Do you need ILR to get 'non international' student fees?

Even if you've been here more than 3 years?

I think that depends on the insitution. 

From what I've seen, it's pretty much a yes.  Many places and funding opportunities require you to be free of immigration control.  Wish it weren't the case!  There are so many courses I would love to take on, in a year or 2, but even if they don't change the settlement requirements, I wouldn't have ILR for another 4 years. 

Thanks both. 

Bugger, its not worth studying if I'm paying any huge extra costs as an international student...  I have enough debt to deal with!

Some places only require you to have been in the UK for at least 3 years for a purpose other than studying, but it seems like more and more places require you to have settled status as well. Worth asking the institution though.

From the UKCISA: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/information_sheets.php#tuition_fees

Thanks everyone! 

Even if you've been here more than 3 years?

No.  There are 10 categories of people who are eligible for Home fees for Higher Education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and only 2 of them require ILR, plus there are some additional concessions for Further Education courses. For Scotland, there are 14 categories of Home fee payer that apply across both Further and Higher Education.

See the UKCISA info sheet posted previously.

It is not correct that different universities apply different rules.  The rules are the law of the land, and must be applied.  Different universities do sometimes make different assessments of the same person, but that's usually because they have made a mistake, not because they are applying different rules.