Student Finance Information For Existing & New Students 2025-26

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

When establishing the eligibility of persons who may come within scope of a dependent direct relative in the ascending line of an EEA migrant worker, ‘dependent’ will often mean financially dependent. In order to determine financial dependency, SFE may consider the following: can the applicant meet all of their essential needs (such as food, utilities and accommodation) with or without their family’s support. If they would not be able to meet all of their essential needs without the financial support, they are dependent. Dependency for other reasons, such as health, will also be considered. Dependency must be over a sustained period.

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

From AY 22/23, fee support only will be available to students in this category where they have been ordinarily resident in the territory comprising the UK, the EEA, Switzerland and the overseas territories throughout the three-year period preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course, and where at least part of that ordinary residence was in an overseas territory other than Gibraltar where the residency conditions for full support are met.

Examples of students who may be eligible:

• Rafael is a Spanish national who arrived in the UK in December 2020. Prior to that Rafael lived in France for five years. They are granted pre-settled status under the EUSS. Rafael starts a course in September 2025 and continues to work while studying. Rafael is eligible for full support as:
• they are a migrant worker whose work continues during his course.
• they have pre-settled status in the UK.
• they have ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course.
• they were ordinarily resident in the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA and Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course.

Marco is a Dutch national who works in England and returns to their home in Belgium at weekends. Marco is awarded a frontier worker permit under the Withdrawal Agreement as they were working in the UK by 31 December 2020. Marco starts a course in September 2025 and continues to work while studying. Marco is eligible for full support as:

• they are a frontier worker whose work continues during their course.
• they were ordinarily resident in the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA and Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course.

As a frontier worker, Marco is not required to be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course.

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

In AY 21/22, this category was available to family members of UK nationals only. For those starting a course from AY 22/23, this category is available to family members of all settled persons in the UK. To be considered as ‘settled’ in the UK, the settled person must be ordinarily resident in the UK on the specified date.

Fee support will be available to non-settled family members of persons settled in the UK, where the family member was ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course.

Note that where the settled person is a UK national, and the non-UK national family member of the UK national was living with that UK national in the EEA or Switzerland on 31 December 2020 or moved with their family member from the EEA or Switzerland to the UK on or after 1 January 2018, they may be eligible for full support.

The family member must be:

• the person’s spouse or civil partner, or
• a direct descendant of the person or of the person’s spouse or civil partner who is a) under the age of 21, or b) a dependant of the person or the person’s spouse or civil partner. Eligibility on these grounds is not subject to a time limit.

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

EU nationals with protected rights who have a ‘genuine link’ with the UK may be eligible for tuition fee support if on the first day of the first academic year of the course they satisfy the following:

• they have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands throughout the three-year period immediately preceding the first day of the first academic year (applicants applying under this category will be asked to submit evidence to prove their threeyear residency);
• they are ordinarily resident in England; and
• where the period of ordinary residence referred to above was wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving FT education, the person was ordinarily resident in the UK, the EEA, Switzerland and the overseas territories immediately preceding the threeyear period referred to above.

Note that from AY 22/23, where the three-year period of ordinary residence was wholly or mainly for the purposes of receiving FT education, the preceding ordinary residence area has been extended from the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA, and Switzerland (as it was for AY 21/22) to the UK, the EEA, Switzerland and the overseas territories.

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

Effective from 6 June 2016, DfE introduced a new eligibility category for student support for those with long residence in the UK. This category extends eligibility for student support to those persons who are:

• under 18 years of age and who have lived in the UK throughout the seven-year period preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course, or
• aged 18 years or above and who, preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course, have either lived at least half their life in the UK or lived for at least 20 years in the UK. Students cannot amalgamate periods of residency to meet long residency criteria. To be eligible for support under this category the student must also:
• be ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands throughout the threeyear period immediately preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course, and
• not have been resident in the UK and Islands for the three-year period referred to above wholly or mainly for the purposes of receiving FT education.

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

Operation Pitting was a British military operation, the purpose of which was to evacuate British nationals and eligible Afghan nationals from Afghanistan between 14 and 28 August 2021, following the Taliban offensive. Assistance was also provided to British nationals and eligible Afghan nationals by the UK Government to leave Afghanistan after Operation Pitting (with assistance starting before 6 January 2022).

British nationals evacuated from or assisted in leaving Afghanistan under Operation Pitting will be eligible for home fee status and student finance (fee and maintenance support) without being subject to a three-year ordinary residence requirement. In order to be eligible under this category they must:

• be ordinarily resident in England on the course start date,
• have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since they were evacuated from or assisted in leaving Afghanistan, and
• meet all other personal and course eligibility requirements.

Afghan nationals and any other non-British nationals who were evacuated from or assisted in leaving Afghanistan under Operation Pitting are not eligible for funding under this category but may be eligible under paragraph 14 of the Regulations if they have leave under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. For example:

• Olive is a British national who was evacuated from Afghanistan to the UK under Operation Pitting. Olive starts a UG degree course in AY 25/26 and applies to SFE for funding.

As Olive is a British national, is ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the course and has been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since being evacuated from Afghanistan under Operation Pitting, Olive is eligible for full funding from SFE.

Family members There is no ‘eligible family member’ definition for this category. British nationals will apply for student support in their own right, rather than as the family member of another person. Note that this also applies where the person who was evacuated from or assisted in leaving Afghanistan under Operation Pitting is a British child.

Non-British national family members of eligible British nationals who were evacuated from or assisted in leaving Afghanistan under Operation Pitting are not eligible under this category. Non-British nationals evacuated from or assisted in leaving Afghanistan under Operation Pitting may instead be eligible for leave under the ACRS. Family members of British nationals in this scenario, if awarded leave under the ACRS, will be granted leave in their own right rather than leave in line as a family member.

Eligibility as an event The time period for individuals to be evacuated or assisted from Afghanistan to the UK is now complete. As assistance in leaving Afghanistan under Operation Pitting had to commence before 6 January 2022, it will not be possible to become eligible as an event by becoming a person in this category after the start of AY 22/23 or in future academic years.

Source: www.practitioners.slc.co.uk

From AY 22/23 support is available to individuals who have been granted leave in the UK under one of the following schemes, referred to collectively as the ‘Ukraine Schemes’:

• The “Ukraine Family Scheme” (launched on 4 March 2022 and closed on 19 February 2024), which allowed Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK or extend their stay in the UK if they have family members who already have leave to remain in the UK
• The “Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme” (launched on 18 March 2022), which allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have an approved sponsor under this scheme.
• The “Ukraine Extension Scheme” (launched on 3 May 2022, closed on 4 February 2025) which allowed Ukrainian nationals and their family members who already have leave to remain in the UK to extend their leave in the UK because they cannot return to Ukraine.
• The “Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme” (opened for applications on 4 February 2025), which allows Ukrainian nationals, or their family members who are living in the UK with existing permission on one of the above Ukraine schemes, to apply to continue living in the UK for a further 18 months.

Those who are granted leave under one of the Ukraine Schemes will be eligible for home fee status, the home student undergraduate tuition fee cap, and student finance (HE UG fee and maintenance support) without being subject to a three-year ordinary residence requirement, as long as they:

• are ordinarily resident in England on the course start date. (Where a student qualifies under this category as an ‘event’, they will be treated as being lawfully resident on the course start date even where they did not hold valid leave to enter or remain on that date. See section 3.37 for further details.)
• are ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands and have not ceased to be so resident since being granted such leave, and
• meet all other personal and course eligibility requirements.