Straight answers
Questions, answered without spin.
Including the ones that are awkward for us to answer. If your question is not here, ask it — and we will add it.
Recognition & quality
Is the qualification real?
Yes — when the programme runs under a validation or franchise agreement. The awarding university issues its own degree certificate, identical to the one issued on its home campus. Your transcript records the teaching institution, which is normal and visible, and nothing to disguise.
The check that matters: ask which university awards this specific programme, then confirm it on that university's own website, not only on the college's. We run that check before we recommend anything, and we will show you exactly where to look.
Generally yes for a degree awarded by an established UK or US university, but “generally” is not good enough when it is your career. Two specific checks before you enrol: if you need the qualification evaluated by a national body (for immigration or public-sector employment), confirm that body's treatment of franchised delivery; and if you are entering a regulated profession, ask the regulator directly, in writing.
We will help you draft that question. What we will not do is tell you it will definitely be fine, because in a handful of countries and professions it is not.
No, and the distinction matters. Greek public universities are state institutions teaching primarily in Greek, with their own entry system. The private colleges on this site are teaching centres delivering foreign universities' degrees in English under licence from the Greek Ministry of Education. Different institutions, different awards, different admissions, different fees. Anyone who blurs the two is not being straight with you.
Entry & English
Am I eligible?
Undergraduate entry is typically IELTS 6.0 with no component below 5.5, or an accepted equivalent such as PTE Academic 50+ or Cambridge English at B2. Postgraduate entry is usually 6.0 to 6.5. Foundation routes can accept around IELTS 4.5.
If you are half a band short, that is a timeline problem, not a rejection. It is also precisely what we teach — and we will tell you realistically how many weeks it will take rather than selling you an open-ended course.
Not usually. International qualifications are mapped to UK equivalents by the awarding university, and most national school-leaving certificates have an established equivalence. Where yours falls short of direct entry, an international foundation year bridges the gap in twelve months and feeds into year one.
Sometimes, particularly at postgraduate level where substantial relevant experience can be considered alongside academic entry criteria. It depends on the institution and the programme. Send us your actual CV and transcript rather than a summary, and you will get a straight answer within two working days.
Greece suits students who want a UK or US degree taught in English, inside the EU, at roughly a third of UK cost. It is the wrong choice if you need a globally ranked research university (the colleges are teaching institutions delivering another university's degree), if you are counting on a long post-study work visa, if you expect part-time work to pay tuition, or if you are entering a regulated profession such as nursing, physiotherapy, psychology or teaching without first confirming, in writing, that your home-country regulator accepts the award.
If any of that describes you, we will say so on the first call rather than after you have paid a deposit.
Money, visas & afterwards
The practical realities
Indicative undergraduate tuition starts around €6,750 per year. Living costs run roughly €700–€1,100 per month in regional cities and €930–€1,480 in Athens. For Athens, a first-year total of roughly €18,000–€20,000 including tuition is a realistic planning figure.
Add one-off costs on top: rental deposit, insurance, permit fee, translations and apostilles, flights, and a buffer for month one. Budget €1,500–€2,500 beyond your first month's running costs. Use the calculator
Plan for one to three months from a complete national D visa application to a decision. Applications rarely fail on academic merit. They fail on incomplete files, insufficient or poorly evidenced funds, health insurance whose wording does not meet the requirement, and criminal record certificates that were never apostilled or translated.
The single most common timing error: starting the criminal record certificate late. In several countries that document alone takes four to eight weeks.
Up to 20 hours per week during term time, with a valid student residence permit, an AFM tax number, an AMKA social security number, and formally registered employment. Full-time work may be possible during official holidays — confirm with the Migration Office.
Be realistic about the arithmetic. Part-time earnings at Greek wage levels support living costs. They do not fund tuition, and the consulate will not accept intended earnings as proof of funds.
This is the question where we most often disappoint people, so here it is plainly: Greece does not operate a long post-study work route comparable to the UK Graduate Route or Canada's PGWP. Staying on generally requires securing a job offer with a corresponding work permit, or progressing to further study.
If your primary objective is migration rather than education, Greece is probably not your best route, and you should hear that from us now rather than in three years.
The first conversation, your assessment and your shortlist are free. Where an institution pays us a placement commission, we tell you which institutions those are before you apply, so you can weigh our recommendations accordingly. Tutoring and exam preparation are charged separately and quoted up front.
If any advisor — us included — will not answer this question plainly, treat the evasion as the answer.
Ask this before you enrol, not after. Every institution has its own resit fees, repeat-year costs and refund policy, and they differ substantially. There is also a migration dimension: your residence permit renewal is assessed against continued enrolment and academic progress, so repeated failure creates an immigration problem as well as an academic one.
We will get the specific policy in writing for any programme you are seriously considering.