In most cases, a student's fee status will not change after assessment at the point that an offer has been made. However, a small number of changes in personal circumstances or 'Qualifying Events' allow a student to switch from Overseas to Home fee status from the start of any academic year following the Qualifying Event. This means that an assessment can change during a course, or during the interval between an offer being made and a student taking up their place.
If a student or their parent/guardian/spouse experiences one of the following 'Qualifying Events', they may ask their Admissions or Tutorial Office to review their fee status - it will not happen automatically:
- Gains British citizenship
- Becomes an EU national with settled status
- Gains Irish citizenship
- Gains Indefinite Leave to Remain or Settlement
- Becomes a family member of a person holding settled status in the UK on the start date of the student's course, and who will be living in the UK on the first day of the academic year during which the student hopes to pay Home fees.
- Is a family member of a non-British citizen who has been serving in the British armed forces since the start date of the student's course
- Is an EEA migrant worker, frontier worker, employed or self employed person
- Is a Swiss employed or self employed person, or a Swiss frontier employed or self employed person
- The student is a child of a Swiss national
- Is granted leave to remain in the UK with Humanitarian Protection, stateless leave, section 67 leave or Calais leave*
- Has been granted Refugee status by the UK government, or Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) as a bereaved partner or victim of domestic violence or abuse*
- Has been granted leave to remain in the UK under one of the Afghan Schemes*
- Has been granted leave to remain in the UK under one of the Ukraine Schemes - please click here for more information.
* Where one of these immigration statuses is awarded after the start of a course, it does not matter whether the student’s presence in the UK on the day on which the first term of the first academic year actually began was lawful or not.
With the exception of those 'Qualifying Events' marked with an asterisk, a change of circumstances will only result in a change of fee status if the student met the 3 year ordinary residency requirements at the start of their course.
Please note: A recent amendment to the Fee Regulations means that current Overseas student who obtains Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) / Settlement part-way through their course may be able to switch to Home fee status from the start of the following academic year. Any change in fee status will only be applied to academic years beginning on or after 1 August 2024 and is subject to the student meeting the other requirements for Home fee status. If you are currently studying for, or are holding an offer for, a place on an undergraduate or postgraduate course at the University of Cambridge and believe that this change will affect you, please contact feestatusandpolicy@admin.cam.ac.uk for advice on what action you need to take.
Integrated Courses
A number of the University's degree courses offer undergraduates the opportunity to study for an optional 4th year (Part IIB or Part III, depending on the course structure) of their Tripos if they fulfil the academic requirements. In these cases, the student does not graduate at the end of their 3rd year and instead, progresses onto a 4th year. Part III and Part IIB are considered to be integrated Masters courses and therefore a fee status assessment would not be undertaken prior to the start of the student's 4th year. A change in fee status would only take place if the student believed that they now fell under one of the categories listed above.
Intercalated Courses
As with students studying for an Integrated Course, students who are undertaking an intercalated course in another subject part-way through their substantive degree course would not be eligible for a fee status assessment at the start of their intercalation. A change in fee status would only take place in the event of a change in circumstances which meant that the student now fell under one of the categories listed above.