Additional amendments to student support and fee protection regulations for those undertaking courses of higher education in academic year 2025 to 2026 (SFWIN 05/2025)
This Student Finance Wales information notice (SFWIN) describes the amendments included in student support and associated regulations for academic year 2025 to 2026.
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The Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2025 (‘the 2025 Regulations’) will amend the regulations which provide for statutory student support and tuition fee protections (for home fee status and capped tuition fees to apply) for eligible students ordinarily resident in Wales and taking a designated course of higher education in an academic year beginning on or after 1 August 2025.
The arrangements described in this Information Notice may be subject to change and to the 2025 Regulations being made. This Information Notice does not cover every aspect of policy nor does it constitute legal advice or a definitive statement of the law. Whilst every endeavour has been made to ensure the information contained is correct at the time of publication, this guidance should not be relied upon as a complete and accurate summary of the Regulations, which are yet to be made. In the event of anomalies between this guidance and the Regulations, the Regulations prevail.
The 2025 Regulations are expected to come into force in July 2025.
Extant leave status of eligible students and postgraduate termination provisions
The current wording within existing student support and fee protection legislation for the definitions of a ‘protected Ukrainian national’ and a ‘person granted leave to enter or remain as a protected partner’ only require a person to have been “granted” the relevant form of leave, not that they must “have” it. Anyone granted leave, at whatever point, will therefore continue to fulfil the condition as an eligible student even if they no longer have existing leave. That contrasts with the definitions of other protection-based eligibility categories elsewhere in the regulations, which explicitly require that the person “has” the relevant form of leave.
This means, under the existing drafting, a person will fall within ‘the protected Ukrainian national’ or ‘person granted leave to enter or remain as a protected partner and their children’ eligibility categories as a new student even if their relevant form of leave has expired.
Further, under the existing drafting of the termination provisions in the Education (Postgraduate Doctoral Degree Loans) (Wales) Regulations 2018 and the Education (Student Support) (Postgraduate Master’s Degrees) (Wales) Regulations 2019, no person who falls within the ‘protected Ukrainian national’ eligibility category can possibly be made ineligible for support.
Only those with existing leave and who fall into the relevant eligibility category contained within the student support and fee protection regulations should be eligible for student support and(or) fee protections (provided all other relevant criteria are met). This is existing policy.
The 2025 Regulations will make technical changes to ensure eligibility requirements for ‘protected Ukrainian nationals’ and ‘persons granted leave to enter or remain as a protected partner and their children’ accords with intended policy; and termination provisions can operate correctly.
The amendments will apply to an academic year of a course which begins on or after 1 August 2025 and will apply to both eligible new and continuing undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Enquiries
If you have queries about applications, how to apply, payments or any other aspect of the service, please contact Student Finance Wales.
If you have any queries about this Information Notice, please email the Strategy and Funding Division, Welsh Government.
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