Study Abroad Consultant Fees: Our Transparent Pricing
Choosing universities, applying and getting your offer costs you nothing: Tier 1 is free, funded by a university commission of 15–25% of first-year tuition. Only two things are ever paid — Premium Placement at €945–€2,100, and an optional scholarship add-on. No registration fee, no charge per application. The catch: a paid fee buys work, not a visa, and nobody can guarantee that.
How much do study abroad consultants charge?
Fees in this industry run from free, where the university pays the agent, to €2,000–€5,000+ for a full package. Some agents also add a registration fee, a processing fee and a charge per application, and you usually see those only after you have committed.
Our prices are published here and quoted in writing for your own case before you agree to anything. Tier 1 — choosing universities, applying and getting your offer letter — is free; the only money you can ever pay us is Premium Placement at €945–€2,100 or the optional scholarship add-on. The full sequence of work sits on our how we work page.
Our three tiers — what each one costs
Three tiers, two of them optional and both priced before you start. Prices are in euros, because that is the currency the work is billed in, and the figure you see in writing is the figure you pay.
Tier 1 — Free Core
- University selection and shortlisting: 4–6 programmes you can get into and afford, matched to your grades and budget rather than to what pays us most.
- University applications prepared and submitted, including the uni-assist credential check for Germany.
- Scholarship shortlisting: the funded options you actually qualify for, flagged early. The programmes we work on are listed under scholarships for African students.
- A first-pass review of transcripts, certificates and bank statements, because weak documents are a common cause of refusal.
You can go from first conversation to offer letter on Tier 1 and pay us nothing; many students do.
Tier 2 — Premium Placement, €945–€2,100
The visa stage. A complete visa file built and checked document by document, interview and credibility-test coaching, proof-of-funds guidance covering the German blocked account, UK maintenance funds and Malta’s two-stage funds, and relocation support through to enrolment. It is a band rather than one number because a German blocked-account file and a UK CAS file are different amounts of work. You get your exact figure, and what it covers, before you pay.
Tier 3 — Scholarship Application add-on
A flat optional fee for building one strong funded-scholarship application: essays, references, and a study-and-return plan that holds together. We tell you whether your profile is competitive before you pay — including when the answer is no, and when a second application year is the better plan.
Why “free” is genuinely free — the commission model, explained
When you enrol at a partner university, that university pays us a commission of 15–25% of your first-year tuition. It is the standard arrangement in international recruitment — IDP, ApplyBoard and most large agencies work this way — and it costs you nothing extra, because the university’s published tuition is the same whether you apply through us or on your own.
Two consequences run in your favour: we are paid only once you enrol and start, so a course you cannot get a visa for, or will drop in term one, pays us nothing. Much of what we recommend also sits at the cheap end, including Germany’s tuition-free public universities and the other low-cost destinations in Europe, where the commission is modest. The honest catch is still there: a university is paying us, so ask why each programme is on your list and expect a specific answer.
Our no-hidden-fees pledge
- No registration fee. Starting work with us costs nothing.
- No processing fee and no per-application charge. Six universities cost the same as one on Tier 1: nothing.
- No commission charged to you. Ours comes from universities, and we say which ones.
- Every paid fee is quoted in writing, in euros, before you agree, with the scope of the work written beside it.
If anyone asks you for a payment that is not in your signed service agreement, it is not ours — the patterns to watch are on our how to spot a fake agent page.
Refunds and our honest stance on guarantees
We cannot guarantee a visa, and neither can any agent. The decision belongs to the embassy or consulate. An agency promising a guaranteed visa or “98% success” is either lying or preparing to keep your money after a refusal it never controlled. We do not publish a success rate we cannot prove. We improve your odds the only way that works: strong documents, a course that follows your last qualification, and funds that are genuinely yours and held long enough.
What we do stand behind: Tier 1 is free, so you risk no money to reach an offer, and Tier 2 and Tier 3 refund terms are written into your service agreement before you pay. A refusal does not automatically refund work already completed. You will read that before you pay, not afterwards in fine print.
What it costs to ask us
Nothing, and there is no obligation. Tell us your grades, your budget and the destinations you are weighing up, and you get a direct read: which programmes are realistic for the 2027/28 intake, which funded options are worth your time, and the exact price of any paid support, quoted before you commit.
What the paid tiers do not include
Premium Placement buys work on your file. It does not buy anything a third party charges you directly, and those costs stay yours throughout.
- Government and embassy charges: the visa fee, any residence-permit or health-surcharge charge, and biometrics or courier costs at the visa centre.
- Credential and translation costs: sworn translations, apostille or legalisation, and credential-evaluation fees where a destination requires one.
- Tests and medicals: language tests, and any tuberculosis certificate or medical a destination asks for.
- Your own money: tuition, deposits, insurance and the funds you must prove. A blocked account is your money held, not a fee paid to anyone.
- Flights and accommodation deposits.
None of these passes through us, and we do not mark any of them up. Where a charge is unavoidable we give you the figure in advance so it lands in your budget rather than as a surprise. Where a cost can be avoided — a test you may not need, an evaluation a particular university waives — we say so before you book it.
What we don't do
- We do not guarantee admission or a visa, and we do not quote approval rates we cannot evidence.
- We do not forge, edit or “arrange” documents, bank statements or test scores, and we stop work on a file if you ask us to.
- We do not charge for the core service, and we never take a fee to submit an application.
- We do not steer you to a university because its commission is higher, which is why you should ask us to justify every shortlist.
- We are the wrong fit if you want a guaranteed outcome, a visa in weeks, or a funding story your bank records cannot support.
Core guidance is free, funded by university commission: shortlisting, applications including uni-assist for Germany, scholarship matching, and document vetting before anything is submitted — the stage where most refusals are made or avoided. Premium Placement is optional and paid, at €945–€2,100, covering the visa file, interview preparation and arrival support. You see the price and the scope in writing first, and stopping at the free tier is a normal choice.
Frequently asked questions
Our core service — university selection, applications and getting your offer letter — is free, because partner universities pay us a commission of 15–25% of first-year tuition. You pay only if you choose Premium Placement, at €945–€2,100, or the scholarship-application add-on. There is no registration fee, no processing fee and no charge per application.
It is free, and the catch is disclosed rather than hidden: the university pays us when you enrol, the same model IDP and ApplyBoard use. Selection, applications including the uni-assist check for Germany, scholarship shortlisting and a first document review all sit in Tier 1. You can reach an offer letter without paying us anything.
The visa stage: a complete visa file checked document by document, interview and credibility-test coaching, proof-of-funds guidance for the German blocked account, UK maintenance funds and Malta's two-stage funds, and relocation support to enrolment. The band exists because a German file and a UK file are different amounts of work. Your exact figure comes in writing first.
No, and no agent can, because the decision belongs to the embassy or consulate. Anyone promising a guaranteed visa or "98% success" is selling you something they do not control, and the refusal will be yours to carry. We improve your odds with document vetting, a genuine study plan and funds your records actually support.
No. No registration fee, no processing fee, no per-application charge, and no commission taken from you. The only money you can pay us is Tier 2 Premium Placement or the Tier 3 scholarship add-on, and only if you choose them, with the exact figure and the scope of the work quoted in writing before you agree.
You find out before you spend anything, because Tier 1 is free. There is usually a route: a foundation or pathway year, a later intake, a cheaper destination, or one more language or test result. If nothing realistic exists for the 2027/28 intake, we say so instead of taking a fee for an application that will fail.
Nothing is due to start. If you choose Premium Placement or the scholarship add-on, the fee is quoted in euros in a service agreement before any paid work begins, with the scope and the refund terms written beside it. Tier 1 stays free whether or not you add a paid tier later.