Overseas Student Status

[Kensingtonia]

My sister has lived in the Far East for many years, she is self employed. She is married to a guy from her country of residence and they have a DD. The DD has a British passport and is fluent in English. They would dearly love their DD to come to the UK when she is 18 and attend University partly because they think they are better than in their country of residence. Only problem is, they don't earn enough to be able to cover the fees as she will be charged as an overseas student. Is anyone else in this situation and is there a way round it? Should I be telling her to look at the United States instead or even Australia/New Zealand.

As the cost is going up for home students this year it won't be any more expensive for an overseas student, in fact overseas fees may decrease.

DD could move to the UK (or EU) age 18 and work for three years, she would then be both resident and an independent student.

The same thing happened to me.
I have a British passport and lived in the UK from age 0-12 and 16-18 but was considered an overseas student for uni. If I had lived in the Uk from age 15-18 I'd been a home student.

Not sure how it works with loans as I earned my fees by working.

Yes, she will be charged as an overseas student (yes, this is still more expensive and no, government backed student loans and bursaries are not available).

Eligibility is determined by normal place of residence in the 3 years before admission. That means family home, not eg location of boarding school.

Expat Britons can qualify, depending on the why they are overseas. If you are Forces, diplomatic service or other Govt dept, then you will be treated as UK based. If you have continued to pay UK tax/NI, then you would almost certainly be treated as UK based. If you employer can demonstrate by other means that you are normally UK based but working abroad temporarily, then you might qualify (as in many areas of public spending, they are tightening up on this and the rules are generally being applied more strictly than a few years ago).

OP if she has set her heart on the UK, if they have at least three years before she starts, they could return, preferably to Scotland/Wales? May be worth looking at Australia/NZ and Singapore, where overseas fees are usually a lot less than the UK. None of these require new language skills.

Is it definitely three years? I thought it was being increased to five.

You're probably right AP!

Some policy maker has spotted that many people are plotting to do the nation out of tuition fees by uprooting their families but are only prepared to do it for less than five years... [buwink]

Thanks for your comments. It is not really an option for her to move to the UK as her work is not really transferable and neither is that of her DH, who doesn't speak much English. She was just really upset about the fees as she always assumed that her DD could come here and be treated as a UK student; she was in tears when I told her otherwise. There is a Uni in her country which offers courses taught in English but I think she really wants her DD to come to London. Australia also looks quite expensive but still less than here. Niece is only 11, so still a way to go!