St Andrews University to charge £36,000 maximum fees

Students who live in Scotland do not have to pay the fees

St Andrews University has confirmed it will charge £36,000 for a standard four-year degree to non-Scottish students.

The Scottish university said it would charge £9,000 a year in tuition fees.

It is the fourth Scots university to set its fees for rest of UK (RUK) residents at the maximum level.

However, Aberdeen and Heriot-Watt universities said they intended to cap their fees at a maximum of £27,000 for the course, even if it was four years.

Edinburgh University said it would not cap its fees.

St Andrews University said it would, however, offer "a wide-ranging package of new bursaries, scholarships and financial aid".

The university said it currently costs £11,772 to teach one undergraduate student for a year at the institution.

Undergraduate students from the RUK whose household income is less than £42,600 will not have to pay the fees to attend the university.

The university said it would commit 40% of the additional fee income it receives from RUK students to bursaries and financial aid.

This is 10% greater than the level of support expected at English universities by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA).

Professor Louise Richardson, St Andrews University's principal and vice-chancellor, said: "We are not a wealthy institution.

"In spite of our age and our international standing our endowment is remarkably small. Quite simply, we cannot afford not to charge £9,000 per annum.

"We recognise, however, that this is a significant change for our RUK students and to mitigate its impact we are introducing a comprehensive bursary and scholarship program in order to ensure that those qualified to attend St Andrews will be able to afford to do so.

"Moreover, we have used the externally imposed change as a catalyst to review our financial aid schemes and will now introduce a number of new scholarships and bursaries for local students, for Scots and international students as well as for RUK students.

"As a mark of our commitment to academic excellence we will also offer merit-based scholarships to our top performing students in their final year."

'Most expensive'

Student Association president Patrick O'Hare said: "We had specifically urged the university court to avoid the introduction of a £36,000 degree for students from the rest-of-the-UK.

"With the cost of living in St Andrews taken into account, this now makes St Andrews the most expensive place in the UK to study for those from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"This unprecedented hike is precisely the wrong message to be sending out when St Andrews already struggles to attract students from state schools and especially those from the most deprived areas.

"We note with encouragement the provisions made for bursaries but do not believe that these go far enough."