EU, EEA and Swiss students will no longer be eligible for financial support from Student Finance England from August 2021, minister for higher education Michelle Donelan has confirmed.
In a written statement today, Ms Donelan said that the change will apply to further education funding for those aged 19 and over, as well as apprenticeships.
She said: “Following our decision to leave the EU, EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for home fee status, undergraduate, postgraduate and advanced learner financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in academic year 2021-22. This change will also apply to further education funding for those aged 19-plus, and funding for apprenticeships.”
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Currently, to meet "home fee status" and therefore gain access to financial support from Student Finance England, students must be “settled” in the UK within the meaning of the fees regulations on the “first day or the first academic year of the course”, must have been “ordinarily resident” in the UK on the “first day or the first academic year of the course”, and must have been “ordinarily resident” in the UK and islands for a three-year period before the first day or the first academic year of the course. The main purpose for their residence in the UK must not have been to receive full-time education during any part of that three-year period.
Ms Donelan added that the change would not affect students starting courses in the 2020-21 academic year, or those EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals benefiting from citizens’ rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively.
The change will also not apply to Irish nationals living the UK or Ireland.
She added: “EU, other EEA and Swiss students, staff and researchers make an important contribution to our universities. I want that contribution to continue and am confident – given the world-leading quality of our higher education sector – that it will.”
