The Government should revise the student finance rules for England so that the date a student applied for their visa, rather than the date they arrived in the UK, is used for determining whether they qualify for Home Fee Status.

Some families who applied for UK residency before Brexit, such as under the Ankara Agreement, planned to settle in the UK permanently before Exit Day but due to visa processing delays arrived after 31 December 2020, disqualifying their children from home fee status. This policy may force students into unnecessary gap years or burden them with high international fees. We believe that adjusting the rule to consider application date would ensure fairer access to university fees for these families.