Going back to school on a spouse visa

Now that I am permanently settled in the UK, I have been applying for jobs and thinking about a career path. Before I got married I considered getting a master's degree (I already hold a BA in English), but now I am in Scotland and unsure if that option is still available/affordable.

I am only here on a spouse visa, so would I be required to pay the out-of-country tuition rates? Or, since I am a permanent resident, do I qualify for the lower tuition fees? Does my BA even qualify me to start a master's program here?

Anyone have a suggestion on where to get this information? Am I best just to call up a few Universities?

Here's the webpage you're looking for:

http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/student/info_sheets/tuition_fees_scotland.php

Short version: to get home fees you generally need 1) three years of residence in the UK AND have permanent residence in the UK (at least ILE/ILR or equivalent, not a regular spouse visa.) So if you've just arrived here, you definitely won't be eligible for home fees.

Springhaze is right, and even though you are here on a settlement visa, you are not actually a permanent resident yet in the immigration sense. As long as your BA meets the entry requirements for whatever university you wish to attend for your masters, you should be fine, but you will pay international fees.

Your BA should qualify you for a master's program.  A master's on international fees seems to generally start at around the £7,000 price range depending on the school.  University of Glasgow is costing me £9,800. 

It is a lot, especially compared to what the home fees are, but my taught masters program is going to be an intense 12 months straight through and then I'm done.  So depending on the degree you go for and the school you go to, it's entirely possible that would only have to pay that amount once.  The tuition itself is cheaper than any school I looked into in the US, especially since those were all 2 year degrees.  Then again, you do have the option to wait the 3 years until you qualify for the home fees so that's always a possibility too.

I would say look around at some of the websites of the schools you might be interested in and maybe send a few e-mails to them with any questions you have.  You probably won't be able to start anything until Fall 2010 as most schools don't allow anyone to start in the Spring, so you have some time to sort it all out and see what your options are.

Thanks for that helpful information. It looks like it is definitely going to be a while before I can afford to go back to school, but that is hardly surprising.

It is a lot, especially compared to what the home fees are, but my taught masters program is going to be an intense 12 months straight through and then I'm done.  So depending on the degree you go for and the school you go to, it's entirely possible that would only have to pay that amount once.

A 12-month masters degree is pretty much the norm in the UK, unless you take the course part-time over 2 years (half the fees each year) or are doing a specific 2-year masters (i.e. courses with work placements).
 
If you are here on a spousal visa, I think you might be able to do a part-time masters if you wanted (I know you can't study part-time on a student visa, it has to be full-time, but I think you could with a spousal visa) - that way you could spread the fees out over two years.

You probably won't be able to start anything until Fall 2010 as most schools don't allow anyone to start in the Spring, so you have some time to sort it all out and see what your options are.

Spring starts are almost unheard of here because of the way the school year works - when you register on a degree course, you register for an entire year in the Fall rather than doing it on a semester-by-semester basis. Also, some taught classes/modules run over 2 semesters with a final exam at the end of the school year, instead of at the end of each semester, so if you tried to start in the Spring you would have missed half of the course .

Also: I see that you, like me, arrived after August 1 of the year. That means that you have to wait nearly 4 years in order to qualify for home fees. Yes, it is sucky. I called someone about this today. I've decided just to pay the extra fees and get my schooling over with, because in those 2/3 years I have to wait, I could instead be making 10k per year more.

I'm on a spousal visa and studying with the Open University.  You pay per course you take and, while you will be paying the overseas rates, it's a great way to take only what you can afford and stll start racking up credits that can be transferred once you do have residency.