You Got In. What Happens Next, and What It Costs
Deposits, confirmation fees, instalment surcharges and materials charges that arrive between the offer and your first day — with real published figures from universities across Europe.
Quick Answer
More than the first tuition instalment, and sooner than most people plan for. Across the catalog, 30 programs publish a deposit or an instalment structure — 15 naming a deposit-type payment and 19 an instalment schedule — and the amounts are substantial: the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences asks non-EU dental applicants for half the annual tuition as an admission deposit, George Emil Palade University asks dentistry applicants for a €5,000 admission deposit, Rīga Stradiņš adds a one-time €1,800 registration administration fee, the Medical University of Warsaw charges a €1,000 confirmation fee, and Semmelweis takes a US$2,000 deposit. Paying tuition in instalments often costs more than paying once — the University of Zagreb charges €10,000 in a single payment against €10,200 split in two. And some dental programs bill materials separately, at Semmelweis up to US$2,500 per semester in the later years. Budget for the offer period as its own expense, not as part of year one.
Source Status
Deposit, confirmation and materials figures are recorded per program from official university sources for 2026-2027. Amounts and deadlines vary by program and by applicant nationality, and several universities set different deposits for EU and non-EU applicants. Confirm your own figures in your offer letter.
Quick Take
- 30 programs publish a deposit or instalment structure; some deposits are half the annual tuition.
- Instalments usually cost more than paying once — Zagreb charges €200 extra to split.
- Dental materials can be billed separately, up to US$2,500 a semester.
The money arrives faster than you expect
An offer is not the end of the process, it is the start of a short and expensive one. Within weeks you may be asked for a seat deposit, a confirmation fee, a registration charge, the first tuition instalment, health insurance, and the document legalization the visa needs.
The figures below are real, published amounts from the catalog. They are not typical or average — they are what specific universities charge — and they are here to show the shape and scale of what lands between an offer and a first day.
Deposits and confirmation fees
This is the charge most people have not budgeted for, and it is the one with a deadline attached.
| University | What is charged |
|---|---|
| Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (dentistry) | Admission deposit: €1,500 for EU applicants, half the annual tuition for non-EU |
| George Emil Palade University (dentistry) | Admission deposit €5,000 |
| Rīga Stradiņš University (dentistry) | One-time registration administration fee of €1,800 |
| Medical University of Warsaw (dentistry) | Confirmation fee €1,000 |
| Semmelweis University (dentistry) | Deposit US$2,000, plus a US$230 enrollment fee |
| University of Zagreb (dentistry) | €1,000 reservation payment |
Note how differently these behave. A €5,000 admission deposit at George Emil Palade is half of what the same university charges for a year of dentistry, so it lands as a genuine cash-flow problem rather than a formality. Rīga Stradiņš's €1,800 is an additional charge on top of the fee, not a payment toward it. Almost none of these pages say whether the money is credited against tuition, so ask rather than assume.
Paying in instalments usually costs more
Splitting tuition looks like a kindness and is often a surcharge. The University of Zagreb publishes it plainly: €10,000 if paid in one instalment, €10,200 if paid in two. That is €200 a year, or €1,200 across its six-year dentistry degree, for the convenience. Its medicine program does the same: €12,000 paid once against €12,200 in two instalments.
The Medical University of Warsaw offers dentistry at two instalments of €10,700 or four of €5,500 — four payments total €22,000 against €21,400 for two, so the finer split costs €600 more a year.
Others quote one price and simply split it: Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin publishes €14,000 a year for years I–IV and €13,000 for year V, payable in two instalments due 1 October and 1 February, with no higher figure quoted for splitting. Ask which model applies, and if you can pay once, check whether it saves you anything.
The dental materials charge nobody mentions
If you are starting dentistry, ask one specific question: are materials included in tuition? The answer varies, and where it is no, the amount is not small.
Semmelweis University publishes dental materials separately at US$1,250 per semester in year 2 and US$2,500 per semester in years 3 to 5 — roughly US$5,000 a year in the later years, on top of tuition. Across the degree that is a five-figure sum.
By contrast, University of Pécs and Rīga Stradiņš both state that dental materials are included. Same profession, same region, completely different total. This single question can move the real cost of a dental degree by more than the difference between two countries.
Cost comparisons across dentistry are in where to study dentistry in Europe and dentistry in Romania vs Poland.
The things that must happen in parallel
Money is only half of it, and the clock is the other half. Once you accept, three chains start at once and none of them waits for the others.
Documents. Apostilles and certified translations commonly take four to eight weeks and run in sequence, not parallel. Start the day you have your offer, not the day the university asks. See apostilles, translations and transcripts.
Visa. You need a national long-stay study visa, not a Schengen short-stay, and most study visas require proof of funds set by the destination government. Consulate appointment waits come on top of processing time. See student visas for European medical school.
Housing. University dormitories are usually far below the private market and have the earliest deadlines, which often fall before you have finished the visa. Ask the housing office whether a place is guaranteed for first-year international students, what it costs, and when to apply. Costs by city are in student living costs by city.
Questions to ask before you pay anything
Is the deposit deducted from tuition or additional to it, and is it refundable if the visa is refused? That second question matters more than people realize, because a visa refusal after a non-refundable deposit is a real and expensive outcome.
Does paying in instalments cost more, and by how much? What is charged outside tuition — registration, materials, insurance, examination fees? Are those figures fixed for the whole degree or reviewed annually?
Get the answers in writing from the admissions office rather than from an agent, and keep them. If any figure you are quoted does not appear on the university's own pages, treat that as the warning it is — the method is in how to verify a school yourself.
FAQs
How much is the deposit for a European medical school?
It varies widely. Published examples include €1,000 at the University of Zagreb, €1,500 for EU applicants at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, US$2,000 at Semmelweis, and €5,000 for dentistry at George Emil Palade University. LSMU asks non-EU dental applicants for half the annual tuition, which on its €13,600 dentistry fee is €6,800.
Is the deposit deducted from tuition?
Not always, and most universities do not say either way on their fee pages. Some charges are clearly additional: the €1,800 registration administration fee at Rīga Stradiņš and the US$230 enrollment fee at Semmelweis sit on top of tuition rather than inside it. Because the published wording is often silent on this, ask the admissions office in writing whether the payment is credited against tuition or is a separate cost, and budget for the worse case until you have the answer.
Does paying tuition in instalments cost more?
Often yes. The University of Zagreb publishes €10,000 for a single payment against €10,200 in two. The Medical University of Warsaw's four-instalment option totals €600 more a year than its two-instalment option. Some universities, such as Pomeranian Medical University, quote a single annual price and split it across two dates without quoting a higher figure.
Are dental materials included in tuition?
It depends entirely on the university. Semmelweis bills materials separately at US$1,250 per semester in year 2 and US$2,500 per semester in years 3 to 5. University of Pécs and Rīga Stradiņš both state materials are included. Ask before comparing dental programs on price.
What happens if my visa is refused after I pay a deposit?
That depends on the university's refund policy, which is why you should ask whether the deposit is refundable in the event of a visa refusal before paying. Get the answer in writing from the admissions office.
What should I start first after accepting?
Document legalization. Apostilles and certified translations commonly take four to eight weeks and must run in sequence, and the visa cannot start until they are done. Housing applications often close early too, so treat those two as parallel priorities.