[gonzo]

I would be very grateful if any forum member can provide information on the following topic. We have been resident in NZ for over two years and have permanent residency. My eldest child has achieved excellent results at school and is in the process of taking his final exams before university. The school has indicated he is likely to get outstanding results (he is taking) scholarship papers in all six subjects.

The particular course my son wants to take at University is available in NZ but his feeling is that he will get a better degree in the UK (this is not designed to be a contentious comment and simply represents his personal view). The reality is that he also wishes to return to the UK.

The problem is as follows, our enquiries have suggested that should he return to the UK to continue his studies he will be liable for full tuition fees and will not be eligible for a personal student loan. This is despite the fact that we remain UK citizens and that I have paid taxes etc in the UK for over 30 yrs. I am posting to ask other forum members if they are aware of this situation? If so, has any forum member found a way of resolving the problem

[BigRod]

If you read the UKCOSA guidelines (and refer to box 1 in particular) as long as they have a British passport they should be OK:
http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/files/pdf/info_sheets/tuition_fees_ewni.pdf

Rod

[Jo Jo]

To be eligible for home fees, in general, students have to be resident in the country in which they will be studying for 3 years before the course starts. Fees do vary by institution, and range from £4k pa to £18k pa (blimey!). Info on who is eligible to pay home fees is available here for study in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/files/pdf/info_sheets/tuition_fees_ewni.pdf) and here for study in Scotland (http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/files/pdf/info_sheets/tuition_fees_scotland.pdf).

In order to qualify for publicly funded support, again students have to have been resident in the UK for 3 years before the start of the course. Info about this can be found here (http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/source_funding.php).

Your son might be able to get a scholarship - the latter link I posted has details of how to find out about these. There is a database you can search to see if any are available for the course your son wants to do here (http://www.educationuk.org/scholarships/).