Mezbits

Hi, I am really hoping that my son will be granted "home status" after living in Aus for 13 years. He has a UK passport as he was born there;but also holds an Australian passport through descent from me (I was born in Brisbane), but raised in the UK and consider myself more British than Australian. He came into Australia in his Aussie Passport and will return to the UK on his British passport. Do you know how/why your sons' were granted "home status". This would mean the difference between us being able to return to the UK or not. Also, how about student loans etc? Thank you in advance.

petitefrancaise

I suggest you read the rest of this thread for your answer.

In short, it seems to come down to luck whether you get domestic rates or not and you should plan on paying international rates to be on the safe side.

Had you considered EU universities? There are plenty of undergrad courses available in English and the fees are considerably lower. The universities are all saying that UK students starting this year 2017 and 2018 will finish their studies paying domestic rates. This is considerably cheaper than the UK - even domestic rates in the UK.

brits1

It all depends on the course the student wants to study if it is offered in English and that accommodation is offered along with the course (can be expensive if not otherwise) and that the end result is a "good" world recognised degree.

petitefrancaise

I know in particular about Holland and Sweden. A little about Germany.
My son is attending Amsterdam University College with accomodation for all students and the budget for everything (excluding his flights back to the USA) is 14000 euros per year.

brits1

Hi except for you being born in Queensland you are mirroring the same situation as we were in ie our sons lived in Aus for nearly 14 years, had both passports. I have no idea why our sons were granted home status, we applied while we were still living in Aus for our eldest had to show NARIC and UCAS our sons education history (all Aus) we spoke first to the University of ours sons choice and they put us through to the lecturer who was also the head of the department and told him of our Sons desire to return to the UK and that he had wanted to do so for a number of years, that we would be moving back as a family and permanently, he spoke to our Son on a couple of occasions ie talk about the course and then also about our Son's past history and then said that the University itself would grant our Son home status and to apply to UCAS (after transferring with NARIC our sons Australian Education Certificates) we sent off all of our sons sporting and educational merits and were thrilled when he was offered an unconditional place at the University, our son even differed that for another year so he could save up more money so he worked at a couple of part time jobs while we were selling our home in Aus and also studied for an extra TEE. Our youngest arrived in the UK without any educational certificates (WA system lol) he had just started his year 12 and was studying for 5 TEE's when he decided he just wanted to head back to the UK and start college in the September where he would have a broader range of subjects and level's to study, he did two years at college in the UK was excepted as a home student and offered a place at MMU which he then also differed for a year, he was offered a bursary for his excellent results at college £1000 and also a grant for choosing his MMU course as well. He did take a Student loan out for his course (fee's had just been "put up") but he lived at home (for free....still does lol) had a great part time job at M&S which fitted around his studies and now has a 1st class Degree, he is now looking to study PGCE after taking this year off and still working at M&S. My advice for what it is worth is look at all options ie what does your son want to do? you do not always need to go to Uni as there are tons of other ways to gain good qualifications without having to go to Uni or having your workforce pay for your education. Good luck and if I can help please let me know.

morpeth

We saw one Italian university that even for international students only 2,500 pounds or so for a year, and increasingly more classes being taught in English.

Mezbits

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I really appreciate your time and effort. I am happy to hear that the 'home status' rule isn't quite as rigid as it sounds/seems to be. My son is almost half-way through Year 11 and he has no idea what he wants to do. It might well be worth him working a job for a year after he completes as university degrees are so expensive and to get it wrong (choose the wrong course), proves extremely costly). He has always (his whole life) just assumed he will go to uni. I am happy about that, but I like the idea of being able to defer offers for a year. He will have that long 10/11 month break anyway given the uni/school years start in Sept/Oct in the UK. I do not know what TEE is though? I work in a school in Qld and I haven't heard of that before. Is it a WA thing? Also, what year did you return to the UK. Can I ask how you have settled back? Was it a cultural shock. I tried to move back at the beginning of 2016 and lasted three months. I have no family support and so we stayed in holiday accommodation. By the time I had bought a cheapish car, and looked around with my boys etc. I had spent $25k I was getting worried that I would be too long without an income (I also needed surgery - long story) so came back. My youngest loved it there. He fell in love with South Devon, but my eldest wanted to stay in the midlands (where I am originally from). He is into soccer (football) and there are so many clubs around the midlands. I think he figured out just how easy it is too get around the UK from there. I did find it a bit weird being there (even though I have visited over the past 12 years). I know it is where my heart is, but it takes a lot of guts to up and move. Old friends there don't understand, and neither do friends here. I think people who have never emigrated can't relate... which makes sense of course. On the upside... I now have a UK bank account, UK drivers licence, and I have a much better plan about how to approach the whole situation next year. Currently saving like mad to try to recuperate my costs from year too. Also, selfishly hoping the pound doesn't improve in the meantime hahahaha :-/ May I ask how you have adapted to the cost of living etc? Do you feel any worse off, better off etc? Thank you, Marie.

Mezbits

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. I may well look at EU universities. He won't be ready to start uni until after BREXIT has actually happened... he has a year and half left here in Qld in senior school and finished at the end of 2018. That means that the earliest he could start uni in EU/UK is Sept/Oct 2019. That said, my grandparents are Irish and I have been looking at applying for an Irish passport. I am not sure whether my sons can then apply. If EU uni's really are much cheaper, it might be option, unless fees are required up front which I think they may well be.
Thank you again.

Mezbits

Hi, are you saying that the fees cover accommodation etc? :-)

petitefrancaise

Course fees and accommodation are listed separately and the total comes to 14500 ish euros.
At Amsterdam University College which my son will be attending, the students are guaranteed university accommodation for the whole of the degree course. Better, they have to register as resident in their area and will receive rent rebates which I have not included in the above figures.

Mezbits

OK... thank you for the reply. I will check it out. I am not sure if you mean total for both accommodation and tuition fees and for how long; one year, or the degree etc. I will look at EU websites anyway and compare. Once I get an Irish passport, he can most likely get one decent from me. But then we are back to the original question about residency status I guess and how long we will have lived in UK by the time we get back from Australia.

Mezbits

You also replied to another thread of mine which you start off by saying "the other problem is the university year starts in September..." It won't let me read it. I have tried a million times, but it keeps skipping down the thread (I guess that doesn't make any sense, but I can't keep the page still enough, long enough, to actually read it.

petitefrancaise

sorry, I wasn't clear. The costs are for 1 year. Degrees take 3 years. For me, living in the USA. the cost savings are significant. However, I'm still not looking forward to my son being so far away!!!

brits1

Hi, Hope your good? Tee's tests were done (when we lived in WA) when the student wanted to attended Uni the tests was sat in Year 12, it was really 50/50 in ours sons schools of who was going to Uni and sitting year 12 Tee's or going on to either jobs, apprenticeships or TAFE, it felt strange from my point of view being educated solely in the UK that you can spend 12 years in school and could walk away without any formal qualifications as such but it seems to "work out in the wash". Quite a few of our sons friends here have gained degree's and again its 50/50 that they feel University was the right choice or not, my sons girlfriend has just complete a HR degree in Bristol and has just landed a job at a HSBC bank (it was not what she had planned for when studying her degree) she is happy though she has a job but says her friends back home in Kent left school and two started working for banks straight away and are a lot better off financially and further up in the career ladder and that if she had thought a lot more while at college she would not have gone to University....our oldest son feels the same really but our youngest does not....swimgs and roundabouts I suppose. I did find it strange being back in the UK, it had changed even though like you we visited while we lived in Aus but all the while we felt at home here, we treated like it was all new to us, we settled away from family (our choice) but near enough if needed, we were literally on our own sorting new things out like cars, utility bills (the choice was overwhelming after Perth) it was mind blowing at times but after a while "things" got sorted and we rented, it takes time but we knew that after our experience in Aus, for us its a joy to be home most of the time lol....we do not miss Australia, we travel around the UK whenever we can and Europe is easy to access and much cheaper than travelling around visiting Australia and Asia from Australia, We have visited countries and places we have always wanted to visit but never did when we first lived here in the UK, we just try and make the most of the things we enjoy and missed while living in Australia. We are thinking of moving to Dorset Wiltshire area as our youngest is going to study his PGCE in that area in September and he wants us all to "try" living down south.....we are doing some groundwork this June, if we try and don't like it then at least we know, we like the "North" but .....and there it is lol...we have never lived anywhere else in the UK so its a good time to try. You can always look at colleges for your son here in the UK, he will not have to pay for that and can have a good look at the vast amount of courses that are on offer, that is what our youngest decided on doing hence why he did not complete year 12 in Au, he was truly amazed at the subjects, levels and courses on offer when he arrived. Good luck

Peasant

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that I contacted a few Universities regarding this issue. The most promising response came from the University of Manchester.

They said this:
"As a British citizen you may be eligible for home fee status if you have been ordinarily resident in the UK/EU since you first left. This doesn't mean a physical presence for the whole period but that you have habitually and usually maintained your links by regular return visits (annually or every 2 years) to a usual address in the UK/EU. Alternatively, that you have been absent from the UK because your parent was temporarily employed overseas."

So from what I can gather, this University in particular may accept students as Home students providing they have made regular return visits (which in my case I have).

Just thought I would let you all know so that you can inquire about it yourself and hopefully have a chance if you have also made regular return visits.

Some of the other Universities just said that they would ask me to fill out a Fee Assessment form and they would determine my fee status based on that. Unfortunately they are unable to send a Fee Assessment form before you actually apply to the university.