A quote from a study abroad agency often lists tuition, accommodation and fees on a single page, which can make it hard to see what you are paying for.
In short
Send a PDF or photos of your quote to BLOOM ABROAD’s Study Abroad Quote Check, and you get a list of the total, the cost breakdown, discounts, support included, payment and cancellation terms, and items to check. You can compare what was read with your quote, correct it and confirm it. You can keep the result in My Page and delete it at any time.
Which quotes you can upload
You can use the quote you received from a study abroad agency. On the Study Abroad Quote Check page, choose a file or drag it in. PDF, JPEG and PNG are supported, and you can send 1 PDF or up to 10 photos at a time. Files can be up to 10MB, and PDFs up to 10 pages. If you choose several photos, they are combined into 1 PDF before sending.
On a smartphone, use “Take a photo” to shoot the quote on the spot; on a computer, you can also paste an image. Feel free to black out your name, contact details or anything else you would rather not share before uploading. Before sending, tick the box to agree to the quote being read. You can use it without logging in.
- Remove the password from a protected PDF before sending
- PDFs and photos cannot be sent together
- Keep PNG images to 3.7MB or less
What the results screen shows
When reading is finished, “Quote at a glance” first shows the total and the amount of fees and similar items. “Where the money goes” splits the money into what is paid to the school, to the agency, to insurers, banks and others, and what has no payee stated.
Each line of the cost breakdown shows its type, amount, currency and whether it is required or optional, along with the page of the quote where it appears. “Open the original quote” lets you check it against the original. Quotes in more than one currency are totalled by currency. Below that, “What we read” lists the following items.
| Item | What it covers |
|---|---|
| School, country and city | School, campus, country and city |
| Course and dates | Course, lesson hours, start and end dates, weeks |
| Quote total | The quote’s total and the sum of the lines |
| Cost breakdown | Tuition, enrolment, accommodation, fees, etc. |
| Discounts | Discounts written on the quote |
| Support included | Support written on the quote |
| Payment and cancellation terms | Payment deadline, refund and cancellation terms |
Items to check and questions for your agency
“How much in yen” shows the yen amount using the quote’s rate and a reference rate for the issue date side by side. “Transfer fees” and “Items paid to the agency” show what the quote says about how money is sent and what the fees include. When there is something worth asking, “Ask your agency” shows the questions, and “Copy the questions” lets you use them as they are.
“Items to check” appears when the quote contains mismatches or leaves something out. For example:
- The sum of the lines does not match the total
- Some lines do not say whether they are required or optional
- Optional lines are included in the total
- No transfer fee is stated
- Amounts are only in yen, with no exchange rate stated
Correct and confirm what was read
If a value differs from your quote, correct it line by line before confirming. Use “Add an item” for anything missing, and remove lines that do not belong. You can pick a reason for a correction (Misread, The quote is different, My own choice), but you do not have to. After you confirm, the original quote and your correction history are kept.
Once confirmed, “What you can do next” shows links to the school page, information on the country and city, and a guide to study costs in that country. If the quote could not be read well, press “Read again” or send a clearer image where the text is easy to read. The steps to confirm are as follows.
- Compare each line with your quote
- Fix wrong values with “Correct”, or press “This is correct”
- Review the items to check and tick the confirmation box
- Press “Confirm these contents”
Keep it in My Page or delete it
If you use it while logged in, your checked quotes stay in “Study Abroad Quote Check” in My Page. Under “Your checks” you can look back at the total and the number of points to check. If you checked a quote before logging in, log in or sign up in the same browser within 24 hours of uploading, and “Keep in My Page” appears. Press it to move the quote to My Page; it is then kept until 180 days after upload.
To delete, press “Delete this quote and the results” on the results screen, or “Delete” in My Page. The original quote, what was read and your correction history are all deleted and cannot be restored. The results screen also shows the date it will be deleted automatically.
What to look up on ABROAD after reading your quote
If your quote names a school or city, you can carry on looking it up on ABROAD’s school and city pages. Besides courses and tuition guides, you can see listings for housing, SIM cards and insurance in that city. For Canada, choose a city from the Canada page. If you have a quote at hand, try organising it with Study Abroad Quote Check.
