The cost of studying in Malaysia

The cost of studying in Malaysia II

I mentioned last week that obtaining student visa to Malaysia is cheap and straight forward. Maybe in my zeal to encourage you to come for more studies, I oversimplified the issue a little bit. You may have to pay more than N800 stated last week. Why? Because in Nigeria, we believe that for things to work, they've to be difficult. Books have to be difficult before they can qualify as textbooks. Students have to pass through hell in the admission process before they can qualify as new university students. The civil service has to cultivate and nurture all the bureaucratic bottlenecks imaginable before it can be called a working civil service. This belief led us to create an additional route, where there's one. We call this additional route shortcut. And the entire system is dubiously called Nigerian factor.

Thus, my dear student, when you go to the embassy, you maybe accosted by the Nigerian factor. Let me tell you a story. I met hundreds of Nigerians at the embassy the day I went to collect my visa. As names were being called, I said to the young man standing by me, how cheap the visa was. "How much did you pay?" he asked. He didn't believe me when I told him I paid N800. He asked if I had 'connections' in the embassy. My young friend told me he paid N60, 000 for the same visa I was getting for N800.

How do you avoid paying too much? (1) Forget the shortcut and (2) go through the front door. A student doesn't even need a shortcut when they have their documents. Here is a list of document you need: an offer/admission letter, letter from the school to the embassy, photocopy of the data page of your passport, a completed application form, which will be given to you at the embassy and some passport sized photographs (I can't remember how many). If you're going to a private university, you need a fourth document – a letter from the Malaysian Immigration Headquarters. You needn't worry about this; your school will send it to you.

There's also the International Certificate of Vaccination. This is generally called the 'yellow card'. You can get it at the hospital for about N500. You can also wait until you get to Lagos Airport to buy this but the gentleman at the embassy insisted I needed it to get the visa. So I mandated him – which was obviously what he wanted - to get it for me. For the yellow card, he asked for N1500, I paid him N1200. So the total amount I paid was N2, 000.

Some people go with sponsorship letters or bank account statements and air tickets. But students are not required to bring them.

The process is simple. So don't go looking for shortcuts. You can apply for your visa today and get it three days after the application. Everything takes less than one week. The High Commission is located at No.2 Pechora Close, off Panama Street, Maitama, Abuja.

Application fee

I want to address this issue quickly for the interest of those that are interested in applying for the second semester admission. A student told me that he paid N90, 000 application fees to an agency. That was too much. I'm not trying to run agents out of business but they need to realize that not all students travelling abroad were sired by thieves. Some parents have to work hard to pay for their children's education. And some adult students have no parents – or government - to pay for them, so they shoulder all the cost.

I'm confident that with this guide students need no agent to apply to any university. All the universities and colleges have websites. They also give students the option of applying online. And universities all over the world make their application fee as minimal as possible. Because all universities need students and don't want to scare them away by asking for too much application fee that will not guarantee students admission.


At UPM, the application fee is $25. It's easier to pay this amount by credit card. If you don't have a credit card, you can get one at Intercontinental Bank for $150. If your references are easy to verify, you'll get the card within two weeks.

Tuition fee

This is the most important part of this guide. Malaysia has tens of colleges and universities. Some are public schools, some are indigenous private colleges and others are foreign universities with campuses in Malaysia. So, the tuition fees are as varied as there are universities. As is the tradition around the world, public universities are more affordable than the private ones. Some schools collect up to $9,000 per annum. Some only charge a few hundred dollars per semester.

UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia) charges about $800 per semester. I was told that there are universities in Malaysia that are cheaper than UPM but I don't know their names or where they are.

Accommodation

Accommodation in Malaysia is cheaper than accommodation in the neighboring countries. It compares to the cost of housing in Abuja or in some cases, cheaper than the rates charged in Abuja.

UPM charges RM11 (N407) per room per day. That's N12, 210 per month. But there're even cheaper rooms off campus. But the responsibility of the school and the security it provides, do not extend to those areas. You can get rooms off campus from RM120-150 (N5, 550) per month.

Food

Food in Malaysia is cheaper than food in Abuja. You can get a plate of rice and one-quarter chicken and a drink to go with it for under RM10 (N370). There're also fast food places like KFC and McDonalds which are far cheaper than our Mr. Biggs and Tantalizers. So far I'm only able to eat at KFC and some Arabian eateries. Malaysian food does not appeal to me. People complain about too much spice but it's the smell that bothers me. Just a whiff of the aroma will make me want to throw up.

So you may need to buy a rice cooker which you can use to cook – or in my case – burn food to your taste.

I think a disclaimer is appropriate here. Although I'm impressed with the academic standard and the equipment available to students here, - for example, UPM has airplanes for aeronautical engineering students to tinker with – and advocating that Nigerian students should come to Malaysia, I'm not asking anybody to come with insufficient fund. If you do that, you'll soon discover how merciless the world can be.

It's not possible for me to cover every piece of information you may need about cost of studying in Malaysia in this short letter. The information here should only serve as a guide. The amount of money you come to Malaysia with is up to you.