Fee status enquiries

Students starting a new course

Our Admissions teams will assess your fee status prior to your registration with the University.

If you believe that your fee status is incorrect, you should contact Admissions to discuss it as soon as possible, and before you register. However, if we've already assessed you using our standard fee status assessment process, we will not review it again unless you provide information about a change in your circumstances which was not available at the time of the original assessment.

If you think that you have been assessed incorrectly you must complete the Admissions Fee Status Questionnaire and provide all required evidence by the deadline of 31 October of the first year of study. If all evidence is received prior to 31 October your fee status may be changed even if you have already registered. After this date if evidence is still incomplete you will remain on the same fee status for the remainder of the course unless there is a change as detailed below (under ‘Current Students’).

You can contact Admissions using the following email addresses:

Brexit

Following the UK's decision to withdraw from the European Union, the Government has confirmed that EU students starting in 2021 will be charged fees at the International rate, and will no longer be eligible to receive a loan from the UK Government.

However there are some ways in which some EU students can qualify for home fees. Please read the information on the UK Council for International Students Affairs (UKCISA) website.

Current students (students who started prior to August 2021)

Changes to fee status regulations

If there is a change in fee regulations that may affect you (for example, your country joins the EU), we'll contact you. If you qualify then your fee status will be amended. Your fee status will usually change at the beginning of the next academic year.

Changes to your circumstances

In most cases your fee status can't be amended after you have started your course. However, there are some circumstances in which your fee status can change from the start of the next academic year. You might be able to change fee status if you now fall into one of the following categories:

  • an EU national or the family member of an EU national
  • an EEA or Swiss migrant worker or the family member of such a person
  • a refugee or the spouse, civil partner or child of a refugee
  • a person whose refugee status was not granted but was allowed to remain in the UK with Humanitarian Protection, and their family, or the spouse, civil partner or child of such a person
  • the child of a Swiss national
  • the child of a Turkish worker in the UK
  • Long Residence

In all of these cases you must also be able to meet the residency requirements on the first day of the first academic year of your course. Please note that living in the UK for three years does not, on its own, mean that you will become eligible for Home fees.

If you obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain after commencing your course your fee status will usually remain as international. This is because you must be 'settled' before the first day of the first academic year of your course.

For October starters the first day of the first academic year of your course will be 1 September.

If you are newly entitled to Home and EU fee status

Firstly, please read the UKCISA guidance. The guidance is very detailed and you must read it carefully. If you believe you meet one of the criteria to be eligible to change your fee status please contact your Student Services Hub with:

Your case will be passed to a specialist within The Funding Team who will fully investigate it. If we have further queries or need further documentation you will be contacted, usually by email to your Essex address.

An application and all documentation required to assess your fee status must be received by the investigator by 31 October in order for any agreed fee status change to be authorised for that academic year. Requests received after this date will be considered for the following academic year.

If we believe your fee status is incorrect we will contact the Academic Registrar to seek approval for a change to your status from the start of the next academic year.

You will be emailed on your Essex address with the outcome of the investigation and the Registry will be informed of any agreed change to your fee status.

Please note that fee status enquiries can take some time to investigate thoroughly.

Legislation and guidance

  • Higher Education Act 2004 (2004 Chapter 8)
  • The Student Fees (Qualifying Courses and Persons) (England) Regulations 2007. Statutory Instrument (SI) 2007 No 778
  • The Student Fees (Qualifying Courses and Persons) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2008. Statutory Instrument (SI) 2008 No 1640
  • The Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007, SI 2007 No 779
  • The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2007, SI 2007 No 1336
  • The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2007, SI 2007 No 2263
  • The Student Fees (Amounts) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, SI 2009 No 3113

 You can search for the legislation listed above on legislation.gov.uk.