MAINLY FOR ADMISSIONS, REGISTRATION AND FINANCE
COLLEAGUES.

I am concerned that some undergraduate students, who are eligible
to pay fees at the overseas rate, are discovering this very late.
They are amongst a bigger number who choose not to have their
residential position reviewed by an LEA before admission.

At Registration we find that some do not wish to seek support
through an LEA (either because they know they are too prosperous
to get help and do not wish to take a loan or because they have not
understood the system properly). A small number may hope to
avoid scrutiny of their history.  Some have genuinely not
understood that they are at risk of paying the overseas rate.
Because the group is quite large we may not detect the small
number of problem cases quickly enough. They  seem to arise
mainly with those who have lived in the UK but are not settled here
or whose residence has been wholly or mainly for education. The
old problem of whether boarding school indicates purpose still
arises.

My concerns are partly that students should know their position
before they reach the University (preferably before they accept a
place) and partly that I envisage auditors wishing to check a
sample of those claimed as home students at some time in the
future.  I think we are getting it right at present but it is consuming
increasing amounts of labour.

At the University of Sheffield we shall once more review the
guidance in our prospectus and pre-arrival publications to try to
reduce the problem. However, I wondered if others were having the
same problem and if so what procedures/solutions have been
adopted.

You may wish to reply direct to me.  If I get sufficient replies, I'll
post an anonymised summary for the mail-base.

I'd love to know:


Do you accept the student's self-definition which comes through
UCAS without further enquiry?

Do you assess the status of all applicants?

Do you assess the status of selected groups? - if so how do you
select them?

Do you require application to an LEA at least to the "eligibility"
stage to grant home fee status? - if so what do you do about those
who don't do as required? - and is it a large number?

How do your procedures for undergraduates relate to those
applying for graduate programmes?


Many Thanks for reading this
and a Merry Christmas.




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Julia Morrison,
Head of Registry Services Section,
Student Services Department,
University of Sheffield

Postal Address:
Firth Court
Sheffield S10 2TN.
direct dial 0114 22 21280
e-mail [log in to unmask] (Please don't omit the e. !!)
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