Are you now eligible for Home fees in Scotland?
Recently there has been a significant change to the Home Fees rules in Scotland, meaning that more people could be eligible for Home fees.
The Scottish government has introduced a new, amended regulation that came into effect on August 1st 2023. The regulation sees a change to the category ‘Relevant connection to Scotland’ and will also see the ‘Long residency’ category being removed after a recent court case. You can read more in this UKCISA article.
A new Home fees category has been established for individuals who do not possess “settled status” but maintain valid leave to enter or remain in the UK that has not yet expired. From now on, you don’t have to go through the hassle of proving that you’ve lived in the UK for half of your life to get Home tuition fees and financial aid for your studies. If you are starting your course this year or in following years, check the new eligibility requirements to see if you are now classified as a Home student.
And the good news is that even if you’re entering your second or third year, the changes to mean that any future fees you need to pay can be on the basis whether you would have fit into this category when you started your course. UKCISA explain that this has been confirmed by the Scottish Government. It is expected that many students may be able to change their fee status and pay less tuition fees for the remaining years of their course. If you believe that you could be eligible you should ask your university to reassess your fees based on the new rules.
Each nation in the UK has different fee status rules, so you may be eligible for Home fees in Scotland, but not in England. We understand that changes to Home Fees rules may be confusing. UKSO are leading experts in UK University Fee Status. We have been advising schools, families and students around the world on this complex topic for 10 years and have helped over 1,000 expat families with their fee status queries.
Fee Status Checker Tool: To make the process of determining eligibility even easier, we’ve introduced our new Fee Status Checker. This online tool allows families to quickly assess whether their child could be eligible for Home fees, providing instant results and relevant resources for further research. By simplifying this crucial first step, we ensure that families can move forward confidently with the university application process. Visit our Fee Status Checker to get started.
