English/Welsh/N.Irish Final year students - no Fees?

[C.]

I received an email from the registry today which stated that I don't have to pay final year fees. Here's the meat of it:

If you are entering your 4th and final year of an honours degree, you are entitled to have your fees paid in full by the S.L.C through your Local Education Authority.


You must therefore apply to your Local Education Authority, as in previous years.


You may receive, in the first instance, a FSN (Financial Support Notification) detailing that you ARE liable to pay the fees, however, you will then receive a SECOND FSN confirming that your fees will be 100% funded by SLC.


It doesn't sound very official and I hadn't heard from any other source that my final year fees are paid by the SLC. Can someone confirm this? I'll be calling my LEA tomorrow but I'm not sure how to explain the situation
Thanks for any help!

[Don]

Being a Scottish Student I can't 100% confirm it, but as far as I am aware because English Uni Courses are 3 years and Scottish Uni are 4 year, an English Student in a Scottish Uni doesn't have to pay fees in their final year to make it seem more fair.

[quarterstaff]

[s]Don wrote on 00:05, 3rd Sep 2004:
Being a Scottish Student I can't 100% confirm it, but as far as I am aware because English Uni Courses are 3 years and Scottish Uni are 4 year, an English Student in a Scottish Uni doesn't have to pay fees in their final year to make it seem more fair.




so do scottish students going to uni in the rest of the UK get 4 years worth of funding given to them over 3 years?

NO.


fuckers.

[Kirstin]

I spent a fair bit of time on the phone to my LEA and the SLC trying to confirm this last week. If you are talking to anyone at the SLC use the term 'final year fee assistance' otherwise they think you're talking about assessed tuition fee contributions.

I don't know what it's like if you're from England or Wales but in Northern Ireland we get a leaflet on 'Understanding your Financial Notice' and this whole thing is explained in box 37.

In the end it seems that fourth year students don't have to pay fees, and this should be registered automatically by the SLC.

[mottthehoople]

IM SPARTACUS

[sarah]

I remember getting the same letter at the end of my third year in 2001, telling me I didn't have to pay a fourth year of tuition fees. Two weeks later the university sent me another (unapologetic) letter saying they'd got it wrong, that it was only for students starting in or after Sept 2001. It was awful telling my dad he had to cough up after all

The waiving of a fourth year of tuition fees was meant to stop English LEA students being discouraged from four-year courses at Scottish institutions.