Admission fee, application fee and tuition fee at Turkish universities

Three English terms keep appearing in correspondence from Turkish universities: application fee, admission fee and tuition fee. Many applicants treat them as the same thing, and so either send money twice for one item or mistake the payment that secures their place for the semester's tuition and miss a deadline.

This article explains what each term means, when it is paid in the admission process, what a university invoice looks like and the question of payment currency. You will not see a tuition figure anywhere in the text: every university has its own numbers, and the official place to see them is YÖK's Study in Türkiye portal.

Three terms, three moments

Application fee

The fee paid when you submit an application so that your file is reviewed. At most universities it is non-refundable and has nothing to do with the outcome. It is usually paid inside the application system with a bank card; Hacettepe University, for example, announced that its 2025–2026 application service fee is paid by credit card through the application system (University Executive Board decision of 29 May 2025). Because Iranian cards do not work in these systems, applicants usually use a card from an account outside Iran or the help of someone in Turkey.

Admission fee, pre-registration fee or deposit

Once admission is announced, many foundation (private) universities ask the student for a payment that secures the place and triggers the final acceptance letter or the visa documents. The name varies from one university to another: admission fee, pre-registration fee, deposit or tuition prepayment. The common practice is that this amount is later deducted from the tuition, but that is a practice, not a rule; some universities count it separately, and refund conditions differ too. Before paying, ask in writing whether it is deducted from tuition and what happens if you withdraw.

Tuition fee

The main cost of study, set per academic year or per semester. Depending on the university it is quoted in lira, dollars or euros, and it can often be paid in instalments. The fee for the preparatory language year (hazırlık) is usually stated separately from the programme fee. This is the amount most families send from Iran, and the route is described on tuition payments to Turkish universities.

State and foundation universities

State universities in Turkey also set fees for international students, but their structure and level differ from foundation universities and vary a great deal between programmes (medicine versus humanities, for instance). Foundation universities usually charge more and, in return, offer discount scholarships more often than state universities. The Study in Türkiye portal has a page for each university listing programme fees and their currency; treat those figures as a starting point and take the final number only from your own university's letter or invoice, because the portal's figure may be for a different year.

How the university invoices

A university usually issues one of two documents: a letter from the international office stating the amount, the currency, the deadline and the account details, or an invoice from the finance office with a reference number. In both cases the document should contain:

• the university's legal name as the account holder (not a person's name)
• the IBAN and the bank's name, and for deposits from abroad usually the SWIFT/BIC code
• the amount due and its currency
• the identifier that links the payment to your file: student number, file number or invoice number

Some universities keep a separate account per currency, one IBAN for lira and another for dollars. In that case the deposit must go to the account of the currency the invoice is issued in. If the document lists several accounts and it is not clear which applies to you, ask the international office before any payment.

When each one is paid

The usual order is: the application fee when you apply; the admission fee or deposit after the result is announced and before the final acceptance letter; the tuition before semester enrolment or according to the instalment plan. The university sets the deadline for each stage in its letter or portal, and it differs between universities; there is no general calendar to rely on.

There are also cases that break the order: some universities charge no application fee, some count the admission fee directly as the first instalment, and some run a separate payment schedule for the preparatory year. Follow the order in your own university's letter; another student's experience may not be your timeline.

A practical note: every payment from Iran has several steps (quote, rate confirmation, your payment, the deposit and the receipt), and the two countries' bank holidays do not coincide. Put the university's deadline in your plan on the day you receive the letter, not a few days before it ends.

Payment currency and conversion

Pay the tuition in the currency on the invoice. If the invoice is in dollars and you deposit lira, the university's bank either returns the amount or converts it at its own rate, and the figure that arrives no longer matches the invoice. For someone paying from Iran, this means paying the toman or USDT equivalent of that same currency.

For a first estimate you can look at the reference lira rate today and the dollar and euro rates in the site's rate table. These are market reference rates, not a firm quote; the rate for each payment is confirmed after the request is reviewed, for that amount. If tuition is paid in instalments, each instalment is converted at the rate of its own day, so you do not have to convert the whole year at once.

How to pay from Iran

The common route is a deposit into the university's account through an exchange office: you state the amount and currency on the invoice, the rate and fee are confirmed before execution, and after your approval and payment the deposit is made with the student's details in the description and you receive the bank receipt. The service is described on tuition payments to Turkish universities, and the methods are compared with their documents in Paying Turkish university tuition from Iran: methods and documents.

Questions to ask the university

1. How is the application fee paid, and is it refundable?
2. Is the admission fee or deposit deducted from tuition? What happens if I withdraw or my visa is refused?
3. Which currency is the tuition in, and which IBAN do I use for that currency?
4. Is payment in instalments possible, and when is each instalment due?
5. What exactly should I write in the deposit description so the payment is linked to my file?
6. To which office and through which channel do I send the receipt, and how is receipt confirmed?

Keep the answers in writing; they make up most of the information needed for a payment request.

Once you have the university's invoice or letter, enter its amount and currency in the quote form and note that the destination is a university. EL DÖVİZ reviews the request, confirms the rate and fee before execution, and nothing is deposited until you approve.