This Cost of International Education dataset compiles detailed financial information for students pursuing higher education abroad. It covers multiple countries, cities, and universities around the world, capturing the full tuition and living expenses spectrum alongside key ancillary costs. With standardized fields such as tuition in USD, living-cost indices, rent, visa fees, insurance, and up-to-date exchange rates, it enables comparative analysis across programs, degree levels, and geographies. Whether you’re a prospective international student mapping out budgets, an educational consultant advising on affordability, or a researcher studying global education economics, this dataset offers a comprehensive foundation for data-driven insights.

Description

Potential Uses

• Budget Planning Prospective students can filter by country, program level, or university to forecast total expenses and compare across destinations.
• Policy Analysis Educational policymakers and NGOs can assess the affordability of international education and design support programs.
• Economic Research Economists can correlate living-cost indices and tuition levels with enrollment rates or student demographics.
• University Benchmarking Institutions can benchmark their fees and ancillary costs against peer universities worldwide.

Notes on Data Collection & Quality

• Currency Conversions All monetary values are unified to USD using contemporaneous exchange rates to facilitate direct comparison.
• Living Cost Index Derived from reputable city-index publications (e.g., Numbeo, Mercer) to standardize disparate cost-of-living metrics.
• Data Currency Exchange rates and fee schedules should be periodically updated to reflect market fluctuations and policy changes.

Feel free to explore, visualize, and extend this dataset for deeper insights into the true cost of studying abroad!

According to a survey conducted by Voxburner in 2022, approximately ** percent of students in the UK, that were planning on cutting costs due to the Cost of Living crisis, would cut back on eating out.

West Virginia and Kansas had the lowest cost of living across all U.S. states, with composite costs being half of those found in Hawaii. This was according to a composite index that compares prices for various goods and services on a state-by-state basis. In West Virginia, the cost of living index amounted to **** — well below the national benchmark of 100. Virginia— which had an index value of ***** — was only slightly above that benchmark. Expensive places to live included Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California. Housing costs in the U.S. Housing is usually the highest expense in a household’s budget. In 2023, the average house sold for approximately ******* U.S. dollars, but house prices in the Northeast and West regions were significantly higher. Conversely, the South had some of the least expensive housing. In West Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the median price of the typical single-family home was less than ******* U.S. dollars. That makes living expenses in these states significantly lower than in states such as Hawaii and California, where housing is much pricier. What other expenses affect the cost of living? Utility costs such as electricity, natural gas, water, and internet also influence the cost of living. In Alaska, Hawaii, and Connecticut, the average monthly utility cost exceeded *** U.S. dollars. That was because of the significantly higher prices for electricity and natural gas in these states.

The objective of this survey is to gather information on tuition fees, living accommodation costs at residences/housing and additional compulsory fees paid by full-time university students at Canadian universities. Data are collected annually by questionnaire through the Registrar or the Business Office of universities. Survey results are available at the end of August. Data for undergraduate programs are available by institution, by province, by program and by type of students (Canadian or Foreign). Data for graduate programs are available by institution, by province and by type of students (Canadian or Foreign). Additional compulsory fees are available by institution, by province and by type (athletics, health services, student association, and other). Living accommodation costs at residence/housing are available by institution, by type of students (single or married) and by type of costs (room, meal plan,or both). For current TLAC data refer to Statistics Canada

**Student Data Description: ** The dataset contains data representing the financial and personal information of 200 students.

Name: The full name of the student, combining the first name and last name. Names are generated based on the gender of the student.

Age: The age of the student, randomly generated between 18 and 30 years.

Gender: The gender of the student, randomly assigned as "Male" or "Female".

Current Educational Level: The current educational level of the student, randomly assigned from "High School", "Undergraduate", or "Graduate".

Monthly Income: The monthly income of the student, randomly generated between $500 and $3000.

Rent/Room Accommodation: The monthly expense for rent or room accommodation, randomly generated between $200 and $800.

Utilities: The monthly expense for utilities, such as electricity and water, randomly generated between $50 and $200.

Groceries: The monthly expense for groceries, randomly generated between $50 and $200.

Dining Out/Eating Outside: The monthly expense for dining out or eating outside, randomly generated between $20 and $150.

Public Transportation: The monthly expense for public transportation, randomly generated between $20 and $100.

Fuel/Car Maintenance: The monthly expense for fuel and car maintenance, randomly generated between $20 and $100.

Tuition Fees: The monthly expense for tuition fees, randomly generated between $1000 and $5000.

Books and Supplies: The monthly expense for books and supplies, randomly generated between $20 and $200.

Online Courses/Subscriptions: The monthly expense for online courses and subscriptions, randomly generated between $10 and $100.

Clothing/Shoes: The monthly expense for clothing and shoes, randomly generated between $20 and $150.

Entertainment: The monthly expense for entertainment, randomly generated between $10 and $200.

Health Insurance/Medical Expenses: The monthly expense for health insurance and medical expenses, randomly generated between $20 and $200.

Gym Memberships/Physical Activities: The monthly expense for gym memberships and physical activities, randomly generated between $10 and $100.

Mobile Phone/Internet Bill: The monthly expense for mobile phone and internet bill, randomly generated between $20 and $100.

Other Miscellaneous Expenses: The monthly expense for other miscellaneous items, randomly generated between $10 and $150.

Savings/Investments Amount: The amount of money saved or invested by the student, randomly generated between $0 and $1000.

Final Monthly Expense: The calculated total monthly expense for the student, which is the sum of all individual expenses.

The dataset is intended to be used for analysis and exploration of student financial behaviors and patterns.

Cost of Living Index (Excl. Rent) is a relative indicator of consumer goods prices, including groceries, restaurants, transportation and utilities. Cost of Living Index does not include accommodation expenses such as rent or mortgage. If a city has a Cost of Living Index of 120, it means Numbeo has estimated it is 20% more expensive than New York (excluding rent).

Please refer further to: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/cpi_explained.jsp for motivation and methodology.

All credits to https://www.numbeo.com .

This dataset would surely help socio-economic researchers to analyse and get deeper insights regarding the life of people country-wise.

Thanks to @andradaolteanu for the motivation! Upwards and onwards...

This collection contains data obtained from families of wage earners or salaried workers in industrial locales scattered throughout the United States. The purpose of the survey was to estimate the cost of living of a "typical" American family. The completed questionnaires contain information about income sources and family expenditures including specific quantities and costs of food, housing, clothing, fuel, furniture, and miscellaneous household items for the calendar year. Demographic characteristics recorded for each household member include relationship to head, age, sex, occupation, weeks spent in the household and employed, wage rate, and total earnings.

Table comparing monthly living expenses for gap year students in low-cost vs high-cost countries, including housing, education, transport, and emergency savings.

The Consumer Sentiment Index in the United States stood at 51 in November 2025. This reflected a drop of 2.6 point from the previous survey. Furthermore, this was its lowest level measured since June 2022. The index is normalized to a value of 100 in December 1964 and based on a monthly survey of consumers, conducted in the continental United States. It consists of about 50 core questions which cover consumers' assessments of their personal financial situation, their buying attitudes and overall economic conditions.

We adjust SNAP maximum allotments, deductions, and income eligibility standards at the beginning of each Federal fiscal year. The changes are based on changes in the cost of living. COLAs take effect on October 1 each year. Maximum allotments are calculated from the cost of a market basket based on the Thrifty Food Plan for a family of four, priced in June that year. The maximum allotments for households larger and smaller than four persons are determined using formulas that account for economies of scale. Smaller households get slightly more per person than the four-person household. Larger households get slightly less. Income eligibility standards are set by law. Gross monthly income limits are set at 130 percent of the poverty level for the household size. Net monthly income limits are set at 100 percent of poverty.

The survey charted the housing conditions of higher education students in Tampere, Finland. The survey was divided into three main themes: current housing situation, housing preferences, and housing situation during studies. Regarding housing situation at the time of the survey, the questions surveyed type of housing the respondents lived in (housing type and housing tenure), household composition (number of roommates, children), size of housing (number of rooms and surface area), housing costs, distance to own university and city centre, travel time from home to university, and satisfaction with and opinions on housing. Concerning housing preferences, the respondents were asked which type of housing they would have preferred to live in, whether they were looking for new accommodation and what kind, what their attitude towards student housing was, how important they thought different things when looking for accommodation, in which neighbourhoods they would have wanted to live during their studies, how much they would be prepared to pay for housing of their preference per month, and how much they thought reasonable housing costs for a student would be per month. Finally, with regard to housing situation during studies, the respondents were asked whether they first moved out of their parents' house for studies, whether they had had diffculties in finding accommodation at the beginning of studies, how many different places and student apartments they had lived in during studies, how many months in total they had lived in student apartments, and, if they had moved house, reasons for moving. Background variables included the respondent's employment situation, marital status, disposable income per month, expected year of graduation, education level, and education and occupations of parents.

The average for 2021 based on 165 countries was 79.81 index points. The highest value was in Bermuda: 212.7 index points and the lowest value was in Syria: 33.25 index points. The indicator is available from 2017 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This statistic shows the monthly average living expenses of college students in China as of June 2018, by spending bracket. During the survey period, almost ** percent of Chinese college students said they spent between *** and ***** yuan per month.

Russia: Cost of living index, world average = 100: The latest value from 2021 is 50.47 index points, a decline from 61.96 index points in 2017. In comparison, the world average is 79.81 index points, based on data from 165 countries. Historically, the average for Russia from 2017 to 2021 is 56.22 index points. The minimum value, 50.47 index points, was reached in 2021 while the maximum of 61.96 index points was recorded in 2017.

Zambia: Cost of living index, world average = 100: The latest value from 2021 is 45 index points, a decline from 63.6 index points in 2017. In comparison, the world average is 79.81 index points, based on data from 165 countries. Historically, the average for Zambia from 2017 to 2021 is 54.3 index points. The minimum value, 45 index points, was reached in 2021 while the maximum of 63.6 index points was recorded in 2017.

This dataset contains statistics relating to the number and types of students receiving Student Allowances, and the amounts received.

The Global Private University Tuition Fees & Education Trends 2024 dataset provides comprehensive insights into the cost of higher education across 50 countries. It includes data on tuition fees, the distribution of public vs. private universities, and student enrollment patterns. This dataset is useful for analyzing global education trends, comparing costs, and identifying access to higher education.

Key Features: ✅ Tuition Fees – Average, minimum, and maximum tuition costs for private universities (in USD). ✅ University Distribution – Number of private vs. public universities in each country. ✅ Student Enrollment – Breakdown of students in private universities, public universities, vocational courses, and those not studying. ✅ Cost of Living Index – A metric to compare affordability across countries. ✅ Scholarship Availability – Percentage of students receiving financial aid.

Potential Use Cases: 📊 Power BI & Data Analytics – Compare tuition fees globally and analyze education access. 🎓 Education Policy Analysis – Evaluate public vs. private university ratios. 💰 Financial Planning – Assess the affordability of studying abroad. 📈 Market Research – Identify trends in vocational education and scholarship opportunities.

Ireland: Cost of living index, world average = 100: The latest value from 2021 is 175.68 index points, an increase from 157.19 index points in 2017. In comparison, the world average is 79.81 index points, based on data from 165 countries. Historically, the average for Ireland from 2017 to 2021 is 166.44 index points. The minimum value, 157.19 index points, was reached in 2017 while the maximum of 175.68 index points was recorded in 2021.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Mean Real Household Wages Adjusted by Cost of Living for Davidson County, TN (MWACL47037) from 2009 to 2023 about Davidson County, TN; Nashville; adjusted; TN; average; wages; real; and USA.