

What jackbhoy said. Plus, once accepted by a university you've a better chance of getting scholarships, etc, to do a postgrad degree in Australia than you have for an undergraduate degree. If a university has decided that they want you as a postgrad, then they will help you sort out the finances. Of course, it helps if the university which has accepted you is itself one of the more well-endowed ones.

My_Sharona

What about an undergrad degree in accounting in Ireland? Followed up with a masters in accounting you could have PR in Australia by the time you're qualified. Plus you might be able to get a training firm to fund the masters and you get paid in your training contract while you could be applying for PR.

seven_eleven

Looks like I might strike Australia off my list then

Too bad seeing as the degree I want is not available in Ireland to anybody. So England is my only other option where its also extremely competitive with limted spaces.

Baf50361

OP - as per other posters, you would need to be budgeting 25k fees plus about 18k living costs. Plenty of p/t work to be had to help with costs though. Before rule out I'd check with Study Options, based in London. They are official agent in UK/Irel for Aus uni's. My daughter used them last year - they were great, she's now doing Radiography in Newcastle NSW