UK Ends Home Fee Status for British Students in EU After 2028

British teenagers living in the EU will face international tuition rates and lose access to UK student loans for courses starting in 2028. The shift ends a temporary post-Brexit provision that allowed British passport holders abroad to pay capped domestic fees.

Domestic fees for the 2026 intake remain capped at £9,790. Overseas rates, set by each university, often exceed three times that amount. Economics students at the University of Warwick will pay £35,530 per year in 2026, while law students at Leeds University face £26,750.

To qualify for home fees after the grace period, students must have been ordinarily resident in the UK for three years before their course begins. Student loan providers must follow the same residency rules, so families cannot borrow for tuition or maintenance regardless of any university discretion on fees.

Some institutions may still grant home status on a case-by-case basis, but loan eligibility remains tied to the three-year residency test.

One family that moved to Germany in 2021 for a two-year work assignment now plans to return earlier than intended. Their 16-year-old daughter, who hopes to study natural sciences at Cambridge University, would otherwise pay £44,214 in tuition plus at least £11,500 in college fees.

Universities UK stated that the home-fee provision was always temporary and that the new rules align British nationals in the EU with those living elsewhere. A planned UK-EU summit that could have addressed student mobility was postponed after the prime minister announced his resignation.