Scottish unis free for european students???

[horseygin]

Does anybody know if it is true that our european counterparts can study fee free in scottish universities ... and yet we have to pay full fees? That surely cant be right? Tell me they have to pay too... please?

Both Scottish and English students are free to attend European universities under the same fee regimes as those operating in the individual countries.

If you would like to attend the world class universities in Berlin, or Heidelberg, or Freiburg, it is possible for you to do so at the same cost as for students from Germany. (Repeat as required for Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva...)

So that is what the German tax payer, and all other European tax payers, have done for Scotland, and England.

That's interesting Raw about the caps on local student numbers and lower offers to English students. That is going to cause some resentment surely once students are studying together and comparing grades.

One of DD's friends, who will be paying international fees, has been given a BBB offer for Law at Edinburgh. I wonder what offers they are making to other students.

For law at Edinburgh - almost certainly AAAB Minimum for Scottish Highers (A is the top grade, we have no A*), which I think is equivalent to roughly AAB at A level?

I know Glasgow was asking for AAAA for aero engineering from Scottish students, ABB offer made to at least 1 English resident I know personally, who did not make his grades but was accepted onto the course with BBB. I am very happy for him of course, but there were better qualified Scottish students who were not able to get that place, because only a set number of places were available, regardless of which students might be best suited to the course... I guess the universities must find that a bit frustrating (the caps are imposed on them), but I find that awareness of what's going on is not very high amongst the "general public". I have both family and friends working in unis and 2 DC at uni so we have a bit of knowledge of the situation.

I don't think I've heard of any resentment towards students getting in with lower or higher grades once they are at university - the students are not responsible for admissions policies.

But Aren't Highers equivalent to AS levels, not A levels - that's the reason for the difference in offer grades.

Yes, if you have higher grades at A level in the appropriate subjects you often have the option to go straight into second year.

The fee increase was a bit silly though. Before the increase, Scottish fees were around £1800 and English about £3500 per year for UK (excepting Scottish) student. It was the year my DSis was applying, and at Edinburgh they reckoned fees would go up to around £5/6000, so roughly the same proportion as before. But as soon as one Scottish university set its fees to £9000, the rest followed suit.