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Completed my first degree in my teens to early twenties. Got it completely free thanks to SAAS.

I'm starting a second unrelated undergraduate degree in September for which i will have to fund the last two years myself (it's an allied health professional course, so SAAS will still pay the first two years). Each year costs approx £1,850, so I hope to save £4,000 by the time i'm due to start my third year.

However, for the rest of the UK, it's £9,000 a year! For foreign students coming here to study, it's £13,500 a year

Why on earth does it vary so greatly? It's completely unfair.

Makes me realise just how lucky i am to be in Scotland. And i hope SAAS is still around in twelve years' time when my dd will (hopefully) be starting to think about uni.

Not meaning to sound patronising, but hats off to all you non-Scottish students. How on earth can anyone afford to study elsewhere? Do you get loans?

I took out a loan for living expenses during my first degree. Think it totalled to under £3000 for the whole course.

Safe to say, if i wasn't living in Scotland, i'd have moved here in a jiffy if it meant no tuition fees.

I wouldn't live in Scotland for all the tea in China thankyouverymuch, I'm English to the bone . But you enjoy it. Fees are a small price to pay for not having Alex Salmond lording it over me, IMHO.

Been chewing over moving to Scotland for ages. Unfortunately DH won't entertain the idea.

Hell would freeze over before living in Scotland

All Scottish universities have set tuition fees for students from other parts of the UK, with some charging £36,000 for a four-year degree.

Sensible chap. ;)

Oxford and Cambridge are in England so not an issue for my family

We are from England; my DS is studying in Scotland - he's the only one of his mates (who include EU students) paying full fees. Welsh students get some sort of Govt subsidy, and his pal from NI has an Eire passpost, so 'tis free!

I do not understand the rationale AT ALL - why can EU students study in Scotland for free, yet English students must pay top whack?

Presumably should Scotland become independent, English students would be classified the same as EU, and therefore no tuition fees? Would this not throw up a massive funding issue for the scottish unis (I think about 30% English students where DS studies)

He is at Glasgow BTW, which at least recognise the ££ impact on english students for the longer degree courses - they charge £6,750 pa (equivalent to £27,000 over the 4 years) - unlike Edinburgh & St Andrews charging £9K pa!

He also received a £1K bursary in year 1, simply for being English

Nordic - i didn't know that EU students studying in Scotland get it free.

During my first degree, one of my classmates was Polish and she had to pay fees.

It's just terrible.

If i was living in England, there's no way i could afford for my daughter to go to uni.

How deliciously gloaty

You don't afford for your children to go. They take on the debt - it's the cheapest loan they will ever have - and only repay it at a very small monthly amount when they start earning at least 21 K.

The better schools are advising their brighter pupils to apply across Europe - Holland is a favourite. Tuition fees are something like E1,200 per year, but the Dutch govt pays a bursary to all students of E400 PCM.

Germany is also a favourite hot spot.

Most unis teach in English.

Win-win.

Don't see how my post is gloaty. Just me thinking out loud how unfair it is.

That's interesting Holly. I don't understand why it's so cheap for foreign (UK) students to study there, when it's £13,500 per year for them to study here.

AuntMaud, i don't know how the loan works in England. Does every student get it to cover fees? What if they wanted to do a second degree at some point in the future, would they get another loan?

I'm originally from the States. It's just a fact of life there that education is massively expensive. We're still paying off DH's student loans, 25 years later! Some people retire in debt.

I found it sad to see the UK start to follow this path, and I hope that it can stop before it gets as far as the States I have friends who graduated with professional degrees, but debt as much as a sizeable mortgage.

If I were to say how unfair it is that those living across the border in Scotland get free tuition and prescriptions and nursing homes for old people and we are one state with taxes going into one ever decreasing pot I am sure I woud be accused of being racist so I'm not going to say it.

Do you not need to pay the fees back when you're earning above a certain threshold? Or is that just student loans from SLC?

Perhaps you should do a course in economics ? i can assure you ,this "free" (university ,care for the old ,prescriptions) , malarky are/is anything but! there is one hellova bill running up right now ,which one day is going to land on a door mat not just near you but acually on your doormat ! and every other deluded person in Scotland ! FREE ? how can any adult be conned by that one ? there is no "free", there is >conning an easy to con electorate ,there is running up a debt others will have to pay ,there is buying votes ,<>and for the record ,born in Scotland ,presently residing in Scotland ,and planning my return to England .(i have got to get out of this place !)

Don't get me started. I have an old university friend who is Scottish. She hopes one day that Scotland will become independent, and all the English will leave. Except for the students who are subsidising the Scottish unis, of course!

YANBU.
They always screw us in England.

Good luck with your studies.

Believe me, we will all be paying for these 'free' bribes services when Wee Eck finally gets pushed off his throne ... (Scottish, living in Scotland btw)

'They always screw us in England.'

By that I don't mean the Scots, I mean our masters in England.

well, to be fair, student loans in england are actually very good value - until you're earning 21k, you pay back nothing, and after that, it's very small amounts/month, and it's written off after a certain number of years anyway (25 perhaps?) so you're never going to be in debt forever, and if you end up not earning much, you don't pay it back at all. i don't see what the big fuss is about, to be honest.

Unfortunately another failure to correctly cost something through by this Govt - recent study here concludes that the short term gain through the loans system will be outweighed 6.5 times over the long term due to failure to collect the loans in the future.

I also worry for my DS - he will have accumulated the best part of £30K (we are fortunate in managing to cover his living costs at the moment - debt would be much higher if he had to take a loan for these as well). How will that affect him when he tries to gain a foothold on the housing ladder? Also concerned that a good degree isn't necessarily a passport to a good, graduate level job - I have recently recruited for a P/T admin role, and was staggered at the number of recent graduates who applied. And once again, none of those graduates will be earning the £21K threshold, so what chance of collecting their loans?

I think there will be a brain drain in the future from this country - although the Student Loan Company say they will recover funds from people moving abroad, I have very little faith in Govt IT systems to enable them to do this, so maybe he would be better off upping sticks to Australia or NZ.

>Why on earth does it vary so greatly? It's completely unfair.

No - it's devolution... remember that big referendum... well we voted to have a devolved Scotland, and Higher Education is mostly devolved, so the rules are different from England - in the same ways that we have different rules and regulations and laws from people who live in Mexico...

>I do not understand the rationale AT ALL - why can EU students study in Scotland for free, yet English students must pay top whack?

I believe it is because EU law states that you can't discriminate against members of other EU states and give them a less favourable deal than your own citizens... you're allowed to discimrinate against subsets of your own nationals though... weird, isn't it.

Completely bonkers. I wish we'd moved to Scotland a couple of year ago! I have friends in Scotland, and the concern there is that English students are being offered places over Scottish students, as the tuition fees are higher than the per capita funding for home students.

It's the ripples and the unintended consequences of these political decisions that could be to the long term detriment for all concerned!