Learn Hardcore Chinese: Tā xiǎng chūguó liúxué, dànshì wàiguó dàxué de xuéfèi bǐ guónèi guì hěn duō. - She wants to go abroad to study, but the tuition at foreign universities is much higher than in her own country.

她要出国留学
This sounds stronger: she is going to study abroad (decision is more fixed).
她想要出国留学
This is also possible, but often a bit heavier or more emotional in tone: she really wants to study abroad.

So 想 alone is a natural, neutral way to express a desire or plan that may not be 100% decided yet.

What exactly does 出国留学 mean, and why are there two verbs together?

出国留学 is a common verb phrase that combines two actions:

出国 – to go abroad (literally “exit the country”)
留学 – to study abroad (as a student in another country)

Putting them together:

出国留学
= go abroad for the purpose of studying / study abroad.

This is a typical serial-verb structure in Chinese:

First verb: movement (出国)
Second verb: the main purpose (留学)

You could also say:

去国外留学
到国外去留学

All are grammatical; 出国留学 is just the most compact, idiomatic way to say “study abroad”.

Could I say 她想留学出国 instead of 她想出国留学?

No, 她想留学出国 is not natural.

In Mandarin serial verbs, the usual order is:

movement / direction
purpose / main action

So:

出国留学 = go abroad → (in order to) study there.

Reversing them (留学出国) breaks that logical sequence and sounds wrong to native speakers. Think of it as:

[go abroad] + [study] → good
[study] + [go abroad] → strange

What is the difference between 但是, 可是, and 不过?

All three can mean “but / however”, and in many cases they are interchangeable at the beginning of a sentence.

Rough tendencies:

但是
– Slightly more formal or neutral. Very common in writing.
– Used in all registers.
可是
– Often sounds a bit more spoken / emotional.
– Very common in speech.
不过
– Often feels like “however / though”; sometimes softer, like adding a light contrast.

In this sentence:

…，但是外国大学的学费…
…，可是外国大学的学费…
…，不过外国大学的学费…

All are okay. 但是 is just a standard, neutral choice.

Why is it 外国大学的学费 and not 外国的大学的学费?

Both are actually grammatical:

外国大学的学费
外国的大学的学费

The difference is mainly style and compactness.

外国大学
Here 外国 is directly modifying 大学, like a single phrase: “foreign-university”.
Chinese often drops 的 when a short attributive (like a country / place word) modifies another noun:
- 中国人 (Chinese person)
- 英国老师 (British teacher)
- 外国大学 (foreign university)
外国的大学
This keeps the 的 and sounds slightly more explicit or careful:
- “universities of foreign countries”.

Then 的学费 attaches “tuition” to that whole phrase.

So 外国大学的学费 is:

(foreign universities) + 的 + tuition
= the tuition fees of foreign universities

It’s the more natural, streamlined version.

What does the 的 in 大学的学费 do here?

This 的 marks an attributive / possessive relationship:

大学 (university)
学费 (tuition fee)

大学的学费 = the tuition fee of the university / university tuition.

Structure: > [noun/phrase] + 的 + [noun]
> = “the [noun] of [phrase]” or “[phrase]’s [noun]”

So:

外国大学的学费
= foreign universities’ tuition [fees].

How does the 比 structure work in 学费比国内贵很多?

The pattern is:

A + 比 + B + adjective (+ degree word)

Here:

A = 外国大学的学费 (the tuition of foreign universities)
B = 国内 (domestic, i.e. within the country)
adjective = 贵 (expensive)
degree word = 很多 (much, a lot)

So:

外国大学的学费比国内贵很多。
= The tuition of foreign universities is much more expensive than (that of universities) in this country.

Note:

In a 比 sentence, you do not put 很 directly before the adjective:
- ✗ 学费比国内很贵 (sounds wrong)
- ✓ 学费比国内贵很多
- ✓ 学费比国内贵得多

Instead of 很, you use a degree complement like 多了, 得多, 一点, 很多, etc.

What exactly does 国内 mean here, and why is there no noun after it?

Literally:

国 – country
内 – inside

国内 = inside the country / domestic.

In real usage, Chinese speakers often use 国内 as shorthand for:

国内的大学 (universities within the country)
国内的学校 (schools within the country)
国内的情况 (the situation within the country)

In 比国内贵很多, the understood full form is:

比国内的大学贵很多 or 比国内大学的学费贵很多

Because it’s clear from context that we are talking about tuition fees, they drop the repeated words and just keep 国内. This kind of ellipsis is very common in Chinese.

What is the difference between 外国 and 国外, and between 国内 and 中国?

外国 vs 国外:

外国
= “foreign country” as a noun: a (specific or general) foreign country.
e.g. 外国人 (foreigner), 外国电影 (foreign movie)
国外
= “abroad / overseas” as a location: “outside the country”.
e.g. 在国外 (abroad), 去国外工作 (go work abroad)

In this sentence, 外国大学 = “foreign universities”. If you said 国外大学, it would sound a bit odd because 国外 is more like a place word than a straightforward adjective.

国内 vs 中国:

国内
= “inside the country / domestically”.
In China, 国内 almost always means “inside China”.
中国
= “China” as the country's name.

So:

国内大学 ≈ universities within China
中国的大学 = Chinese universities

They overlap heavily in practice.

Why is it 贵很多 and not just 很贵?

很贵 just means “very expensive” on its own, without comparison.

But the sentence uses 比 (comparison), so we’re saying “more expensive than …”. To show the degree of difference, we add something after the adjective:

A 比 B + adj + complement

So:

贵很多 = more expensive by a lot / much more expensive
很贵 = very expensive (no comparison)

In a 比 sentence, it’s unnatural to say:

✗ 比国内很贵

You want something like:

比国内贵一点 – a bit more expensive than domestically
比国内贵得多 / 贵多了 – much more expensive
比国内贵很多 – much more expensive

Can I say 贵得多 or 贵多了 instead of 贵很多? Are there differences?

Yes, all of these are used to intensify the comparison:

贵很多
贵得多
贵多了

They all roughly mean “much more expensive”, but nuances:

贵很多
– Slightly more neutral / written; sounds a bit like stating a fact or statistic.
贵得多
– Very common; also fairly neutral; works in both speech and writing.
贵多了
– More colloquial / spoken, often with some emotional coloring:
- 哇，外国大学的学费比国内贵多了！
  “Wow, foreign university tuition is way more expensive than at home!”

All three are acceptable after 比. Choice is about tone and style, not grammar.

Why is there 很多 at the end instead of before 贵?

In this structure:

比 + B + 贵很多

很多 is functioning as a complement of degree to modify the adjective 贵. In Chinese, complements usually come after the adjective or verb.

So:

贵很多 = “be expensive by a lot” / “much more expensive”.

Putting 很多 before 贵 (like “很多贵”) is not grammatical.
Position patterns:

很贵 – very expensive (no comparison)
比国内贵很多 – more expensive than domestically by a lot
比国内贵一点 – a bit more expensive than domestically

Why is there no subject in the second clause before 外国大学的学费?

There is a subject in the second clause: it’s 外国大学的学费 itself.

The full structure is:

Clause 1: 她想出国留学，
Subject: 她
Clause 2: 但是外国大学的学费比国内贵很多。
Subject: 外国大学的学费

So grammatically, the two clauses are independent:

She wants to study abroad,
but foreign universities’ tuition is much more expensive than at home.

Chinese doesn’t repeat 她 because she is not the subject of the second clause. The thing being compared is 学费 (tuition), not 她.

Could I omit 大学 and just say 但是外国的学费比国内贵很多?

You can, and it’s understandable:

但是外国的学费比国内贵很多。
= But foreign tuition is much more expensive than domestic tuition.

However:

Without 大学, 学费 could theoretically refer to other types of study fees (language schools, training centers, etc.).
外国大学的学费 is more precise: specifically university tuition.

If the context already makes it crystal clear you’re talking only about universities, 外国的学费 is fine, but in isolation 外国大学的学费 is clearer and more natural.