What counts as a funded route
A route is listed only if it removes the biggest cost of studying abroad for international students. In practice that means one of these, each shown as a tag on the listing:
- Tuition-Free: a public university that charges international students no tuition. Small semester or administration fees may still apply, and we say so on the route page.
- Full Scholarship: an award that covers tuition and a living allowance (often travel and insurance too).
- Need-Based Aid: a university that commits to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of the international students it admits.
- Fee Waiver: the application fee can be waived, so applying costs nothing.
- Merit and Low Tuition: competitive awards or genuinely low fees. These are included when they can make study affordable, and are always labelled so you are never misled into thinking they are free.
Where the facts come from
Only official sources: the university's own website, the scholarship provider's website, or a government page. We do not use aggregator sites, forums or social media as sources, and every "Official page" button goes to the institution's own domain. Each route page lists the sources we used.
How often routes are checked
- Every listing shows two dates: "Deadline verified", the last time its deadline and status were confirmed against the official page, and "Write-up reviewed", the last time the full write-up was reviewed.
- When an official page changes, the listing keeps its existing information until the change is confirmed. We would rather show an older, correct date than a new, wrong one.
- Each deadline is the date the official page gives for the coming round, with its year. When a round has not been announced yet, the listing says so instead of showing a date; when each programme, faculty or embassy sets its own date, the listing says that; and when the date depends on your residence, course or admission round, the listing shows every round and what decides between them. Once a deadline has passed, the listing says the next call is not yet announced until the new date is confirmed. The official page always has the final word. A ≈ sign marks a date the official page itself calls provisional.
How new routes are added
A new route is published only after its funding claim has been confirmed on the official page. Rejected candidates are recorded so they do not come back.
Independence
Advertising is served by Google in clearly labelled spaces. Universities and programmes can also advertise with us in a spot marked "Sponsored". Fintiba is a DegreeStep partner.
Corrections
If you believe something is wrong or out of date, email hello@degreestep.com with the route name and, ideally, a link to the official page that shows the correct information. We check reports against the official source and update the page and its dates. Significant corrections are noted on the route page.
Limits
We are an information service, not an adviser. We cannot confirm whether you personally are eligible, and we cannot guarantee that a programme will run or that its rules will not change after we checked. Please read our terms of use.