Studying in Britain in 2026: who pays £9,790, who pays £70,000, and three dates you cannot miss

Three dates that make studying in Britain more expensive if you miss them:

• 6 October 2026, 11:00 UTC — applications close for the Chevening scholarship.
• 30 November 2026 — the money you must show for a Student visa goes up.
• 31 December 2026 — the last day on which a graduate gets two years to work in the UK. From 1 January it is eighteen months.

Now the rest, starting with the question that costs more than any other: do you pay nine thousand a year, or fifty?

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Home fees or international: a difference of up to seven times

Britain charges two prices for the same seat. The "home" rate for those who satisfy the residence rules, and the international rate for everyone else.

The baseline category in England works like this: on the first day of the first academic year you are settled, you have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the full three years before that day, and the main purpose of your residence during those three years was not to receive full-time education.

"Ordinarily resident" has a definition: you have "habitually, normally and lawfully resided in that area from choice."

And here is the point most often misread. You do not need to have held settled status for the whole three years. UKCISA states it directly: "it is not necessary to have had 'settled' immigration status for the full three years." Residence and immigration status are two separate tests. Someone who arrived on a work visa, lived here three years and obtained indefinite leave before the course starts fits the category.

What counts as settled: British citizenship, indefinite leave to remain or to enter, Irish citizenship, a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode, and EU Settlement Scheme settled status.

Pre-settled status on its own does not give home fees — only in combination with one of the six Brexit protected-rights sub-categories.

Who else qualifies for the home rate: refugees and their families, people with humanitarian protection, the Ukraine schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Family Scheme and the extension schemes) and their families, children of Turkish workers, EU nationals with protected rights, people with stateless leave, the Afghan schemes, and victims of domestic abuse and their children.

The Ukraine categories carry a trap the guidance flags itself: some requirements are measured from the day the first term actually begins and others from the first day of the academic year. Those are different dates, and at the margin they decide the outcome.

One useful change since 1 August 2024: settled status can now be acquired part-way through a course and the fee status switches — which was not previously possible.

What it costs

The home rate for 2026/27 is £9,790 a year, up 2.71% from £9,535. Accelerated degrees go to £11,750.

The international rate for the same year, from the universities' own published figures:

• Greenwich (post-92): £17,975 a year.
• Sheffield (Russell Group): £25,000 to £32,100; Medicine £47,575; Dentistry £50,925.
• Cambridge: humanities £29,052; mathematics £32,406; sciences £44,214; Medicine and Veterinary Medicine £70,554 — plus a separate College fee of £11,500 to £14,950.
• Oxford (2026 entry): £37,380 to £62,820.
• UCL Medicine: £57,300. Imperial Medicine: £58,600.

A spread of roughly four to one. And the extreme is worth saying out loud: Cambridge Medicine with the College fee approaches £85,500 a year, which is over half a million pounds across a six-year course, before rent and food.

Student loans: who gets them and how they are repaid

Students on the home rate can borrow for fees and for living costs. The 2026/27 maximums:

• tuition fee loan — up to £9,790;
• maintenance, living with parents — up to £9,118;
• away from home, outside London — up to £10,830;
• away from home, in London — up to £14,135;
• a year abroad as part of a UK course — up to £12,403.

Repayment for anyone who started on or after 1 August 2023 (Plan 5): repayment begins the April after you leave the course, at 9% of income above £25,000 a year, interest at 4.1%, and the balance is written off after 40 years.

Note the forty years — the previous plan wrote off after thirty. On median earnings a substantial share of borrowers will never clear the balance, which makes this less a loan than an additional 9% tax for four decades. That is how the return on the degree should be calculated.

One more thing: eligibility for the home rate and eligibility for funding are not the same. Some categories give the fee status without the maintenance loan. Check your own category.

The Student visa: the figures now, and the figures from 30 November

Currently: the application fee is £558, and the Immigration Health Surcharge is £776 a year for students and their dependants (everyone else pays £1,035).

Money in the bank: fees for one academic year (up to 9 months) plus living costs — £1,529 a month in London and £1,171 outside London, again for up to 9 months. The money must sit there for 28 consecutive days, and the end of that period must fall within 31 days of the application.

From 30 November 2026 the figures rise: London to £1,570 a month, outside London to £1,203. Over nine months that is £14,130 and £10,827. The Home Office's stated reason is alignment with the maintenance loans available to home students for 2026/27.

The practical conclusion is simple: if your papers are ready, apply before 30 November — it is roughly £370 less to show.

English language: CEFR B2 for degree level and above, B1 below it. The test must be a Secure English Language Test from a Home Office-approved provider — not the ordinary IELTS Academic that the university itself often asks for. These are different things, and people lose money and time on the difference.

Almost nobody may bring their family

A quiet but drastic change that many people still have not registered.

Only two groups may bring a partner or children: government-sponsored students on courses longer than six months, and full-time students on courses at RQF level 7 or above lasting nine months or more — but for courses beginning on or after 1 January 2024 this must be a PhD, other doctorate or research-based higher degree.

So: undergraduates cannot. Taught master's students cannot, since January 2024. What remains is doctoral study and government sponsorship.

For those who can, the money is £845 a month per dependant in London, £680 outside, for up to nine months.

The Graduate route: two years or eighteen months, decided by the date you apply

The Graduate visa lets you stay and work in almost any job without a sponsor. It is what makes or breaks the economics of the whole exercise.

The Home Office caseworker guidance states it exactly: 2 years where the application is made before 1 January 2027; 18 months where it is made on or after that date. For PhD and doctoral qualifications it stays at 3 years regardless.

The department's rationale: too many graduates staying on are not moving into the graduate-level roles the route was created to facilitate.

What this means for you: if you finish in 2026 and are eligible, apply before 31 December. Six extra months of lawful stay is six extra months to find an employer willing to sponsor.

The conditions: a £937 fee, and an Immigration Health Surcharge of "usually £1,035 for each year" — note that this is the full rate, not the student rate. You must be in the UK on a Student visa and your provider must have confirmed successful completion. The visa cannot be extended and does not lead to settlement. You may work in almost any role, with a prohibition on working as a professional sportsperson.

Chevening, and who can actually apply

Chevening is the UK government's scholarship for a one-year master's. The 2027–28 round opened on 4 August 2026 and closes on 6 October 2026 at 11:00 UTC, with interviews in March and April 2027 and results from mid-June.

For Russia there is a specific condition, stated by the organisers: "For the 2027-28 academic year, we will only be able to accept applications from Russians who are resident in a country other than Russia." The reason given is that applicants residing in Russia "could face serious security risks, and financial and logistical implications." The restriction is to be reviewed next year.

For Belarus there is no country-of-residence restriction — applications are open on the ordinary terms, with the same deadline.

The criteria: at least two years' work experience after your first degree (2,800 hours); an undergraduate degree qualifying you for a UK master's, finished at least two years before the deadline; and a commitment to return to your home country for at least two years afterwards.

And the restriction that rules out a large part of the audience for this site: you may not be resident in the UK at the time of applying. Nor may holders of British or dual British citizenship, or anyone who has already studied in the UK on a UK government scholarship.

We checked the other UK government programmes too: GREAT Scholarships does not currently include any post-Soviet country, and Commonwealth Scholarships are restricted to Commonwealth countries. Chevening is effectively the only government option.

What else changed in 2026

• Sponsor compliance tightened from 1 June 2026: the visa refusal threshold fell from "less than 10 per cent" to "less than 5 per cent" and the enrolment rate rose from 90 to 95 per cent. From 1 June 2027 the course completion rate rises from 85 to 90 per cent. For an applicant this means one thing: a weak sponsor can lose its licence in the middle of your course.
• The international student levy — £925 per student per year — is not yet in force. Legislation is planned for autumn 2026 and the levy itself from academic year 2028/29. It is charged to providers rather than students, though everyone expects it to reach the fees.
• From 1 January 2027 student finance in England is replaced by the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, with a lifetime tuition loan limit of about £39,160 — roughly four years. Applications open from September 2026 for courses starting from January 2027.

In order

1. Establish your fee category first. It is a decision worth tens of thousands of pounds, and it should be checked against the official list of categories, not against what an admissions office says.
2. If you are close to three years of residence, work out whether deferring entry by a year pays for itself.
3. Finishing in 2026? Apply for the Graduate route before 31 December.
4. Applying for a Student visa? Do it before 30 November, while the maintenance figures are lower.
5. Living outside the UK with two years of work behind you? Chevening closes on 6 October.
6. Take a SELT for the visa, not an ordinary IELTS.