Fee status

Can my fee status change once I have started my study?

The assessment of fee status is normally based on your situation immediately before you start a course.

Once you have registered with an agreed fee status, your fee status is unlikely to change.

If you start a new course, then your fee status is re-assessed.

If you think that your fee status could change at some point after you are due to begin your course, you should request permission to defer the start of your course until the new fee status has been determined. Unless you clearly meet the criteria set out by UKCISA, there are no guarantees that your fee status will change.

It is never advisable to begin a course unless you have a guaranteed way of paying both your tuition fees and living costs for the entire length of the course. If you cannot pay your fees at the required time, your registration may be cancelled and you will still owe the amount of tuition fees that are due, even if you have not completed the academic year or the full duration of your course.

What if I am an asylum seeker?

Government regulations make no provision for asylum seekers to be entitled to pay the Home fee rate. The University of Huddersfield does not operate a discretionary policy to allow asylum seekers to pay Home fees.

If before the start of your course your asylum case is decided, please inform the University as your fee status may change to 'Home'. If a decision is made during your course and you are granted refugee status, then your fee status will change to 'Home' with effect from the following academic year.

How is my fee status determined?

Fee status is determined before the start of your studies and not during the course.

Your fee status is dependent upon your nationality, your immigration status in the UK, and where you have been living and what you have been doing for the 3 years immediately before the start of your course with us. 

The University Student Records Team will assess your fee status by looking at the information you provide on your application and in line with government legislation to assess which rate you should be charged.  

The legislation defines who is eligible for Home Fee status, setting out categories of students who are eligible to pay the Home rate of tuition fees. The decision to class a student as a Home or an Overseas student is set out by the government’s Education (Fees and Awards) Regulations 2007. 

As of 1 August 2019, an important change will take place for the ‘humanitarian protection and their family’ category as a new Government requirement will be introduced. This is a requirement that students must have been ordinarily resident on the UK and Islands (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for the three-year period before the start of their course.

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) is a national Advisory Body that provides general guidance on international student issues.  You can check which fee category applies to you via the UKCISA website. 

We may ask you to provide additional information to help us assess your fee status.  If this is necessary, we may ask you to complete a Fee Assessment Questionnaire.  We will also ask you to provide documents such as your passport or official letters to support the information you give. 

If you do not provide the requested documentation, we will assess your fee status on the information provided on your application. 

The information below gives you a summary of each category identified in the government regulations: 

Home/EU

If you are a UK or an EU national and have lived all of your life in the EU, you will pay fees at the Home/EU standard fee rate.

However, if you are undertaking another course but already hold a qualification at that level, for example an undergraduate degree qualification, please be aware you may not be eligible to financial support from the Student Finance Company. 

Sometimes applicants will mistake their Nationality with their Ethnicity when completing their application. Please note Nationality is your legal status as per your passport or other legal documents, whereas Ethnicity is related to your family cultural origins, for example, you may have a British passport (which would make you a British National) but your ethnicity might be Indian or Pakistani etc. 

Channel Islands and Isle of Man 

Undergraduate and Postgraduate students meeting the criteria for classification as Home students will be charged the same fee as mainland UK students. 

Overseas 

If you are not an EU national and you have not lived in the EU, you will pay the Overseas fee rate.  Even if you have been living in the EU, you most likely will not be eligible for Home/EU rates if you have a time-limited visa to live in the UK.