Fee Status

Hi all,

I'm applying for postgraduate courses in London and am having difficulty figuring out my fee status. 

I married a British citizen in April 2005 and we moved over here from the US in May 2005 after I was issued my FLR.  In May 2007, I transferred to my ILR.  I have been working the entire time while living in the UK.

One of the universities I'm applying to is claiming that in order to be classified as a Home (UK) student, you have to have been living in the UK on your ILR for three years prior to the start date of your course.  I don't think this is correct--surely the two years on my FLR count towards the overall three-year period you need for Home fee status classification.

Does anyone know who is correct here?  Thanks so much for your help!

Most universities demand that a) you have been here for three years on a category other than student and b) that you now hold ILR.  So most places will classify you as a Home Student.  However, this does differ from place to place.


Vicky

Thanks, Vicky.  With your help and the help of the UKCISA website (highly recommended!) I managed to argue my case and got the university to recognise me as a Home student.  Whew.

The university was applying the rules wrongly, and should be ashamed of themselves  As Vicky says, the main formula for "home" fees is not 3 years' ILR, it is 3 years' ordinary residence not mainly for education, with ILR on the first day of the first academic year.

In fact, they are doubly shoddy, because with or without ILR you will also qualify for home fees as the relevant family member of a EU national who (you, not your family member) has been ordinarily resident in the EEA for 3 years before the first day of the first academic year.

You should send the university a copy of the UKCISA guidance note about fee status and tell them to get some training!

Tell me about it!

I was really angry with the admissions people, as they should really know better—it's their job to know this stuff!  I'm just glad that I know a fair amount about UK immigration law thanks to my years reading this site! 

I can't say I was surprised, though.  This university has a reputation for being somewhat money-grubbing, so I'm not surprised they tried as hard as they did to classify me as an international student.

I can't defend people not doing their job properly, but I do spend a lot of my day advising instutitions and students on fee status for individual applicants. 

In my experience, wrong assessments are normally based on ignorance or misunderstanding of the rules, although perhaps underpinned sometimes by an individual employee's opinion on who "should" be entitled to funding.  I think it is very unlikely that a university has a deliberate policy of wrongly assessing students and hoping they don't notice.  Because they will notice eventually, and will be due a huge refund.

I guess the other side of the coin is that institutions are constantly dealing with students who think they are "home" when they are not, or who think should be made "home" outside the rules when they don't actually come into any of the "home" fee categories.

But I agree, it is a disgrace when people simply don't do their job properly, or when (in my opinion) they advise off the top of their head, based on their own offensive notions about who "should" be entitled to funding, rather than what the legal regulations actually say.

There is a xenophobic streak a mile wide in this country, sadly.