Study fees for non/UK-EU students

Has anyone had the experience of paying for university fees in the UK?

I have applied for school here and thought, since I am also a Dutch citizen, that I could pay the EU fees. ALAS! The school has informed me that since I have never actually resided in the EU, I am still an overseas student and have to pay DOUBLE the cost. Apparently one has to reside in the EU for a minimum of three years to pay the resident fees.

The school said this is a Home Office policy, so I have queried it with them.

Suggestions?

A girl from China told me that she was paying £10K per year to study Computer Science at Hertfordshire. Apparently, it's only £3K for non-international students.

I'm not sure how reliable that information is. Regardless, these universities make a killing on international students. I know the University of Toronto gouges its international students as well.

It's confirmed- I am being viciously gouged.

CRUEL.

hmm. i've thought about this a little more.

i think that the price of tuition for an international student might actually be the true price of tuition.

the universities probably receive subsidies from the government for their non-international students. so naturally, their tuition appears to be significantly lower. Actually, it's the same price as it is for an international student, but it's offset by the subsidy.

since the subsidy is indirectly funded by uk tax-payers, it really isn't fair for a person who has only paid taxes for a few years to benefit from the enormous subsidy.

if you compare how much a person contributes to public funds to how much they take out, the threshold of 3 years residency seems to be quite generous, and probably lower than it should be. a person with an average income would have to live here much longer than 3 years in order to contribute enough in taxes to cover their fair share of the subsidy.

maybe we're too quick to call them gougers. but we do want affordable education, regardless of our level of contribution to public funds!

it's the british thing to do. complain about stuff!

Hey,

I’m a Canadian who went to Cardiff University for three years, and have lots of experience paying the very high tuition fees. While my British friends paid about 1000-2000 pounds a year, I paid 8500 pounds. I also was not able to get the 3000 pound a year student loan that my British friends were given by the government, as I was not a UK citizen. Overall, university was a very expensive experience.

However, it was also totally worth it. I don’t know which school you have applied to, but I loved the education system in the UK. It allowed me to focus on my course without having to take a bunch of electives that I was not really interested in. The classes were much smaller than most classes would have been if I’d stayed in Canada, or at least in Toronto, and I liked the fact that it was a lot of independent learning and that I wasn’t stuck in a lecture hall for most of the day.

If you do decide to study in the UK, it’ll hopefully be one of the best experiences of your life. Good luck!

i, too, am being screwed with fees. I was all excited to go to university here in London, but when my family and I realized the insane costs, we thought it best i go to a 'community' college, which is only £3K/year. Unfortunately, i've had to swtich courses and now I'm doing something i really dislike.

Why is it that International students can't get any loans or anything in the UK?! I mean, we ARE paying enough. we should get a little bit of a helping hand since we did decide to come here for school.

it's just not fair!

It's the same in Canada though - my girlfriend, for being a foreign student, had to pay (after books etc) close to $10k CAD per semester!

I'm doing alright, paying about 1300 a year in Lancashire


Then again, i also voted in my 2nd or 3rd year living here. all sorts of strange and excitiing things for me.