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Your guide to finance and money matters

Who will be affected?
Paying back student loans
Contact us
Tuition fee review

How will part-time students be affected?

Fees for part-time UK/EU students can be found on the relevant pages of our website.

Part-time students will be able to access a loan to cover the cost of their tuition, providing it is their first degree and they complete at least the equivalent of 25 per cent of a full-time course.

GOV.UK offers more information about student finance.

What are the fees for postgraduate and professional courses?

Postgraduate fees will continue to be set by the University and are published on the relevant course page of our website as soon as they are confirmed.

What are the fees for nursing courses?

The new tuition fee announcements do not include courses that are funded by the NHS through the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.

Will these arrangements apply to students from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland?

No. Students who normally live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive financial support from their own government or assembly and should contact them for further information.

Will these arrangements apply to students from elsewhere in the EU?

EU students from outside the UK will be able to access a loan to cover the cost of their tuition, provided they meet certain entry criteria. They will not normally be entitled to support for their living costs.

How will international students be affected?

Fees for international students in 2015/16 are still to be confirmed. Check our website, Facebook page and Twitter for updates.

How will courses franchised by Birmingham City University be affected?

Fees for courses delivered by our partner institutions are still to be confirmed. Check our website, Facebook page and Twitter for updates.

Are students who move immediately on to first degree courses from other HE courses required to pay the new fees?

If your course is taken ‘end-on’ to another course, you’ll be treated as having started your current course at the beginning of the academic year in which you started your previous course. You’ll continue to be subject to the student finance arrangements that applied to your first course.

An ‘end-on course’ is defined as a first degree with honours taken immediately after successful completion of a course leading to one of the qualifications listed below which you started before 1 September 2012:

  • Higher National Certificate (HNC)
  • Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE)
  • Higher National Diploma (HND)
  • Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
  • Foundation degree
  • First degree without honours (ie ordinary degree or pass degree)

and where both courses are studied in the same mode (ie either both are full-time or both are part-time). The end-on course must be started immediately after you completed the first course (any normal intervening holiday period is disregarded).

From 1 September 2012 onwards, if you are taking an end-on course immediately after completing a lower level course but have changed your mode of study (eg you are taking a part-time honours degree after completing a full-time HND) you will be subject to the same student finance arrangements as new students who start on or after 1 September 2012.

‘End-on’ courses do not include any other combinations of courses so, for example, if you move from an HNC to an HND you will be treated as a new student when you start your HND.

Get more information about student finance arrangements for ‘end-on’ courses.

If I’m transferring to my course from another Birmingham City University course, or from another university or college, will I be subject to the new fees?

‘Transferring’ means that with our agreement you stop studying a course here or at another university or college before its completion and start another course at Birmingham City University. To be classified as a ‘transferring’ student, the course you move to must be in the same mode of study as the course you left (that means either both the discontinued course and the new course must be full-time or sandwich or both must be part-time) and they must be at the same level (eg both undergraduate). In order to be treated as transferring, you must have started the course from which you are transferring before 1 September 2012. The course to which you transfer need not be in the same subject or have the same qualification aim as the course you left. To be treated as a transferring student you must have approval from us to leave your previous course and join a new course at the University.

If you are a ‘transferring’ student it is possible for your transfer to include a break in study between leaving the uncompleted course and starting the new one. However this break in study should not exceed 12 months plus any normal holiday period.

If you are approved by us a transferring student you will continue to be subject to the student finance arrangements that applied on your first course.

If you withdraw from your course here or at another University or College, before you have obtained our agreement to treat you as a transferring student you will be treated as a new student and will be subject to the new 2013 fees.

If I’m returning to my course after a break in my studies, will I be required to pay the new fees?

If you’re currently a student and are taking an interruption of studies, you’ll remain on your existing fee arrangements providing that your interruption is for no more than 12 months plus any normal holiday periods.

If you are an architecture student and are taking an interruption of studies please contact the School of Architecture for further advice about the regulations pertaining to your course.