The Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
The regulations modify multiple aspects of student financial support in England, updating payment rates and loan amounts for the 2025/26 academic year.
Key changes include introducing lower fees for foundation years, extending support to bereaved partners of Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veterans, enhancing disabled student allowances, and revising overseas territory definitions.
The amendments affect various existing regulations including student support, postgraduate loans, and fee limit conditions.
Arguments For
Increases financial support rates across multiple categories of student funding, helping students keep pace with rising costs
Expands support to bereaved partners of Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veterans and their children, promoting equity and recognition of service
Introduces lower-fee foundation year provisions, potentially making foundation years more accessible to students
Enhances support for disabled students by improving access to technical support and equipment maintenance
Updates overseas territory definitions to reflect current geopolitical arrangements, ensuring accurate eligibility criteria
Arguments Against
Implementation of new fee structures and rates may create administrative complexity for educational institutions
Changes to foundation year fees could impact institutional revenue streams
Multiple effective dates (August 2025 for some provisions, March 2025 for others) may cause confusion for stakeholders
Modifications to existing systems and processes required to accommodate new payment rates and eligibility criteria could incur costs
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 1 and 2 of the Education (Fees and Awards) Act 1983, sections 22 and 42(6) of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 and sections 10(4)(b) and 119(5) of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017.
The legal authority for these regulations comes from multiple education acts, establishing the Secretary of State's power to make changes to student fees, awards, and support systems.
These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Student Fees, Awards and Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, and come into force on 6th March 2025.
The regulations take effect from March 6, 2025, though many provisions apply to the academic year starting August 2025.
These Regulations extend to England and Wales and apply in relation to England only.
While the regulations legally extend to both England and Wales, they only apply to England's education system.
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