Financial help for EU students

Financial help for EU students starting courses academic year 2021/22

Following the UK Government’s decision to leave the EU, EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals and their family members will no longer be eligible for ‘home’ fee charges or financial support from Student Finance NI for courses starting from academic year 2021/22.

This will not affect students starting courses in academic year 2020/21.  Nor will it affect those EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals benefitting from Citizens’ Rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. These students are required to hold ‘pre-settled’ or ‘settled’ status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

These arrangements will not apply to RoI nationals living in the UK and Ireland, Gibraltar, EEA or Switzerland whose right to study and to access benefits and services will be preserved on a reciprocal basis for UK and Irish nationals under the Common Travel Area arrangement. 

New EU students in academic year 2021-2022

If you're from an EU country, you can apply for financial help to cover the cost of tuition fees for studying in Northern Ireland, England or Wales. You may also qualify for help with living costs.

Late applications

The closing date for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) was 30 June 2021.

After this date, European Union (EU), other European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals applying for courses starting in the academic year 2021 to 2022 will generally be awarded student finance from Student Finance NI only if they have been granted settled or pre-settled status under the EUSS.

However, there may be applicants for student finance for the 2021 to 2022 academic year and beyond, who have reasonable grounds for making a late application to the EUSS. There may also be some applicants who have made an in-time EUSS application but are still waiting on a final decision on their status from the Home Office, including those that have lodged an appeal. Once a valid application has been made to the EUSS (evidenced by receipt of a certificate of application (COA)), the applicant will have temporary protection, pending the outcome of that application. Also see the Home Office student sponsor guidance on sponsorship duties.

Eligibility requirements

For those who have made a late application to the EUSS, Student Finance NI will make an initial assessment of eligibility and will require original evidence of:

• identity
• 3 years’ residence in the relevant area
• relationship to a family member (if applicable)
• a certificate of application (COA)

Prior to, or at the start of the next academic year, contact will be made with students who require status under the EUSS and have not yet provided a valid share code to request evidence of that status, or of an ongoing application or appeal with the Home Office. If evidence is provided, Student Finance NI will confirm the student’s eligibility or, if evidence is not provided, will confirm that the student is not eligible.

For applicants that have an application or appeal pending with the Home Office at the beginning of the academic year, Student Finance NI will treat them as eligible for that academic year if they meet the other standard eligibility criteria, including on residency. If the final determination is refusal of the application, the applicant should notify Student Finance NI immediately, and will cease to be eligible in respect of the following academic year(s).

Where an applicant living in the UK before the end of the transition period has failed to apply to the EUSS by 30 June 2021 deadline, but does so at a later date, any period of unlawful residence in the UK and Islands from 1 July 2021 to the date a valid late application is made is to be treated as lawful residence for the purpose of considering the three-year ordinary residence requirement.

Eligible family members

Eligible family members of EEA and Swiss nationals covered by the Withdrawal Agreement may come to the UK to join their family member.

Those who fail to apply to the EUSS within the applicable deadline (the later of 30 June 2021 or 3 months from arrival in the UK) but do so at a later date, any period of unlawful residence in the UK and Islands beyond the expiry of the deadline up to the date a valid late application is made is to be treated as lawful residence for the purpose of considering the 3-year ordinary residence requirement.

Assessing applications for support

The Department for the Economy would expect institutions to apply a similar approach when assessing home fee status and separate guidance has been issued to the Institutions.

Eligibility for family members

A person can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) after 30 June 2021 as the family member of an EEA or Swiss national if they are joining them in the UK on or after 1 April 2021. For further information, read the EU Settlement Scheme (settled and pre-settled status) guidance on applying as the family member of someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

Family members of EEA or Swiss nationals arriving in the UK after 1 April 2021 have 3 months to apply to the EUSS from the date they arrive in the UK. They will have temporary protection and therefore be treated as having citizens’ rights for the purposes of eligibility for home fee status and student support during those 3 months, and pending the outcome of any EUSS application made during that period (and of any appeal).

Evidence required

Student Finance NI may require the following evidence before awarding financial support:

• evidence of a relationship with the family member
• identity evidence for the applicant and their family member
• evidence of their EUSS status
• evidence of their date of arrival in the UK
• their own certificate of application to the EUSS or evidence of pre-settled status (where possible)

The joining family member must have lived in the UK, Gibraltar, EEA and Switzerland for at least the last 3 years before the course starts.

A family member may apply to the EUSS after the 3-month deadline if they have reasonable grounds for making a late application.  Refer to late applications section above. 

Help with tuition fees: who qualifies

EU nationals

As a European Union (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 Northern Ireland, England, or Wales 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.

Non-RoI EU nationals are required to hold ‘pre-settled’ or ‘settled’ status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

EEA and Swiss migrant workers

You may also apply 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 Swiss nationals

You may get help with tuition fees if you qualify as the child of a Swiss national. Help is generally available if:

• you were ordinarily resident in the UK, Gibraltar, EEA or Switzerland for three years before the start of your course
• you were resident in Northern Ireland on the first day of the academic year in which your course started
• a child of a Swiss national who is entitled to support in the UK by virtue of Article 18(2) of the Swiss citizens’ rights agreement

Children of Turkish workers

You may get help with tuition fees if you qualify as the child of a ‘Turkish worker’. Help is generally available if:

• you were ordinarily resident in the UK, Gibraltar, EEA, Switzerland or Turkey for three years before the start of your course
• you were resident in Northern Ireland 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
• and where both the Turkish worker and the child were ordinarily resident in the UK by 31 December 2020

Your local Student Finance NI office 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.

• Education Authority

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
• qualify for help as the child of a Swiss national as described above
• qualify for help as the child of a ‘Turkish worker’, as described above

More useful links

• Get facts and figures on universities, colleges and courses
• Living in Northern Ireland
• Student housing
• Childcare