I’m very interested in the university of St Andrews in Scotland, (international student btw) but I keep getting mixed answers for costs. Some people have said its crazy expensive while others say its a slightly cheaper alternative compared to U.S colleges. Financially, Is it really that different from schools like sarah lawrence, bennington, bard, etc? Does it offer any financial aid? (this also goes for university of Edinburgh but st Andrews is definitely my top pick)
No financial aid.
2018-2019
Tuition- 21,290 x 1.34 = 28,528 (fixed for 4 years)
Standard catered double room- 6021 x 1.34 = 8068 (does not include Sat/Sun dinner)
My daughter spent about 100 dollars for the year on books.
Add in travel and entertainment expenses based on your personal needs.
It is definitely cheaper than being full pay at a top tier US private.
When I did the math it looked like 40K yr ballpark. I didn’t though, think it was a top tier US school equivalent and wouldn’t compare it as such.
Looks like the OP wants to compare it in cost to Sarah Lawrence and Bennington, which are quite expensive and some might argue, not worth their sticker price.
Bard is about $68,000 per year for tuition, room & board: Bennington runs about $68,000 as well; Sarah Lawrence costs approximately $69,000 per academic year.
Comparatively speaking, St. Andrew’s is a bargain at $37,000 to $40,000 per year.
We roughly spent $200K over the past 4 years (2014-2018) - ours just graduated last week. This included tuition, accommodation, food, utilities (2nd-4th year), entertainment, and travel to and from the US (winter, spring, and summer breaks). Tuition at St. A’s may be less per year than a comparable school in the US, but the travel expense is a factor to consider. Another factor is the £ exchange rate which was much higher in 2014 and much better in 2017.
We only fly home for summer/Christmas and her 4 tickets have so far cost cost 5 dollars +30K AA miles each way. So roughly 20 dollars and 120K miles per year.
Room and board in halls was substantially less than the US schools she applied to, but living off campus will be more this year.
30K miles on AA, @VickiSoCal ?? Wow. DL is a lot more than that, esp for the winter break (have used as many as 120K for that). Definitely jealous 
Yeah, I was able to get milesaaver every time so far.
We signed up last summer for a Chase Visa card with British Airways affinity. By spending $20,000 in the first three months we got 100,000 Avios (BA’s miles equivalent). Used the card to pay tuition and first year room and board and it’s pretty much the only credit card I use now. Use Avios/miles for my son’s trips back and forth to Scotland and still have 60,000 Avios left after the first year (and after redeeming for his flight to Scotland in early September). BA is aligned with American, so that helps in terms of being able to use Avios to get to JFK to fly BA. Our first year dollar spend on travel was less than $1,000, so not bad.
Well done, @TomMorris! We have found our Avios hard to spend- and the Atlantic runs the hardest. OP, if you go that route, book your flights early (we are clearly too last minute in our planning…)
Yes, I agree. HAVE to book early with BA to get the Avios seats. ALSO, BA seems to have LOTS of glitches with their online system, such that it will come back saying no flights available, etc., particularly on an American Airlines section of a flight. I’ve read articles, etc. where this is a common occurrence with BA. Calling them directly seems to help find the flights and getting them booked with Avios.
BA does not show availability on Aerlingus with Avios on their website, but often it is the cheapest way to get to Scotland via Dublin.
I use expertflyer to find the cheapest (in miles) seats. My husband racks up miles at work and it helps in finding the flights.
oooh, thanks for that suggestion @VickiSoCal!
D1 graduated this summer…(with a first !!) 4 yrs was $140k all in with exch rate at 1.40. 10k was spending money we subbed over the 4 years which she put to good use visiting 15+ countries. Loved every minute of it.
congrats to D1 @elguapo1 !