Fee status

Definition of Fee Status

Please read the definitions of fee status below to ensure that you are certain about your fee status.

The process for determining the tuition fee status of a student is based on the Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 1997 and the Education (Fees and Awards) (Amendment) Regulations 2006. Tuition fees for study in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, provided by UKCISA: UK Council for International Student Affairs, give a more comprehensive guide to tuition fee status.

UK Residents

To qualify for Home fee status a person must fulfil all of the following criteria:

  • you must be settled in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the first year of the course.
  • you must also have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (the Islands means the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for the full 3-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the first year of the course.
  • the main purpose of your residence in the UK and Islands must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of that 3-year period.

Nationals of Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway

Nationals of these countries are not classed as Home students – but European students with “Settled Status”, that is being in the country for 3 years or more on the first day of the term, and can therefore apply for European funding through the Student Finance England website.

Overseas Territories

You will normally qualify for Home student status, if:

  • on the first day of the first academic year of the first year of the course you must be a national of an Overseas Territory or the ‘relevant family member’ of such a national.
  • you have also been ordinarily resident in the Overseas Territory for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of the first year of the course.
  • the main purpose of your residence in the Overseas Territory must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of the three-year period.

UK Residents with HP, DL, ELE or ELR Status

If you apply for asylum and the Home Office decides that you do not quality for refugee status but that you should be allowed to stay in the UK, it normally grants Humanitarian Protection (HP) or Discretionary Leave (DL) or, in some cases, indefinite leave to remain [up until 1 April 2003, Exceptional Leave to Enter or Remain (ELE/R) was granted in such circumstances].

If you were refused refugee status but were granted leave as above and you have remained ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since the Home Office decision, you are entitled to pay Home fees.

Alternatively, if you are the spouse or civil partner or child of someone who meets the above conditions, you are entitled to pay ‘home’ fees.

If you (or your parent or spouse or civil partner) are granted permission to stay in the UK after the start of the course, you will be entitled to Home fees from the start of the next academic year.

Notes:

Settled means being ordinarily resident in the UK without any immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK.

You are ordinarily resident in the relevant residence area (which is either the UK and Islands or the EEA and Switzerland, depending on the category and its qualifying conditions) if you have habitually, normally and lawfully resided in that area from choice. Temporary absences from the residence area should be ignored.

EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom (including Gibraltar).

EEA countries includes all EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

OECD member countries (not in the EU or EEA): Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America.

Overseas Territories: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Greenland and Faeroe Isles, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Territories, Mayotte, Monserrat, Netherlands Antilles (Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St Eustatius and St Marten) and Aruba, New Caledonia, Pitcairn Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, St Helena and its Dependencies, St Pierre et Miquelon, Turks and Caicos Islands Wallis and Futuna.

For a more comprehensive description of these definitions, please visit the UKCISA Guidance Notes for Students.