UK universities are legally required to assess your fee status on the basis of three main criteria: nationality, UK immigration status and country of ordinary residence throughout the three years leading up to your course start date. Holding a British or an EU passport does not automatically qualify you for Home fee status or student finance support from the SLC, or Islands student finance provider.
Universities use a variety of different terms in relation to fee status assessment, and the meaning of these terms within this context is often different to their use in everyday conversation. The more frequently-used terms are explained below and in the Fee Status Glossary, but other terminology and definitions can be found in the UKCISA guide Find your fee status. Please note that references to 'students' also apply to applicants and offer holders, and references to 'the University' also include its Colleges.
Don't be concerned if your initial fee status assessment seems incorrect. Admissions teams can update your fee status if you can provide sufficient evidence to support your claim.
The Fee Status Glossary lists some documents that help us determine your country of ordinary residence. If you are dependent upon your partner/spouse/parents, we understand that household bills may be in their name - just inform us and demonstrate the bill payer's relationship to you.
Keep all documents handy, as you may need to submit them as part of a student finance application.
What will happen in the following:
- If your fee status isn't clear from your original application, your College or the central University will send you a Fee Status Assessment Questionnaire to complete when they offer you a place. You'll need to complete and return this questionnaire with the requested documents for an accurate assessment.
- If your UK immigration status has changed during the three years before your course start date, please send us copies of all your UK immigration documents from this period. This may include a share code, multiple passport vignettes, residence permits, and/or a naturalisation certificate. If you don't have one of your immigration documents, please provide the corresponding Home Office grant of leave letter. We'll let you know if further documents are needed.
- If you've been living in a different country temporarily, due to your or a family member's overseas employment, please send us copies of all employment contracts (including assignment agreements and contract extension letters) covering the three years leading up to your course start date.
- If you live 'wholly or mainly in a country for the purpose of receiving full-time education’, you won't be considered ordinarily resident in that country as you live there for the purpose of receiving full-time education. An undergraduate applicant will typically be considered ordinarily resident in the same country as their parent(s), even if they study elsewhere. Exceptions can be made for students who are self sufficient or estranged from their parent(s) - please inform fee assessors if this applies to you.
- If you have short periods of temporary absence, universities are advised to discount short periods of 'temporary absence' from your normal country of residence when assessing ordinary residence. This applies only if the absence was clearly temporary - see Temporary Absence in the Glossary. Examples include a gap year, a summer internship, attending school in a different country, or a temporary relocation due to a parent's fixed-term overseas assignment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Fee status is determined by a combination of three factors: a student's UK immigration status, their nationality and their countries of ordinary residence (see below). Consequently not all British passport holders are eligible for Home fee status. Equally, a number of non-UK citizens will be eligible for Home fees.
'Home' doesn't necessarily refer to someone's nationality or the country they currently live in. It is shorthand for 'entitled to the regulated (capped) tuition fee', which is set by the UK government and is currently £9,250 per year. There is a number of different categories of student who are eligible for Home fees. An offer holder only needs to meet the requirements for one category in order to pay the Home fee for their course.
Note that the regulated fee only applies to undergraduate courses; postgraduate fees are set by the institution providing the course. Tuition fees for undergraduate and postgraduate students with Home fee status are significantly lower than the fees paid by international students. There is one exception to this rule: undergraduates with Home fee status who are classified as ELQ students (i.e. they already hold an Equivalent Level Qualification to the one they're planning to take) will pay an ELQ fee that is higher than the regulated fee. However, the Home ELQ fee is still significantly lower than the fee paid by international students.
Institutions are able to set the course fee rates for all students (undergraduate and postgraduate) who are assessed as 'Overseas' students. The Overseas course fee is not regulated by the UK Government, and therefore there is no cap on the amount that institutions can charge students with this fee status. Overseas undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge are also required to pay a College fee.
Most students holding pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme are eligible to pay Home fees. However, the residency requirements for pre- and settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme are different to those required for Home fee status. Consequently a very small number of students holding pre-settled status will be liable for Overseas tuition fees.
This covers medical or work trips, holidays and gap years to a country/countries outside the one in which a student normally resides, but also longer periods of residence in another country - provided they can offer evidence that the absence was for a fixed period. Temporary absence also includes periods of education, fixed-term employment or assignments (by the student or immediate family member) in a different country.
An offer holder wishing to provide evidence of temporary residence must be able to share official documents as evidence of this, e.g. an internship award letter, exchange scheme offer letter, copies of all employment/assignment contracts (including extension letters). Without evidence, the University is likely to consider the absence to be permanent. When assessing temporary absence, the University will look at all the information that the student has provided to determine where they would normally have been resident during that time.
There is no hard and fast rule that stipulates the maximum length of time that can be considered as temporary absence, so fee assessors will also look for evidence of the original intention and reason(s) for the period of absence on a case-by-case basis.
It is worth reiterating that periods of temporary absence do not break the continuity of ordinary residence. They should therefore be discounted when calculating duration of ordinary residence in a country or area.
Although degree courses at the University of Cambridge begin several days or weeks later, the official 'course start dates' as stated by the Fee Regulations are:
- 1 September for undergraduate courses
- 1 September, 1 January or 1 April for postgraduate courses.
Consequently, these are the dates used by the University in relation to fee status assessments.
This is covered under the 'Integrated courses' section of the page titled Can my fee status change?.