Website of the UK government

Help with tuition fees: do you qualify?

EU nationals

As an EU national, or a family member of an EU national, you can generally apply for financial help to cover the cost of tuition fees when studying in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if:

• you have been living within the EEA and Switzerland for the three years immediately before the start of your course
• your main reason for being in the EEA and Switzerland was not to receive full-time education

If you or your parent, guardian or partner were temporarily employed outside the EEA and Switzerland for all or part of the three-year period, you may still qualify for help.

• Find a list of EEA countries (opens new window)

EEA and Swiss migrant workers

You may also be eligible for financial help with tuition fees if you are an EEA or Swiss migrant worker or self-employed person in the UK. A migrant worker means someone who is working in a different country from their own.

Usually, you'll qualify for EEA or Swiss migrant worker status if all the following apply:

• you are a national of an EEA country or Switzerland
• you are working in the UK
• you were ‘ordinarily resident’ in the EEA and Switzerland for three years before starting your course

You may also qualify if you are a family member of a migrant worker in the UK.

Children of Turkish workers

You could get help with tuition fees from 1 September 2006 onwards if you qualify as the child of a ‘Turkish worker’. Help is generally available if:

• you were ordinarily resident in the EEA, Switzerland or Turkey for three years prior to the start of your course
• you were resident in the UK on the first day of the academic year in which your course started
• you’re the child of a ‘Turkish worker’ in the UK - a Turkish national who is ordinarily resident in the UK, and who is, or has been, lawfully employed in the UK

Extra help with living costs

You may also be able to apply for help with your living costs, on top of help with fees, if you:

• have lived in the ‘UK or Islands’ (the UK plus the Channel Islands and Isle of Man ) for three years or more
• have EEA or Swiss migrant worker status, or
• qualify for help as the child of a ‘Turkish worker’, as described above
  

Follow the below link to find out more.

• EU students: extra help with living costs

Does your course and college qualify?

To receive financial help with your fees, your course should lead to one of these qualifications:

Generally, you can receive financial help if this eligible course takes place at:

If you are studying a postgraduate or professional course other than in teaching, different rules apply. See ‘Financing your postgraduate course’.

• Financing your postgraduate course

Not sure whether you qualify?

Find out more about residency requirements

If you have been advised that you are not eligible for student finance for reasons relating to residence, there may be some exceptional circumstances or further evidence you can send which could lead to your application being reassessed.

If you want to check the definitive rules on eligibility, searching for the phrase ‘Education (Student Support) Regulations’ on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website - adding the applicable year on the end - is a good place to start.

Bear in mind that new regulations are issued annually, and that they’re often amended after they are published - so it’s important to check any later legislation that has amended the regulations you’re interested in.

• Search for legislation on the OPSI website (opens new window)

Contact the EU Customer Services team

If you have any questions about whether you qualify for finance as an EU student, contact the EU Customer Services team at the Student Loans Company.

• Contact the EU Customer Services Team

Contact your local authority

Your local authority can help with questions about whether you qualify through Swiss or EEA migrant worker status, or as the child of a Turkish worker in the UK.

• Contact your local authority (student finance applications) (opens new window)

Studying in Scotland

The information on this page is a guide for those studying in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. If you are studying in Scotland, see the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) website for further details.

• Apply for student finance at the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (opens new window)

Next step: find out how much you can get

If you satisfy the conditions for help with course fees, but not the extra conditions for help with living costs, you will be classed as a European Union (EU) student for applying for finance.

See the pages below to find out what help is available. 

• Finance for full-time EU students
• Finance for part-time EU students