The following links take you to the relevant section of this page.
- General residence conditions
- Students who do not meet our general residence conditions
- Non-UK EU and EU overseas territories nationals
- EEA or Swiss migrant worker or self employed person
- EEA or Swiss frontier worker or self employed person
General residence conditions
To be eligible to apply for support you must meet our residence conditions as set out in The Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (as amended) and be studying a course of higher education at HNC or equivalent level or above. To qualify for a student loan, you must meet the conditions set out in the Education ( Scotland ) Act 1980 and the Regulations thereunder. For more information on courses that we do and do not assist, please see our course eligibility section.
To meet the general residence conditions, you must have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years immediately before the relevant date (the first day of the first academic year of the course). For the majority of students who start their course in the autumn term, the relevant date is 1 August. If you are not a UK or other EU national, you must also have ' settled status' in the UK (as set out in the Immigration Act 1971) on the relevant date. To find out about getting settled status, you can visit the Home Office website or phone their helpline on 0870 6067766. If you have not been living in the UK, you may still qualify depending on your circumstances.
You must also be ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date, unless you are an English, Northern Irish or Welsh domiciled student taking a degree course in one of the Allied Health Professions. In this case, you must be ordinarily resident in your home country at the time you apply for your first years support.
The relevant date depends on when your course starts. The dates for session 2008-2009 are as follows.
- 1 August 2008 for courses that start between 1 August 2008 and 31 December 2008.
- 1 January 2009 for courses that start between 1 January 2009 and 31 March 2009.
- 1 April 2009 for courses that start between 1 April 2009 and 30 June 2009.
- 1 July 2009 for courses that start between 1 July 2009 and 31 July 2009.
If you are under 25 and not classed as being an independent student, we may take your parents' circumstances into account when we assess your eligibility for support.
Eligibility at the beginning of a programme of study determines your eligibility for the duration of your studies (except for recognised refugees, or those who are granted Humanitarian Protection or who have Discretionary Leave, who can become eligible part way through their studies). This means that if you start your course while ineligible to receive support on residence grounds, you will continue to be ineligible for the rest of your course and for any other course of higher education you take immediately after.
Ordinarily resident has been defined in the courts as 'habitual and normal residence in one place'. It basically means that you, your parents or your husband, wife or civil partner live in a country year after year by choice throughout a set period, apart from temporary or occasional absences such as holidays or business trips. Living here totally or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education does not count as being ordinarily resident.
We will not treat you as being ordinarily resident in Scotland if your main purpose in coming here has been to receive full-time education and that you would have otherwise been living elsewhere.
If you have done a course of higher education before, this may affect the level of support you are entitled to. Please see our previous assistance section for more information.
The residence eligibility conditions are complicated and we may have to ask you for more information. If you are in any doubt about your residence status, you should contact us for advice.
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Students who do not meet our general residence conditions
Students who do not meet the usual residence conditions for support set out above, may still be eligible for support in certain circumstances. Support may be available to:
- UK nationals and family members of such nationals returning from other member states of the European Union (EU) or from elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland;
- UK nationals who were born in and have spent the greater part of their life in the UK;
- UK nationals returning from employment or study outside the EEA or Switzerland;
- nationals of EEA countries (Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) who have been granted permanent residence in the UK , and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren.
- nationals and family members of nationals of other EU member states, and Iceland , Norway , Liechtenstein and Switzerland , who have migrant worker or self-employed status in the UK ;
- nationals and family members of nationals of other EU member states, and Iceland , Norway , Liechtenstein and Switzerland , who have frontier worker or frontier self-employed status in the UK ;
- people recognised as refugees by the British Government, and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;
- people who have been granted 'exceptional leave to enter or remain'; 'humanitarian protection' or 'discretionary leave' in the UK and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;
- anyone who is under the age of 18 and has been granted temporary protection
- anyone who is the child of a Swiss national.
- anyone who is the child of a Turkish worker.
- young asylum seekers.
You will need to supply evidence from the Home Office to confirm your status.
The residence eligibility conditions are complicated and we may have to ask you for more information. If you are in any doubt about your residence status, you should contact us for advice.
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Non-UK EU and EU overseas territories nationals
Non-UK EU and EU overseas territories nationals who come to Scotland to study
To be eligible to apply for payment of EU tuition fees only , you must meet all of the following conditions.
- You are a non-UK EU national, an EU overseas territories national or the family member of either.
- You have been ordinarily resident in the EU, EU overseas territories, elsewhere in the EEA or Switzerland for the three years immediately before the first day of the first academic year of your course (the relevant date).
- You are taking a course of full-time study in Scotland and plan to graduate in Scotland .
For the majority of students who start a course in the autumn term, the 'relevant date' is 1 August.
EU countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom.
EU overseas territories
Aruba, Faeroe Islands, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Territories, Greenland Henderson, Mayotte, Netherlands Antilles (Bonaire, Curcao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten), the Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies, St Pierre et Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna Islands.
EEA countries
The EEA countries are the 27 EU countries plus: Iceland , Norway and Liechtenstein
New countries that join the EU
We will consider students from new countries joining the EU for support towards their tuition fees from the date their home country joins. Nationals of the new member states (or their children) cannot apply for their tuition fees before their country joins the EU.
Any student who starts a course after the date their country joins the EU can apply to us for tuition fees for that academic year and any subsequent years.
Any student who started a course before their country joined the EU cannot apply for fees in the current academic year but can apply for fees in the following and subsequent year.
Non-UK EU nationals who have lived in the UK and Islands for three years
If you are a non-UK EU national or the child of such a national and have lived in the UK and Islands (apart from temporary absences) for the three years before the first day of the first academic year of your course (the relevant date) and you are resident in Scotland on the same date, you may also be eligible for living-costs support in the form of a student loan, bursary and any supplementary grants that may apply to you.
If you have been living in the UK for less than the three year qualifying period, you may still be eligible to apply for the full-support package available if you meet our migrant or frontier worker or self employed persons conditions as shown below.
The residence eligibility conditions are complicated and we may have to ask you for more information. If you are in any doubt about your residence status, you should contact us for advice.
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EEA or Swiss migrant workers or self employed person
If you are an EEA or Swiss national and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for less than three years immediately before the first day of the first academic year of your course (the relevant date), and you or a family member has migrant worker status or have been self employed in the UK, you may still be eligible for living-costs support in the form of a student loan, bursary and any supplementary grants that may apply to you. To qualify you or your family member must:
- have been ordinarily resident in the EEA or Switzerland during the three year qualifying period and be ordinarily resident in Scotland before the first day of the first academic year of your course; and
- have been employed , self employed or actively seeking employment in the UK , though not necessarily continuously , since last entering; and
- If you are the student and you are employed or self employed there must be a link between your employment and your course in the UK ; and satisfy all the other conditions of the scheme
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EEA or Swiss frontier workers or self employed person
If you are an EEA or Swiss national who works or is self employed in Scotland but lives elsewhere in the EEA (except the UK) or Switzerland during the three year qualifying period and returns to where they normally live in the EEA or Switzerland on a daily basis or at least once a week, you or your family member may be eligible to apply for living-costs support in the form of a student loan, bursary and any supplementary grants that may apply if you or they want to study a course of higher education in the UK. If you think this applies to you contact us for advice.
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Overseas/International students
If you do not meet our residence conditions as detailed in the links above, we will not pay your tuition fees or give you support towards your living costs.
Your college or university decide whether they regard you as a 'home' or 'overseas/international' student and how much fees they will charge you. Generally, if you are eligible to apply to us for support, they will charge you the 'home' rate of tuition fee. However, they operate under different regulations from us and can charge a higher fee between £4,000 and £15,000 to those they consider to be 'overseas/international' students. If you are not sure about the fees that your institution will charge, you should check with them before you accept the place they have offered you.
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If you are eligible to apply to us for support
If you meet the conditions set out in the links above and you are studying in Scotland , you should apply to us and we will pay the 'home' rate of tuition fee straight to your institution on your behalf. For degree programmes this will be £1,775 a year (£2,825 for medicine). For sub degrees (HNC's and HND's) this will be £1,255 a year.
You can also apply to us for help with your living costs. See our UK nationals studying in Scotland section to find out what support is available, what courses we support and how to apply. Your support may be different if you plan to study at an institution outside Scotland.
If you are not eligible to apply to us for support
If you are not eligible to get support from us you can contact The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, 36 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PF .
You may also find it helpful to contact UKCISA (the Council for International Student Affairs), who can offer advice to overseas students planning to study in the UK . You can visit their website at www.ukcosa.org.uk or contact their advice service by telephone on +44 (0) 020 7354 5210 between 1.00 - 4.00 p.m. (UK time) on Mondays to Fridays only. Should you wish to write to them, their address is 9-17 St Alban's Place, London, N1 0NX.