student loans for expat children returning to the uk

stv_young

Hi, my son is planning on returning to the uk and continue his studies at university. He is a UK citizen but has been living abroad his entire. Is it possible for him to receive student loans or other financial assistance. Any information provided would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
A concerned parent.

agrinnall

The SFE residency requirements state:

Your nationality or residency status

You can apply if all of the following apply:

• you’re a UK national or have ‘settled status’ (no restrictions on how long you can stay)
• you normally live in England
• you’ve been living in the UK for 3 years before starting your course

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/who-qualifies


I think your son will fail on points 2 and 3.

Taiko

In agreement with agrinnall. They need to be ordinarily resident, not just for the purpose of receiving full time education

[Deleted User]

He will also be treated as an international student by the university when it comes to fees. They have a policy similar to the student finance

Voyager2002

The only possible exception would be if the family have been living abroad because they are Crown servants. Otherwise, prepare to spend lots of money (to make for all the taxes they avoided by living abroad) or check out the excellent English-language universities in Germany and the Netherlands (still almost free thanks to the EU) or the combination of high quality and low cost offered by JNU and HCU in India and several universities in Thailand and Malaysia.

missbiggles1

_shel wrote: »

He will also be treated as an international student by the university when it comes to fees. They have a policy similar to the student finance

Not if the family have been living in another EU country.

beckstar1975

If you have been living in in the EEA they should be eligible to apply as EU citizens are - currently the home rate of fees and eligible for tuitionfee loan not unsure of details re living cost loan

if you've been living outside of the EEA unless you can prove you have been temporarily absent due to employment (which sounds unlikely) then I'm afraid you're no better off than any non EEA citizen

missbiggles1

beckstar1975 wrote: »

If you have been living in in the EEA they should be eligible to apply as EU citizens are - currently the home rate of fees and eligible for tuitionfee loan not unsure of details re living cost loan

if you've been living outside of the EEA unless you can prove you have been temporarily absent due to employment (which sounds unlikely) then I'm afraid you're no better off than any non EEA citizen

Only UK home students are normally eligible for a maintenance loan.

chase_the_ace

You don't say where he is living now, as already said, if he is in an eu country, he can apply as an eu student, paying uk fees and will get the same student loans as uk students. My daughter is in her 3rd year and gets both maintenance and course loan and applied as a eu student.

missbiggles1

chase_the_ace wrote: »

You don't say where he is living now, as already said, if he is in an eu country, he can apply as an eu student, paying uk fees and will get the same student loans as uk students. My daughter is in her 3rd year and gets both maintenance and course loan and applied as a eu student.

EU students can only get a maintenance loan in certain circumstances -

"Help with living costs
You may be eligible for help with your living costs if you’ve lived in the UK for more than 5 years before the first day of the first academic year of your course.

You only need to have lived in the UK for 3 years before the first day of the first academic year of your course if you’re either:

applying for the 2015 to 2016 academic year
taking a postgraduate course and also applying for a Disabled Students’ Allowance"

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/eu-students

Yawn

Just to add to all that's been said above, if you/your son were living in an EU country, even as UK nationals, your son wouldn't have to pay tuition fees to study in Scotland. Potentially, quite an attractive proposition...

If you're based outside of the EU, then your son would be liable for the full international fees. The silver lining would be that these are no longer that much higher than UK/EU fees in England.