British Int. Teachers sending kids to U.K. university

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ScoobyDon’t
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:08 am

British Int. Teachers sending kids to U.K. university

Post by ScoobyDon’t »

Question for U.K. international teachers working abroad who have kids in secondary/senior:

What are your plans for your kids regarding university?

Are you worried about not being able to access U.K. course fee rates and student loans?

Are you planning to move back to the U.K. so your kid can complete GCSEs/A levels and get ‘local rates’?

Are you going to save up so that, even if your kid ends up with international student fees, you can pay that cost?

I’ve heard the choice to charge overseas fees varies by university, and if you’ve got U.K. passports, NI numbers and a British address, that’s all some places look at.

I’ve also heard that students must provide proof of living in country for at least 3 years - can anyone provide links to official guidance on this?

I believe that now there’s a burgeoning industry of consultants who can advise on which universities are more or less likely to charge U.K. rates if you’ve been abroad for the previous few years. Has anyone here had any interaction with this type of advisor? What was your experience like?

Or are you contemplating sending your kids somewhere like Germany or Netherlands where fees are less punitive for overseas students?

Very interested to hear your experience negotiating this phase of parenthood, given that it’s on the horizon for myself. Thanks in advance!
expatscot
Posts: 307
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:26 am

Re: British Int. Teachers sending kids to U.K. university

Post by expatscot »

I can only speak from my own experience, although I know others have found the same thing.

Essentially, when your kids apply, there are two stages to the assessment of residency. The first is done by the university, and assesses what level of fees they will charge - this can mean that the same student can be assessed as international at one university and UK at another. The second is then done at the stage of assessment for a student loan - in theory it's possible that they might decide that a student who a uni has decided is UK resident is actually international.

With our child, basically we gave them as much information to support the case as we could. Firstly, as our contracts are renewed every two years, they were not considered as "permanent employment" and so our stay overseas was temporary. Our child was considered to have moved because of our work. Secondly, we still have a house in the UK, although it is rented out, so this is seen as intention to return (although we have none.) As a result of it being rented, we are still technically liable for tax on it (we chose this route deliberately rather than become completely non-dom for this exact reason.) Finally, we also still have bank accounts and pensions in the UK; we also set up an account for our child in the UK and paid money into it on a monthly basis.

They also looked at the number of years spent in education in the UK - in my child's case, they had spend all their primary education and the first two years of secondary education there before we moved. We also still have lots of family (both sets of grandparents) around too.

As a result of all this, my child was offered UK fees at all the universities she applied to (including one in Scotland, where she was offered Scottish fees because of previous residence - had she accepted this, there would have been no fees at all!) We did look at NL intially, but although the fees were OK the likelihood of loans / financial assistance was low and there was also Brexit to contend with.
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