triumphguy

My British born sister (who came to Canada aged 14 and married a Brit who subsequently became Canadian also) may be going back to the UK.

Her kids are University age. I'm presuming that they will have to pay visitor fees if they choose to go back with their parents and want to go to Uni in the UK?

Does anyone have experience with this?

JAJ

Discussed at:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/UK_Uni...Residence_Rule

triumphguy

It's explained there - I've already read the wiki - but not discussed.

For instance the wiki states the 3 years residence requirement, however, it does not state whether that's "any" 3 years, or 3 years immediately preceding the application to go to uni.

So, has anyone any experience with this?

Pistolpete2

Actually it says that the 3 years residence requirement is not in itself enough. You have to be ordinarily resident (habitually resident) for the three years before uni and still be ordinarily resident during the uni period.

What is more, you cannot just decide that you want to become resident just to get your kids educated and then split, so you must be able to show that you are in the UK for another good reason and while there want your kids to go to uni.

See University of Sussex Entry as an example, which spells it out:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/ug/funding/2011entry

Obviously there's no free lunch! The whole point is that you are taxable in the UK when your kids are at uni, exactly the same requirement (ordinarily resident) for NHS purposes though you qualify for that right away.

By the way, with the changes in uni fees now going through where pretty well all the top unis are charging the max of 9,000 pounds per year in 2012 the benefit of being able to get the "lower" fees has been somewhat reduced. "Foreign" students will not be paying an awful lot more than that and they may have easier access. Something to think about!

You should also consider Scotland, though their fee rules are in the process of changing too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...0-tuition-fees

robin1234

My son (born in the UK and lived there until age 6, then came to live in the US when we moved here) wanted to go to graduate school in England. He applied to six places and was accepted at four. Of those, two quoted him the non-resident rate, and two quoted him the cheaper resident rate. As it happened, he chose to go to one of the places that quoted the higher non-resident rate. We discussed it and concluded that the places that quoted the lower resident rate were probably in error and would increase the quote if he accepted their offer and they went over the paperwork more carefully..
This was a one year MA course, so the financial impact was not huge. For a multi-year undergrad degree, of course it is a bigger deal.

triumphguy

Thanks for the input.

My sister may be going back 'cos her OH may be offered a contract back in the UK, so they would be living there and paying taxes for a good few years.

So that may help if the kids want to be with their parents and also go to uni back in the UK.

roaringmouse

Yeah, the summary of requirements on the wiki page is lacking in detail for that. The link contained in that wiki page indicates the requirement of 3 years residence is the full 3 years immediately prior to the first day of the academic year of the course.

Possibly hasn't helped that discussion threads for wiki pages seem to get routinely closed, so you can't question the 3 year rule there.

brits1

Hi our oldest is at Uni here in the UK applied for 3 while overseas and was offered a place at 3 two without overseas rates the other our son took off his UCAS application as it was just a long way away

Pistolpete2

But that was a mistake on their part, right? I know of people who have got around the overseas rate issue by saying certain things to certain people in "authority" who have "fixed" things for them. Same goes for the NHS and medical treatment, pensions, you name it.

Pistolpete2

I found this on Oxford Brookes Website:

"There has been some confusion recently about changes to fees for degree programmes at English universities.

UK Government Ministers have voted for plans to allow universities in England to charge increased fees (up to £9,000 per year) for UK and EU students only. If this goes ahead, fee increases for UK and EU students will take effect from September 2012.

However, this will not affect fees for International students, so the fees for international students for 2012 will remain as published."

International Students:
All undergraduate courses not listed as specific courses in the tables below 2012 £11,000 £1,375 per module £3,290
All undergraduate courses not listed as specific courses in the tables below 2013 £11,400 £1,425 per module £3,420
All undergraduate courses not listed as specific courses in the tables below 2014 £11,900 £1,480 per module £3,560

Hopefully, for those who will not be able to qualify for domestic fees, these are fairly indicative of the rate differences between domestic and international (2,000 pounds for starters in 2012)

Bob

That's not bad going....but lab/practical based courses tend to be much more expensive. Back when I was at uni, I did industrial design and they were charging international students £16K a year and I graduated in '02.

Sue

I was wondering that too. My son applied to five universities in the UK got offers from four, ALL of them deemed him an overseas student and thereby subject to International tuition fees.

Bob

yeah, the LEA will reject the claim from the uni, so they'll punt you the bill afterwards.

triumphguy

Good discussion! Better than a wiki answer

When I went to Uni in London many many moons ago there was no time to have a part time job.

Given that my niece and nephew would most likely be deemed "visitors" would they have time to do a PT job to help pay for their education?

University life and study in the UK really seems to have changed: it seems more North American somehow. I know most people work through their "college" days over here. I worked full-time and went to University full-time.

Bob

Depends on what they're studying, how heavy/hard the course is and how much of a drinking degree they think the whole experience is.