The recent change in rules for students working apply to students in ‘foundation’ courses. These started out as 1 year courses for people whose secondary school qualifications and/or english skills weren’t ready for UK universities. While some are legitimately that, many became backdoor ways for young adults to come live/work in the UK- and that’s is what they are cracking down on. The 20 hour work week during term / 40 hour week during breaks still applies to students enrolled in degree programs. There is talk about cutting down on those hours as well, but there is nothing actively in the works.
You might look at Exeter, which is very highly rated for history (and all humanities).
Their standard offer is AAB-A*AA (straight history) or ABB-AAA (History + Modern Languages) or 32-38 IB points. For US qualifications their scale is:
‘Group A’ AP subjects where: 5 = ‘A’ grade, and 4 = ‘B’ grade.
SAT subject test (SAT II) where: 650 = ‘A’ grade and 600 = ‘B’ grade.
In other words, you have the minimum for an offer from Exeter. Because it is a competitive course, if possible I would suggest taking a history SATII in the fall and getting a strong score before sending in an application.
Fees are L15,500 and they estimate living costs of L7,600 for 9 months (not including flights). The history course is 3 years, history + language is 4 (with a year in your target language country).
Be aware that you MUST submit all your scores- even the terrible ones or you jeopardize the whole thing.
So is it straight History you’re applying to in the UK, or History and German? And do you have any German language background?
Good universities offering History/German include Warwick and UCL (though London is expensive to live in) - not sure offhand what their requirements are. You have a much wider choice for straight history.
One possibility you might like to look at is the UCL undergrad degree in Scandinavian Studies and History:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/degrees/scandinavian-studies-history-ba
To get your visa you will need to show that you can pay for the fees and living costs.
“I’m trying to decide whether it’s actually worth it to go through all this trouble if I’m not gonna get accepted anyways, then I’d rather just early decision a US school.”
Since money is an issue for you, you need to be careful about applying ED. You need to know whether the aid package that is offered is good enough or not so that you can accept or reject it quickly and move on. The usual advice for students like yourself who have tough financial situations is to apply widely to EA, RD, and Rolling institutions, and then carefully compare the aid packages when they all have arrived.
Please think through what you are asking yourself and your parents to do on the debt front. It looks like you are headed toward a PhD (ultimately) in history. That means that you could come out of your doctoral program and only find occasional adjunct positions while shouldering a huge amount of debt. That will take a very long time to pay off. Yes the federal loans can be repaid based on your income, but the PLUS loans can’t.
Please go read through some of the threads in the Financial Aid Forum. Since your family is low income, there are resources such as TAP and HEOP available if you will study in NY State. There also is Questbridge (maybe late for this year but I don’t know the details) for studying in the US. I know you like what the UK programs have to offer, but it may make more sense to get your undergrad out of the way here, then head to the UK for grad school.
@International95 I know how hard it is to live outside of America. Even though I was only ten when I moved out of the Philippines, I remember quite a lot about my life there. But life in America is quite hard too. I found that life doesn’t get easier anywhere. You just gotta learn how to live with those pesky obstacles.
I am actually currently researching colleges in Sweden, Germany, Australia, etc. It’s just that I was thinking the UK would be a good start because I wont have to worry about language barriers that much. I could study history and another language for 4 years then, after I could pursue grad school in Germany.
The US College + 1 year abroad is my backup option if things doesn’t go quite right.
@collegemom3717 Oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense. But I’m not planning to permanently move to the UK anyways.
Alright, I will look at Exeter. Thanks for the rec.
Also, really? I have to submit all of my SAT subject test scores? I was not aware of that.
@Conformist1688 I know very basic German. I’m planning on applying for History and German.
Thanks for the rec. I will research those colleges as well.
@happymomof1 It is one of the things that I’m looking at while researching colleges this summer.
There’s been a lot of comments about the financial side of things. I just want to say that I have a better shot of getting money/help from my relatives if I go to a college that they would consider prestigious enough or at least something that would get their interests rather than when I go to a school that will give me $$ but one they’ve never heard of before. Sure, it’s vain but it’s the way they work.
I just meant college life can be easier in America than in Europe, if you attend an expensive school that waives your tuition, which is an option I encourage you to seek. You really will not understand what I mean until you’ve actually lived in the EU for a while, or maybe until you talk to exchange students from Europe in the US. And that’s fine. Hopefully the UK will work out for you and you will be able to tough it out (also remember that your parents will be nowhere near you if you were to fall sick and feel desperate and sad abroad, so make good friends).
Many schools in the UK are, in fact, extraordinary, and I hope you will look into more options. I believe there are a few that offer competitive bursaries to international students to bring the costs down, like Swansea, Cardiff and the University of East Anglia.
Good luck!
Unfortunately, there always are some families that work that way. It seems to be more common for immigrant families that are still learning about higher education in the US. Just keep your sense of humor during this whole process, and you will end up fine. 
Yes, hopefully I’ll have that as one of my options.
And sure, the grass will always look greener on the other side. Maybe in four years, I’ll find myself absolutely hating the EU. I won’t know it until I try it. You forget, I’ve moved around a lot too. I know how it feels when you’re thousand of miles away from home and there’s no where to turn to that’s familiar. It’s pretty terrible. But I found that your true friends come out when even if you move to a different state from them, they still stick by you and the communication is still there – actually stronger than before. I’m not going in blind. I understand how difficult it could be.
Thanks! I will add those colleges in the list.
Yes, that is so true. And I’m trying. This is very stressful.
You mean to say that you immigrated to the US and all over all alone–without your parents? Because if you have your parents with you, you are not alone–not the way I am talking about.
OP, I’m going to stop commenting now. I wish you the best of luck with your adventures. I am just not trying to give a lesson on life and friendship in general on CC, and then debate on that. (What I meant to say before was that if a medical emergency or so were to take place abroad, and you are alone, it would be nice to have a couple of friends at your side.)
OK< that makes things a little more challenging. Because German is fairly widely taught at secondary school in the UK, some of the better courses are going to expect a higher level than you currently have, even for a joint degree with History, For instance, Warwick wants A level or IB Higher Level German (with a grade of 5):
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/rv21/
Luckily, you do still have quite a few options, including your favourite Manchester. The UCL course is also still possible:
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/2016/00258/history-and-german-4-years-ba/entry-requirements/
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/selcs/prospective-students/undergraduate/german-and-history-ba.
You could also try for Edinburgh, another good university: http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/degrees?id=RV21&cw_xml=degree.php
I would advise applying to some less prestigious courses as well, as backups.
Nottingham and Lancaster both offer places to beginners in German, and are pretty decent:
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/german-studies-and-history-ba-hons-rv21/
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ugstudy/courses/germanstudies/german-history.aspx
Good luck!