How UK Universities Now Charge EU Students International Fees After Brexit

What changed in 2021

Until the end of the 2020/21 academic year, EU, EEA, and Swiss students paid the same tuition as UK students and could access UK government student loans. That ended when the Brexit transition period closed. From the 2021/22 intake, EU nationals starting a course in England, Scotland, and Wales lost home-fee status and became classed as international students, alongside applicants from outside Europe.

How much more EU students pay now

The jump was immediate. Undergraduate fees for EU students moved from a capped home rate of £9,250 a year to between £11,400 and £32,000 a year once they shifted to the international fee band, according to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford . For 2025/26, UK home-status undergraduates pay £9,535 a year, while international undergraduate fees, the rate EU students now pay, typically run from around £11,000 to over £40,000 depending on the university and subject, according to Save the Student .

Postgraduate fees moved less sharply, since UK universities never capped postgraduate fees for home students the way they capped undergraduate fees. The gap between home and international postgraduate rates is real, but proportionally smaller than at undergraduate level.

What the fee change means over a full degree

The gap compounds over a multi-year degree. At the low end of the international fee range, roughly £11,000 a year, a three-year undergraduate degree costs around £33,000 in tuition alone. At the high end of the range, over £40,000 a year, the same three years can run past £120,000. Compare this against the home rate of £9,535 a year, about £28,600 over three years, to see the scale of the shift.

Visa and immigration costs add to the gap

Losing home-fee status is not the only change. EU nationals starting a UK degree now apply for a Student visa before arrival, the same route non-EU applicants use, and pay the visa application fee plus the Immigration Health Surcharge for the length of the course. Before 2021, EU citizens needed no visa or immigration permission to study in the UK. Budget for these costs separately from tuition, since they apply once, at the start of the visa period, on top of the fee difference described above.

Postgraduate and research routes

Many UK universities set separate EU and international postgraduate fee bands that sit close together, sometimes identical. Postgraduate fee-setting varies far more between universities than undergraduate fee-setting, since there was never a national cap to remove. Check the specific department's current fee page rather than assuming a university-wide rate applies to every course.

The Irish exception

Irish citizens did not lose home-fee status. Under the Common Travel Area arrangement between the UK and Ireland, which predates EU membership for both countries, Irish nationals studying in the UK keep access to home-rate tuition and UK government-backed student loans. This exception applies to Irish citizenship specifically, not Irish residency, so an EU national living in Ireland who is not an Irish citizen does not automatically qualify.

Some universities still offer partial support

A small number of Scottish universities introduced their own bursaries for EU undergraduates after 2021 to soften the fee jump, worth roughly £5,000 to £7,000 a year according to reporting cited by the Migration Observatory. These schemes sit with individual universities, not government policy, and change or close between intakes without notice. Confirm directly with the university's international admissions office whether a scheme is still open before you budget around it.

Weigh the UK against EU and EEA options

The scale of the fee increase pushes many EU applicants to compare the UK against studying in an EU, EEA, or Swiss country instead, where the non-discrimination principle that used to protect EU students in the UK still applies. A UK degree can be the right choice for a specific course, research group, or career path, but run the total cost side by side with at least one EU alternative before you commit, given the size of the gap described above.

What EU students should do now

• 💶 Budget for the full international fee, not the old home rate.

• 📩 Check each university's published 2025/26 international fee page directly, since ranges vary widely by subject.

• 🏠 If you hold Irish citizenship, apply for home-fee status explicitly and provide proof of nationality.

• 🎓 Look for university-specific international scholarships and bursaries aimed at EU applicants, since UK government loans are no longer available to most EU students.