UK Home Fee Status for EU Students Since Brexit: What Changed and Who Still Qualifies

What changed in 2021

Before Brexit, EU citizens studying in the UK paid the same tuition fees as UK students and could access UK government student finance, under the same free movement rules that apply across the EU. That ended for students starting courses in the 2021-22 academic year. From that point, most EU, EEA and Swiss nationals lost automatic home fee status and now pay the same international fees as students from outside Europe, according to gov.uk student finance guidance .

This followed directly from the UK leaving the EU single market and ending free movement. EU students lost the automatic right to equal treatment on fees that EU citizenship used to guarantee, and UK universities now treat EU applicants the same way they treat applicants from any other non-UK country.

Who still qualifies for home fees

Two groups kept access to home fee status and UK student finance despite Brexit. Irish citizens remain eligible for home fees across the UK, under the Common Travel Area arrangement between the UK and Ireland, which predates EU membership and survived Brexit untouched.

People who hold settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme also qualify, as long as they meet the residence conditions. Gov.uk states that eligible applicants generally need to have lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man continuously for 3 years before the first day of their course, per the same guidance. A smaller number of other groups, including people with indefinite leave to remain and some frontier workers' family members, may also qualify depending on their individual immigration status, so check your own case through the official eligibility tool rather than assuming.

England, Scotland and Wales apply the same rule

All UK nations withdrew home fee status from new EU applicants at the same time. England and Wales charge EU students the same fees as other international applicants, set independently by each university rather than capped at the home rate. Scotland previously let EU students study for free like Scottish nationals, since Scottish domiciled students do not pay tuition fees at all, but new EU applicants since 2021 pay international fees there too, removing a benefit that used to be unique to studying in Scotland.

What EU students pay now

Universities set their own international fees for EU applicants, and these differ by institution and course. International fees run well above home fees as a general rule, often several times higher, and universities do not cap them the way they cap home fee tuition. Postgraduate fees follow the same pattern, and EU postgraduate students no longer access UK government postgraduate loans unless they fall into one of the exception groups above.

How to check your own status

If you are unsure whether you qualify for home fees, use the gov.uk student finance eligibility checker before you apply. It asks for your nationality, immigration status and residence history, then tells you which type of finance you can access. Check with your chosen university directly too, since fee status decisions for admissions purposes sit with the university's own fee assessment team, separate from the government's student finance eligibility rules.