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Eligibility for home fee status and student support in Scotland

The regulations around home student status vary across the UK. See the relevant article in the series for information on England, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

Who determines eligibility?

Universities and higher education institutions in Scotland allocate their students a fee status for the purpose of charging tuition fees. There are three levels of fee status:

• a 'home' fee for students who live in Scotland
• a ‘rest of the UK’ (rUK) fee for students who live elsewhere in the UK or Ireland
• an ‘overseas' fee for all other students

Undergraduate home fees are capped by the Scottish Government at £1,820 for the 2026/27 academic year. The rUK fee is capped at a middle rate equivalent to the 'home' fee charged in England (£9,790 for the 2026/27 academic year). Overseas fees are set by institutions and can be much higher depending on the course and institution.

To receive publicly funded student support, including free tuition, loans, bursaries, and grants, students must generally also be allocated home status by Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).

When making decisions on student status, higher education institutions and SAAS follow regulations produced by the Scottish Government.

What are the regulations?

Eligibility requirements for home fee status and student support in Scotland are set out in the following regulations and in subsequent amendments:

• The Education (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 (No 156), as amended
• The Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022 (No. 157), as amended

The regulations are complex. If a prospective student is unsure about their eligibility, they should discuss it with their university and SAAS.

Who is eligible?

In general, to be eligible for home fee status and financial support, students must have a ‘relevant connection’ with Scotland. This means they must be ‘settled’ in the UK, or granted leave to enter or remain, and ‘ordinarily resident’ in Scotland on the ‘relevant date’. They must also generally have lived in the UK for the three years immediately before this date. Some family members of such individuals will also be eligible.

To determine eligibility for student support, a student’s age, previous study, course, institution, and level of independence are also considered.

Students ordinarily resident in Scotland and doing their first degree will generally be eligible for free tuition. SAAS will pay the tuition fees of eligible students for five years in total. This includes four years for a degree and an additional year (or '+1 year’) to allow for course changes or repeating a year of study. Some students, such as Irish or UK nationals living in Ireland, may qualify for a tuition fee loan instead.

Students ordinarily resident in the UK (but outside Scotland) on the relevant date, and for three years before that date, may be eligible for the ‘rest of the UK’ (rUK) tuition fee rate. 

Being ‘settled’

A settled person is someone ordinarily resident in the UK without any immigration restriction on the length of their stay. The regulations take this definition from immigration law (section 33(2A) of the Immigration Act 1971). Students with right of abode in the UK or indefinite leave to remain will meet the criteria.

Being ‘ordinarily resident’

A person is ordinarily resident if they normally and lawfully live in an area from choice. Temporary absences, including for work, are permitted. In reaching a judgement about whether a student fulfils the ordinarily resident criteria, assessors rely on legislation and case law from UK courts and tribunals.

Students will not be considered ordinarily resident in Scotland if their main purpose in being there is, or has been, full-time education.

The ‘relevant date’

The date when a student’s course starts determines the ‘relevant date’. It is:

• 1 August for courses that start between 1 August and 31 December
• 1 January for courses that start between 1 January and 31 March
• 1 April for courses that start between 1 April and 30 June
• 1 July for courses that start between 1 July and 31 July

What impact has Brexit had?

Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, the Scottish Government announced new higher education students arriving from the EU would no longer qualify for home fee status and free tuition from the 2021/22 academic year.

European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals, who have been granted settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, will be eligible for home fee status and student support on broadly the same basis as before Brexit. For example, EU nationals with settled status, who live in Scotland and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for three years, will generally be eligible for home fee status, free tuition, and student loans, bursaries, and grants.

SAAS has published guidance on the residence conditions for EU nationals following Brexit, as well as for UK nationals who lived in Scotland before moving to the EU, EEA, or Switzerland.

Are there any exceptions?

Students might be eligible for home or rUK fee status and some student support if they meet the criteria for a group of exceptional categories. These categories include, but are not limited to:

• Persons granted refugee status, discretionary leave, or humanitarian protection and family members
• Certain Iraqi, Syrian, Afghan, and Ukrainian nationals
• Stateless persons
• Persons granted leave as a victim of modern slavery or domestic violence
• Young asylum seekers or the children of an asylum seeker
• Persons granted Calais leave to remain

SAAS has produced guidance on the exceptional categories and the support students may be eligible for.

Leave to remain and the ‘long residence’ category

There was previously a ‘long residence’ category of eligibility in the regulations. This was for students who had lived in the UK for at least seven years if they were under 18, or for at least 20 years, or half their life, if they were 18 or over.  

In September 2022, the Court of Session ruled in the case of Ola Jasim v Scottish Ministers (PDF) that the long residence rules were unlawful because of their effect on those excluded from eligibility for student support.

Following a consultation, the Scottish Government said it would extend home fee status and student support to those granted leave to enter or remain in the UK, ordinarily resident in Scotland, and living in the UK for three years.

As part of the changes, young unaccompanied asylum seekers and the children of asylum seekers are now eligible for home tuition fee status and tuition fee support. Previously, this group were considered as international students for the purpose of fee assessments.

The UK Council for International Student Affairs

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) provides specialist information and advice to international students and education providers on fees and funding.

On its website, UKCISA has published an overview of the eligibility assessment process, detailed criteria for all the possible eligibility categories, and definitions of the terms used in the fees and student support regulations.

UKCISA also has a student advice line for discussing individual cases.

Further information

The Scottish Government guide Apply for student finance provides an overview for how to apply for student support in Scotland. The Student Information Scotland website also provides information on student finance, including budget and funding calculators.

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has published a series of blog posts on student support eligibility and entitlements as well as a briefing on the price of free tuition in Scotland, which covers the debate about tuition fees in the period since devolution.

The Commons Library briefing Financial support for higher education students sets out possible sources of funding to help students with their fees and living costs.