Advice for International Students:
Advice for UK students:
Fees, funding and Student Support
Home fees: who is eligible?
- Will I pay the 'home' or 'overseas' fee?
- Can I become a 'home' fee payer after starting my course as an 'overseas' fee payer?
- If my country joins the European Union, will I be able to pay course tuition fees at the 'home' rate in the UK?
- How much will the 'overseas' fee for my course be?
- Am I insured for fees?
- I applied for asylum and was granted Discretionary Leave. Have there been changes to tuition fees regulations affecting people in my situation?
- What is happening to tuition fees in England in 2012?
Will I pay the 'home' or 'overseas' fee?
The education departments of the UK Government, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly decide which categories of student must be charged the lower, 'home' fee. There are many different categories of 'home' fee payer, and the regulations can be quite complicated. We have produced summaries of these regulations for you.
Tuition fees: will I pay the 'home' or the 'overseas' rate?
Can I become a 'home' fee payer after starting my course as an 'overseas' fee payer?
There are two possible ways to become a 'home' fee payer after the start of your course:
- You become a refugee, or your asylum application is refused but you are granted another specified form of leave, or this happens to a relevant member of your family and you met the relevant 'family condition' on the date of their asylum application.
- You already met the relevant three-year residence requirement on the first day of the first academic year of your course, and you become one of the following:
- an EU national, or the family member of an EU national
- an EEA or Swiss migrant worker, or the family member of such a person
- the child of a Swiss national
- the child of a Turkish worker in the UK
Other changes during your course, such as gaining Indefinite Leave to Remain, or other changes to your immigration status, or acquiring three years' residence in the UK, do not necessarily affect your fee status.
Find out more from Tuition fees: will I pay the 'home' or the 'overseas' rate?
If my country joins the European Union, will I be able to pay course tuition fees at the 'home' rate in the UK?
To be eligible to pay 'home' fees as a European Union (EU) national, one of the conditions you have to meet is the residence condition – at the start of your course, you must have been ordinarily resident, for three years, in an area that is made up of the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and certain overseas territories.
The fees regulations contain a provision which means that once a country joins the EU, that country is treated as always having been part of the EU (and, therefore, the EEA) for the purposes of this residence condition. If you have already started your course when your country joins the EU, you can become eligible for 'home' fees from the start of the following academic year as long as you meet all the other eligibility conditions.
You can check this on the UKCISA Information Sheers at Tuition fees: will I pay the 'home' or the 'overseas' rate?
How much will the 'overseas' fee for my course be?
Overseas fees can range from £4,000 to £18,000 per year, depending on the institution, the level of course and the type of course. Universities UK publish an annual survey of average tuition fees at UK universities (fees at further education colleges are often lower). For details of specific fees for a course at a particular institution, check their website or prospectus. Always check what additional charges and costs are not included in the fee as these will vary by institution and course.
Am I insured for fees?
Endsleigh provides proportionate reimbursement of your prepaid course fees if you have to cancel your course, cut it short or repeat it due to accident or sickness of yourself or a close relative.
I applied for asylum and was granted Discretionary Leave. Have there been changes to tuition fees regulations affecting people in my situation?
If you have applied for asylum and you have been granted Discretionary Leave, you will no longer be eligible for 'home' fees for a higher education course in England. This is because the Government has restricted eligibility to those with Humanitarian Protection and their family members. This change came into effect on 9 February.
Note that this change will not affect you if:
- you are studying in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
- you are studying in England but you had already started your course before 1 April 2011
- you are taking a further education course in England.
If you have queries about this change and how it might affect you, you should talk to your college or university. If this is not possible, you can call our advice line for students.
What is happening to tuition fees in England in 2012 onwards?
From September 2012, universities in England will be able to charge undergraduates who are assessed as 'home' students a higher tuition fee than before. Undergraduate courses for 'home' students used to be funded by a mix of tuition fees and government subsidies paid direct to institutions. From 2012, the direct subsidy to institutions will be cut significantly, or removed altogether, and tuition fees will be increased to replace this. 'Home' students will be eligible for government subsidised loans to cover the cost of these tuition fees.
Fees for 'overseas' students will not be directly affected as they already cover the full cost of teaching. We are not aware of any immediate likelihood that 'overseas' fees will change radically, if at all.
Find out if you are likely to pay the 'home' or the 'overseas' fee rate.
If you have queries about this change and how it might affect you, you should talk to your college or university. If this is not possible, you can call our advice line for students.
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