Student case study · Sweden
Kiran, from Biratnagar to Gothenburg
MSc Computer Science, August 2026 intake
His budget assumed full-time work. When Sweden capped student work at 15 hours, we rebuilt the money plan before he paid a krona.
- New work rule
- Tuition waiver
- After bachelor's
- Starting point
- BIT, CGPA 3.24
- English
- IELTS Academic 6.5 (no band below 6.0)
- Study gap
- 2 years after his bachelor's, junior developer
- Paid for by
- His own savings, parents' savings and a 50% tuition waiver
- First call to visa
- 284 days
Where Kiran started
Kiran had worked as a junior developer in Biratnagar for 2 years and wanted a computer science master's in Sweden. His first budget, from friends already there, assumed he'd work 30 or more hours a week to cover rent.
What we found
In spring 2026 Sweden announced that bachelor's and master's students granted a permit on or after 11 June 2026 could work only 15 hours a week in term. Kiran's permit would be decided after that date.
We rebuilt his budget on 15 hours, and the gap was about SEK 4,000 a month. A 50% tuition waiver from the university, plus his own savings from 2 years of work, closed it. We told him plainly: without the waiver, we'd have advised waiting a year.
Step by step, with dates
12 Sep 2025
First counselling. Budget drafted on the old work rules.
22 Nov 2025
IELTS: 6.5, no band below 6.0.
10 Jan 2026
Application to 4 programmes on universityadmissions.se, with a waiver application.
20 Mar 2026
Admitted in Gothenburg with a 50% tuition waiver.
Apr 2026
Budget rebuilt on the new 15-hour rule; family agrees the plan.
21 Apr 2026
NOC; first instalment paid after the waiver.
28 Apr 2026
Residence permit applied for, with funds in his own account.
23 Jun 2026
Permit granted, 284 days after the first call, under the 15-hour rule.
16 Aug 2026
Flies to Gothenburg.
The result
Kiran started his master's in August 2026. He works 12 to 15 hours a week as a teaching assistant in programming labs, which pays more than the café jobs his friends started with.
In Kiran's words
If I'd gone on my friends' numbers, I'd have been short every month. They redid the budget the week the rule changed.
If your profile looks like this
- 1
Plan Sweden on 15 hours of work a week in term, not on older advice. See Sweden part-time rules.
- 2
Apply for tuition waivers with your application; they can decide whether the budget works.
- 3
Work experience in your field helps both your admission and your first job there. See IT courses abroad.
