Your funding explained – for EU students with settled and pre-settled status

Many of you with European passports may be wondering how Brexit has affected your access to student funding, and particularly for new students, there will be significant changes.

We hope all our EU students have now applied for pre-settled status or settled status, depending on how long you have been in UK, and it is this status which will secure your right to live and work in UK, and to access NHS services and student funding.

Student Finance have confirmed that those students who were eligible to apply for a Tuition Fee Loan for a course which started before the academic year 21/22 and are continuing for the remainder of their course, will remain eligible for the Tuition Fee Loan whether they apply through the EU settlement scheme or not, subject to the usual restrictions on years of previous study.  So, if you studied with us last year, and are continuing on the same course, you should be ok to get a loan for tuition fees.

However, it does appear that if an existing EU student decides to change course, they will be looked at under the new rules for their eligibility for home fee status, and tuition fee or maintenance loans.

What happens if you have Settled Status?

You will have been given settled status if you were able to demonstrate that you have lived in the UK for at least 5 years and continue to live here.  If you have settled status, and are otherwise eligible, you should be able to receive a Tuition Fee Loan and a Maintenance Loan, just as home students do.  You should also be charged the home rate of fees.

What happens if you have Pre-Settled Status?

Those EU nationals who are living in the UK and have been here for less than 5 years should have applied for pre-settled status, and providing they continue living in the UK, they must upgrade their status to ‘settled’ once they have been here for 5 years.  If they do not upgrade their status, then it will lapse, and they will have lost the right to live and work in the UK.

Students with pre-settled status who are otherwise eligible, should be charged the home rate of fees, and should be able to access Tuition Fee Loan only, but can receive Maintenance Loan also if they are migrant workers.  If you want more information about being a migrant worker, the please contact the Student Advice Service, and we will be happy to advise you.

Students from the Republic of Ireland

Irish citizens resident in the UK, Islands or Ireland for three years before the start of their course and undertaking a course in England will be eligible for home fee status and Tuition Fee Loans from Student Finance England on the same basis as UK nationals. Additionally, Irish citizens will be eligible for maintenance support in England if they have lived in the UK and Islands for three years before the start of the course. Irish citizens do not have to apply for settled or pre-settled status – in fact they can’t.  Their rights are secured by the ‘Common travel area’ arrangements which have been long established.

UK nationals coming home from the EEA or Switzerland

If you are a UK national and you have been living away from the UK, in the EEA or Switzerland for at least three years continuously, or have moved back recently after having lived in the EEA or Switzerland, you should be eligible for home fee status, and may also be able to borrow the Tuition Fee Loan and Maintenance Loan as a home student, subject to the usual eligibility rules.

You can probably imagine that it is all change with Student Finance, and there are new government regulations being amended and tweaked all the time, but if you have any questions about your eligibility for funding, you can ask us in the Student Advice Service – we can look into your question and give you our best answer.

Best wishes

Student Advice