Pick up to 5 cities. Pick a tuition tier per city (or enter your target university's actual fee). Pick a lifestyle band. Pick your home currency. We compute the total annual cost — tuition + rent + food + transport + utilities + books + personal — and show a side-by-side comparison table + stacked bar chart, normalised so cities are directly comparable.
50 cities across 14 destinations: 🇬🇧 UK (London, Manchester +6) · 🇺🇸 US (NYC, Boston, SF Bay +5) · 🇨🇦 Canada (Toronto, Vancouver +2) · 🇦🇺 Australia (Sydney, Melbourne +3) · 🇳🇿 NZ (Auckland, Wellington) · 🇸🇬 Singapore · 🇲🇾 Malaysia (KL, Penang) · 🇭🇰 Hong Kong · 🇯🇵 Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka) · 🇦🇪 UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) · 🇳🇱 Netherlands (Amsterdam, Delft +3) · 🇩🇪 Germany (Munich, Berlin +3) · 🇨🇭 Switzerland (Zurich, Lausanne) · 🇮🇪 Ireland (Dublin, Galway). Built for international IGCSE / A Level / IB students mid-research.
Pick up to 5 cities. We'll compute total annual cost (tuition + accommodation + food + transport + utilities + books + personal) for each, normalised to your home currency.
🇬🇧UK
🇺🇸US
🇨🇦CANADA
🇦🇺AUSTRALIA
🇳🇿NEW ZEALAND
🇸🇬SINGAPORE
🇲🇾MALAYSIA
🇭🇰HONG KONG
🇯🇵JAPAN
🇦🇪UAE
🇳🇱NETHERLANDS
🇩🇪GERMANY
🇨🇭SWITZERLAND
🇮🇪IRELAND
Select at least one city to continue.
8 UK cities: London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow.
Open UK calculator →
8 US cities: NYC, Boston/Cambridge, Chicago, LA, SF/Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Pittsburgh.
Open US calculator →
4 Canadian cities: Toronto (U of T), Vancouver (UBC), Montreal (McGill), Waterloo.
Open Canada calculator →
5 Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide.
Open Australia calculator →
2 NZ cities: Auckland (U of Auckland) and Wellington (Victoria / Massey).
Open New Zealand calculator →
Hawker-centre eating brings food cost down significantly. HDB shared flats near campus are realistic.
Open Singapore calculator →
Highly affordable for international students. Public Big-5 + Monash/Nottingham branch campuses + private universities.
Open Malaysia calculator →
World-top-100 universities. High rent partly offset by efficient public transport and cooked-food markets.
Open Hong Kong calculator →
3 Japanese cities. National-university tuition is flat (~¥535k/yr) regardless of nationality.
Open Japan calculator →
2 UAE cities: Dubai (Dubai Knowledge Park, Academic City) and Abu Dhabi (NYU AD, Khalifa).
Open UAE calculator →
5 Dutch cities: Amsterdam, Delft (TU Delft), Rotterdam (Erasmus), Maastricht, Leiden.
Open Netherlands calculator →
5 German cities. Most public universities charge minimal tuition — one of Europe's best-value destinations.
Open Germany calculator →
2 Swiss cities: Zurich (ETH, UZH) and Lausanne (EPFL, UNIL). Low tuition, high living costs.
Open Switzerland calculator →
2 Irish cities: Dublin (Trinity College, UCD) and Galway (University of Galway).
Open Ireland calculator →
Country-specific student cost tools exist (Save the Student for the UK, the College Board net-price calculator for US, NUS Finance for Singapore), but every one is single-country. Generic cost-of-living sites like Numbeo and Expatistan ignore tuition. Nobody combines tuition + city cost-of-living in a side-by-side multi-country comparison — that's the gap this tool fills.
Pairs with Tutopiya's University Shortlist Builder — shortlist universities first, then drop the cities into this calculator to plan the budget. For broader admissions support, Tutopiya tutors offer entrance-exam prep (SAT / UCAT / BMAT / LNAT) and curriculum-transition coaching.
How the calculator works, where the figures come from, and how accurate they are.
The Tutopiya Tuition & Cost of Living Calculator covers 50 student cities across the same 14 destinations as our University Shortlist Builder: UK (8 — London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow), US (8 — NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, SF/Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Pittsburgh), Canada (4 — Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Waterloo), Australia (5 — Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide), New Zealand (2 — Auckland, Wellington), Singapore (1), Malaysia (2 — KL, Penang), Hong Kong (1), Japan (3 — Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka), UAE (2 — Dubai, Abu Dhabi), Netherlands (5 — Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, Maastricht, Leiden), Germany (5 — Munich, Berlin, Aachen, Heidelberg, Stuttgart), Switzerland (2 — Zurich, Lausanne) and Ireland (2 — Dublin, Galway).
Pick up to 5 cities. Choose a tuition tier per city (or override with a custom annual figure for your target university). Pick a lifestyle band — Budget (campus dorm, mostly cook), Mid (shared flat, mix of cook/eat-out) or Comfortable (studio, more eating out). Choose your home currency. We compute the total annual cost across tuition + accommodation + food + transport + utilities + books + personal/social, show a side-by-side comparison table, render a stacked bar chart in your home currency, and let you download the comparison as CSV or PDF.
Living costs are hand-curated from each city's flagship university's "international student living costs" guidance (UCL Cost of Living, NUS Finance, ETH Zurich student services, DAAD Germany, etc.) with a ~10% buffer applied because uni estimates tend to under-state social and personal spend. Tuition tiers map to typical international fees per country. Currency conversion uses static FX rates baked in at build time, refreshed annually (current snapshot: 2025-10). Real costs vary by 20-30% based on neighbourhood, lifestyle, sharing arrangements and how much you cook vs eat out.
Yes — the calculator, the city comparison and the FAQs are all free. A free Tutopiya account is required to see your detailed comparison and to download it as CSV or PDF. The same account unlocks every Tutopiya tool (GPA Calculator, University Shortlist Builder, International School Finder, Revision Checklists). No payment is required at any step.
Out of scope for this calculator — too many variables to model accurately. Most countries we cover allow international students 15-20 hours/week of part-time work during term (50%-100% during holidays), which can offset 30-50% of living costs in higher-paid markets (UK, AU, NZ, CA). For tailored scholarship and work-study planning, book a free 30-min admissions consult with a Tutopiya tutor.
Yes — after the comparison appears, click Download CSV or Print View / Save as PDF to export it. Both options are gated by a free Tutopiya account so we can route follow-up admissions support; once you sign up (same account works across every Tutopiya tool), the export runs immediately and you can share the file via email, print or upload to your school's careers portal.