The following information outlines the Student Finance England (SFE) funding entitlements for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals who are coming to the UK to study or already live here and are starting after September 2024. It also applies to some family members ie children and spouses.
The UK Government confirmed that EU students who are continuing a course that started prior to September 2021 will remain eligible for home fee status and for SFE financial support.
If you are an EU/EEA national and you have pre-settled status or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you may qualify for student finance.
The type of support you will receive will be dependent on how long you have lived in the UK or EEA, and/or whether you or a family member have been working in the UK.
Qualifying for the Home/UK rate of tuition
One of the ways you can qualify is if you are an EU/EEA or Swiss national who holds pre-settled or settled status and you have been resident in either the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA or Switzerland, for the three consecutive years, immediately before the first day of the first academic year of your course (1 September or 1 January).
The eligibility rules for home fee status are complex, and there are many other ways that you can qualify for home fees. To find out more, please see fee status information on the UKCISA website.
Your tuition fee status will be assessed by the Admissions Office after you receive a course offer. If you have questions about your fee status before this or, if you are assessed to pay the overseas rate of tuition fee but believe you should be a home fee payer, you should contact Admissions and request a fee assessment or contact Student Advice to discuss your eligibility.
EU Qualifications Welcome Award Scheme
If you are an international student and you have been accepted on an undergraduate programme starting in September 2024 based on an eligible EU qualification only, you will be awarded a tuition fee reduction of £4,500 which will align your fee more closely to the fees for UK students. For more information, see our EU Qualifications Welcome Award Scheme page.
Tuition Fee Loan and Maintenance Loan
If you are an EU/EEA or Swiss national resident in England on or before the first day of the first academic year of your course (1 September or 1 January) two of the main ways you may be eligible to apply for Tuition Fee Loan and Maintenance Loan are:
- Settled status: You hold settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for three years leading up to and including the first day of the first academic year of your course, (1 September or 1 January) There must be no gaps in the evidence provided or the application could be refused. This includes British citizenship, ILR or Settled Status granted via the EU Settlement Scheme
Or - Migrant Worker with pre-settled status: SFE accepts that you are an EEA migrant worker, currently working in the UK and you continue to work in the UK throughout the course. See further details in the sections below
Students who don’t work themselves but are relevant family members of EEA migrant workers may also be eligible.
Republic of Ireland students are not required to obtain pre-settled or settled status to be eligible for Student Finance as a Migrant Worker.
If you meet the above eligibility criteria, you may be eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan and other additional maintenance loans and grants for living and other study costs:
- For undergraduate degree courses SFE provides a Tuition Fee Loan, a Maintenance Loan for living/studying costs and if relevant, additional grants for dependent children, adult dependants and a Disabled Students Allowance
- For part-time undergraduate degree courses, SFE provides a Tuition Fee Loan and a Maintenance Loan but there are no grants for dependant adults and children. If relevant, a Disabled Student Allowance is available
- For some postgraduate level courses SFE provides a Postgraduate Master's Loan and, if relevant, a Disabled Students Allowance
Students in receipt of a Postgraduate Loan/Undergraduate Maintenance loan and additional grants may also apply to the University LESS fund if your fees have been paid in full.
There may be other ways you can qualify for Student Finance other than what we have listed above. You can get more eligibility information on Gov.uk.
Acquiring settled status during your course
If you had been granted pre-settled status and subsequently apply for and are granted settled status, you may then qualify for the Maintenance and Fee Loan in the academic year that follows the date you acquired settled status. This is provided you received it within the first three months of the academic year or prior to starting the year and in any subsequent academic years.
Postgraduate students
The full Master’s Loan or Doctoral Loan funding would be available for the entire course if you acquire settled status within three months of the start of your course.
Student Finance England Tuition Fee Loan only
If you are an EU national who has lived in the UK, Gibraltar, EEA, or Switzerland for the three consecutive years immediately before the first day of the first academic year of your course (1 September or 1 January) and hold pre-settled status, you may be eligible to apply for the EU Tuition Fee Loan only.
You will not be entitled to a maintenance loan or any other grants available. However, if you are currently working in the UK, you may qualify for support with living costs as a Migrant Worker – see the details below.
EU/EEA/Swiss Migrant Worker: Fee loan and maintenance Loan
To qualify as an EEA Migrant Worker and receive a tuition fee loan and also a maintenance loan, you must meet the ordinary residence requirement which means you must be living in England on 1 September of the first academic year of the course (or 1 January for January start date courses). You must also have been ordinarily resident in the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA, or Switzerland for three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course. ‘Temporary absences’ outside of these areas can sometimes be ignored, and you can be ordinarily resident in more than one place at the same time; Student Finance England will require evidence of why that absence was temporary.
If you first began living in England after 1 September ie just before the start of the first year of your course, you will not be able to qualify as a Migrant Worker for your current course even if you start working as soon as you arrive in England.
To qualify as a migrant worker, you must meet the following conditions.
You must be working in the UK, either full time or part time. You can be working for an employer or be self-employed. You can have more than one job, or a combination of part-time work and freelance/self-employed work. Payment can also be “in kind”. However, you normally need to work at least 10 hours a week to qualify as a Migrant Worker
If you work fewer hours, your application might still be considered. This will depend on your circumstances, however short-term vacation only student jobs are very unlikely to meet the criteria. Work needs to be deemed as “genuine and effective”
Information about the evidence you need to provide is listed below. There is no set minimum requirement for hours of work if you are self-employed.
If you are working in the University, for example through the Talent Bank or the Student Union, this work will not qualify for Migrant Worker status. This work will be ‘ancillary’ ie you would not have that job if you were not a student at the University. Ancillary work does not qualify you for Student Finance Migrant Worker status.
You must continue to work throughout your course to maintain your Migrant Worker status. If you stop working or reduce your hours, you may lose your entitlement to funding from Student Finance England (SFE).
You will need to provide evidence of your continued work each term and at the start of each academic year, such as an employment contract, pay slips, and P60/P45. This process may delay your Student Finance Maintenance Loan payments. You must show your September pay slip before your loan is approved, so expect your first payment in October or November each year. Plan your budget accordingly.
There are some very limited circumstances where you might be able to retain your Migrant Worker status without continuing to work while you are on the course. The rules are complex. Please contact Student Advice for more guidance if this applies to you.
If you are living in the UK with one or both parents/grandparents/step-parent, and they are working in the UK, then you may be eligible for Student Finance as the ‘child of an EEA Migrant Worker’. ‘Child’ is defined as the child or grandchild of the EEA Worker who is under 21 years old, or over 21 and still financially dependent on the EEA Worker.
You will need to provide evidence of your parent’s or partner’s work and relationship. See the details below for what evidence is required.
If you were ordinarily resident in England by 1 September of the first year that you started your course, you can apply during your course. If you become a Migrant Worker part way through any academic year, you may be assessed to receive a pro-rata reduced amount of maintenance loan, and grants for dependants if applicable, for that academic year.
If you work or study abroad, even if it is part of your degree, then you may lose your ‘Migrant Worker’ status and you might become ineligible for Student Finance England funding during this period. This is because you would no longer be working in the UK. Once you have completed your placement, or exchange and resume your studies, and start working again in the UK, you may be entitled to receive funding as a Migrant Worker again. Please ensure you can self-fund your study abroad year or work placement.
Student Finance England (SFE) states they assess an employed student for a minimum threshold of 10 hours of paid work per week, either in term time or during the holidays. However, it may not mean that you lose your Migrant Worker status if you go on a holiday for a short period, as long as you can resume working when you return to the UK.
If you are self-employed, SFE may consider gaps where there is no work, differently. This is because it is common for self-employed workers to have periods where no work is carried out. Irregular or intermittent work would not necessarily affect your migrant worker status. They have stated that it would be reasonable to consider a period of at least three months to assess a self-employed student's working hours or income.
If you are employed, you need to provide:
- your contract of employment stating hours and salary
- an original letter from your employer confirming that the contract is a true reflection of your work
- your latest P60 (if you have one)
- your payslips since the date of the P60 or since you started work
- evidence that you were resident in the UK before 1 September of the year your course started (eg bank statements, tenancy agreement etc)
If you are self-employed, you need to provide:
- evidence from HMRC that you are self-employed
- last three months’ invoices and corresponding bank statements
- last three months’ business expenditure
- most recent tax returns
How to apply for Student Finance England (SFE) funding
Migrant Worker
For tuition fee support and help with living costs apply online on Gov.uk.
Settled Status
You can also apply on Gov.uk for a fee loan and maintenance loan if you have settled status and lived in the UK for three years prior to 1 September/1 January.
Tuition fee support only
For tuition fee support, download your form on Gov.uk and send your application by post. Make sure you select on this page that you are “Studying full-time in England and only qualify for support with tuition fees” and then proceed. If you are a new student in September 2024, the form will be EU24N. You’ll get a letter confirming how much you’ll get, usually within six weeks.
When sending any evidence or documents to Student Finance England we would recommend that you always use Special Delivery/tracked post, so you can track your delivery and ensure it is delivered safely.
Dependent students
If you are under 25 and not considered to be an ‘Independent’ student, your parent/s must provide evidence of their income for the last complete tax year. You will need to provide this even if your parents are not living in the UK and they would also need to complete a separate online or paper application in support of yours. SFE may require translations of your parents’ income statements, especially if their statement is in a different alphabet, such as Cyrillic.
You will also need to send your original current passport (or national ID card) to support your application, or a certified copy. SFE is very specific about who can certify your identity and will only accept certified copies in exceptional circumstances.
Previous degree-level study and funding entitlement
You may not be eligible for Student Finance for the duration of your new course if you previously studied at degree level or if you hold an ELQ (equivalent level qualification). This includes study in other countries, regardless of whether you completed the course, or achieved a qualification.
Please see our Previous studies page for more information.
When to apply
Apply early before starting your course. Forms are normally available from January for September starters.
Further information
- For general information about applying for SFE funding, please go to Gov.uk
- For information about assessing fee status, see the HE fee section on the UKCISA website