Honest answer
How much should an Indian student budget for living costs during an MS abroad?
Numbers last checked: 2026-08-02
Short answer
We do not publish a separate living-cost line, and we would rather say so than invent one. What we do publish is the total: tuition plus a realistic local living-cost estimate for the full programme, ranging from ₹32.7 lakh to ₹1.21 crore across our 14 verified programmes. The clearest read on living costs alone comes from RWTH Aachen University, where tuition is near zero for non-EU students — so its ₹32.7 lakh total over 24 months is very close to living costs by itself.
Why we don't split the line
Because we could not source a per-city figure with the same rigour as tuition, and a plausible-looking number with no source behind it is exactly what this project exists to argue against. The estimate is embedded in the total and disclosed as an estimate.
The German comparison is the most useful thing we can offer instead. RWTH Aachen University is near-zero tuition and totals about ₹32.7 lakh over 24 months. Technical University of Munich, also 24 months but now charging non-EU tuition and sitting in a far more expensive city, totals about ₹61.0 lakh. The gap is tuition plus Munich.
Where students underestimate
City, not country, drives the number. Munich, Sydney and the Bay Area are not comparable to Aachen, Waterloo or Manchester, and a national average smooths away the difference that will actually hit your account.
The other systematic underestimate is the first two months: deposit, furniture, phone, transport pass, and the gap before any part-time work starts. Budget it separately or it comes out of the emergency fund you have not built yet.
Check the university's own published cost-of-attendance page — most publish one for visa purposes, and it is a better source for your specific city than any aggregate, including ours.
Verify these numbers yourself
- Cost, admission-bar and salary-basis figures for all 14 verified programs: truthpathms.com/data (CC BY 4.0, each row carries its own sources and check date)
Costs, salaries, and visa rules change - always confirm against the official program page before making a real decision. TruthPathMS aggregates and cites; it does not originate tuition, salary, or visa data.
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