costs & funding
The national tuition range is close to useless here, because Spain's regions set their own fees. The number that matters is your specific university's non-EU price list.
Treat these bars as orientation only. The spread inside the public-university band is the widest in this guide, and it is driven by region rather than by quality.
The public band hides something useful. Some Spanish universities charge non-EU students the same as EU students, and several have cut their non-EU rates recently — one Barcelona polytechnic set non-EU master's enrolment at a per-credit rate that works out far below the band's midpoint.
So the actionable advice is narrow and worth following: look up the specific university's non-EU price list for your specific programme. The difference between two Spanish regions can exceed the difference between two countries elsewhere in this guide.
Unusually for this guide, this is a precise published number rather than an estimate.
100% of the IPREM per month of stay — currently €600 a month, giving €7,200 for a full year.
One hundred per cent of the IPREM per month of stay. It scales with your course length, it is set by budget law, and it can be raised — so re-check it for your intake rather than trusting a figure from last year.
What consulates expect in practice: commonly more than the bare minimum, shown as stable funds over roughly three months rather than a recent deposit
A provision worth using: pre-paid accommodation can be deducted from the amount you must evidence
And one thing not to misread: the IPREM figure covers living costs only — tuition is separate and on top of it
That last point matters when you are budgeting. The IPREM figure is living costs only — tuition sits on top of it, and so do the Delhi trip and the legalisation costs.
Spain's 2025 immigration reform produced one of the best student work entitlements in Europe, and it deserves proper weight in a budget.
Students on higher-education programmes may work up to 30 hours a week, granted automatically with the study authorisation since the 2025 reform — no separate work permit and no employer application.
Thirty hours a week granted automatically is more than Australia, the UK, Cyprus or Malta allow, and it comes with no employer sponsorship step and no licence. Only Poland and Czechia, which impose no cap at all, sit above it here.
The honest qualification is economic rather than legal. Spain's unemployment rate is well above northern Europe's and youth unemployment higher still, and outside a narrow band of roles the labour market runs in Spanish. A student with good Spanish can genuinely fund a large share of their living costs; a student without it will find thirty hours a theoretical entitlement.
Plan on that basis: treat Spanish as the thing that converts the work right into money, and start it early.
Spain has a set of one-off costs that other destinations in this guide do not, and they belong in the plan from the start.
The visa trip: flights to New Delhi, accommodation, Indian entry arrangements and time away — because there is no Spanish mission in Nepal
The document chain: the full legalisation chain plus sworn Spanish translation of academic documents and police clearance, each with its own fee
And insurance: private health insurance meeting Spain's specification — full coverage, no co-payments, no waiting periods — for the whole stay
None of these is enormous individually. Together they are a meaningful sum that appears before you have set foot in Spain, and they are the part of the budget most likely to be missing from a plan built off a tuition figure.
We are not going to put a number on the total, because the Delhi trip in particular depends on when you book and how long you stay. But budget for it as a line rather than as a rounding error.
Tuition is remitted bank-to-university through a Nepali bank once the NOC is issued, within Nepal Rastra Bank's education ceilings. Keep the receipts — and note that the funds you evidence for the visa are separate money from the tuition you remit.
The Nepal-side ceiling: an education remittance ceiling of about USD 25,000 under the Nepal Rastra Bank Unified Circular
For a public-university programme in a cheaper region, the ceiling is unlikely to bind. For a business school or an expensive private institution it may well, and that is worth checking before you commit rather than in your second year.