Why we are building Pathwaay
A master's or a research degree is one of the biggest money decisions a student makes. Pathwaay exists so you can make it with the full picture in front of you. The right path is the one that still works on the day the first loan bill arrives.
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Why we started
Every year, students make this choice with very little to go on. A master's abroad can change a career. It can also leave a family repaying a large loan while the student looks for a job that does not come.
Others put their plans on hold and try again, year after year. Each attempt costs another round of test fees, applications and time that does not come back.
Most of the information needed to decide well already exists. It is spread across embassy pages, university fee pages, bank loan rules and forum threads, often out of date and rarely in one place. And advice tied to commissions can lean toward the options that pay the adviser.
What we found when we looked closely
- Rules move on set dates. The UK Graduate visa drops from 2 years to 18 months for later applications. Few pages say so plainly.
- A loan does not wait for a job. Under SBI's student loan scheme, for example, repayment starts after a holiday that follows the course, whether or not you are working by then.
- Visa money is not living money. Canada asks a single student to show CAD 23,448 a year on top of tuition and travel. That is a minimum for the visa officer, not a budget for your life.
- Staying in India is rarely priced properly. A GATE score, an M.Tech or a funded research route like PMRF can beat a costly degree abroad for some people. It seldom appears in the same comparison.
- A scholarship you have not won is not money. Plans built around one hide the real cost until it is too late to change course.
- The facts are scattered. Official pages sit on different sites, some are hard to reach, and many advice pages contradict each other.
What we do about it
Pathwaay puts the pieces together. We read the official pages, record each figure with its source and the date we checked it, and lay the options side by side: a master's abroad, a cheaper country, a course in India, or working first.
When we cannot confirm a figure, the page says Official figure being verified instead of guessing. If you spot something wrong, the flag beside each section sends it straight to us.
No one answer fits everyone
Some people want a career abroad. Some want a stronger profile back home. Some want research, or one specific skill. Money, field, grades and appetite for risk differ too.
We do not pick for you. Our job is to show the real options and their trade-offs for your goal and your situation, and to say so honestly when staying or working first is the stronger move. The choice stays yours.
Where we are going
We are starting with students from India, because that is where we have checked the facts. Our aim is wider: to make this information easy to find for anyone weighing a master's or research degree, and to grow a community of students who share what they learn so the next person decides with more than we had.
What comes next
We are building a platform that takes your money, your field and your priorities, lays out a master's abroad, a cheaper country, India and work first side by side, and shows what happens if things go worse than planned. Join the waitlist and we will tell you when it opens. Questions or corrections: hello@pathwaay.com.