Undergraduate Admissions
Tuition Fee Status
You will find detailed information and advice about fee status on
the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA)
web pages, Fees,
Funding and Student Support.
The following is for information only, and is intended just as a
general guide to the most significant points of the Regulations affecting
Tuition Fee Status.
Students who are are classified as 'Overseas' for
fees purposes are liable to pay full cost fees, whereas those who
are classified
as 'Home' for fees purposes (or in the case of European Union students
'Home (EU)') are eligible to pay at the lower rate.
In order to qualify for 'Home' fee status a person must fulfil all of the following criteria:
- be settled in the UK on the 'first day of the first academic year of the course'. 'Settled' in this instance means that they must be ordinarily resident in the UK without any immigration restriction on the period for which they may remain. The 'first day of the first academic year' varies according to when the course starts; have a look at the UKCISA guidance (Box 2) for a useful guide to the key date for you.
- have been 'ordinarily resident' in the UK and Islands for the full 3 year period before the 'first day of the first academic year of the course'
- not have been 'ordinarily resident' wholly or mainly for the purposes of receiving full-time education during any part of the three year period
Some people are able to qualify for 'Home' fees under various exceptions to the regulations; these include:
- nationals of EU Member States and their dependents, ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for three years
- refugees and persons with exceptional leave to remain
- EEA and Swiss migrant workers
- persons who would have been ordinarily resident but for the fact that they, their spouse, parent or guardian was temporarily employed outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland - how we define temporary absence. While the Regulations are laid down by Government it is the duty of each Institution to make the final decision; thus it is possible for one Institution to consider that a person has been 'temporarily' employed outside the EEA while another Institution does not consider that the absence has been temporary, and classifies them as 'overseas'.
Please note that the University of Bath's assessment of an individual as 'Home' or 'Overseas' for fees purposes is independent of any decision which a local authority may make concerning their entitlement to financial support.
The University of Bath follows the Government's Regulations, and the guidance produced by the Department for Education and Employment, and seeks to ensure that all cases it considers are treated in a completely consistent manner.We are sometimes asked by potential applicants if we can tell them in advance what their fee status will be. We are always happy to help if we can but we cannot guarantee to do this - it depends on how busy the Admissions Office is - and it will always be just an opinion, as the case will be re-assessed at the time of application. Please contact either the Graduate Office or Undergraduate Admissions Office if you have any questions of this kind.
Temporary
absence
How does the University of Bath interpret "temporary" in the context
of living outside the EU? What is its position on temporary contracts? What
difference does having a house in the UK make?
These are all questions which we have been asked by potential applicants and their families, who want a clear idea of what ‘temporary’ means to us.The answer is that it varies from case to case. The guidance from the Government, and case law, are quite clear on this point; we must not have a ‘rule of thumb’ covering this, and all cases must be looked at on their own merits.
We understand that this is not as definitive to applicants and their families and to schools and colleges as we and they would wish, but we can assure them that we take our responsibility to assess fee status very seriously and are rigorous in applying the regulations consistently. For further information see the UKCISA web pages, Ordinary Residence, Case Law for Fees and Student Support.
Changing Fee Status for Current Students
There are only exceptional circumstances where a current
student's fee status can change. For further information please contact
the Admissions
Office.
Fee Status
is governed by Government Regulations; the Education (Fees and
Awards) Regulations 1997, (Statutory Instrument 1997 No 1972) and
the Education
(Fees and Awards) (Amendment No. 2) (England) Regulations 2000,
which can be inspected on the Web.