Funding opportunities for Ukrainian students

Details have been released by the Government about funding possibilities for Ukrainian students, and the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) have published the criteria (below) to allow Ukrainian students qualify for home fees status.

If you do qualify for Home fee status you will be able to apply for both tuition fee and maintenance loan funding from Student Finance England (SFE). You will also be eligible for the Brookes Bursary scheme.

To see what you might be entitled to from SFE please visit this site.

UKCISA Guidance

The UKCISA guidance is set out below:

On the first day of the academic year you are paying fees for, you must be a person with any one of these five types of leave:

leave to remain granted under the immigration rules for the Ukraine Extension Scheme
leave to enter or leave to remain granted under the immigration rules for the Ukraine Family Scheme
leave to enter or leave to remain granted under the Ukraine Family Scheme, but outside the immigration rules. If you have this third type of leave, these two bullet points must also both be true:
- you were residing in Ukraine immediately before 1 January 2022; and
- you left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion
leave to enter or leave to remain granted under the immigration rules for the Homes for Ukraine Sponorship Scheme
leave to enter or leave to remain granted under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, but outside the immigration rules. If you have this fifth type of leave, these two bullet points must also both be true:
- you were residing in Ukraine immediately before 1 January 2022; and
- you left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion
and
1. you must have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since you were granted such leave; and
2. you must be ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course.

For continuing students

Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme

The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme opened for applications on 4 February 2025. Students with existing leave under a Ukraine scheme may be eligible to apply for further leave under the UPE scheme. Applications to the UPE scheme should be made when the current leave has 28 or fewer days remaining until expiry. Leave granted under the UPE scheme is for a further 18 months.

If the existing Ukraine scheme leave expires and is not replaced by UPE scheme leave, it may affect students' future support from Student Finance England / Student Finance Wales. It is therefore strongly advised that students apply in time to the UPE scheme to avoid this happening.

As a contingency, the Home Office has introduced a 90-day ‘grace’ period for applications to the UPE scheme after the expiry of a person’s most recent leave. The Home Office will accept applications to the UPE scheme that are submitted within 90 days of the expiry date of the person’s most recent leave, providing the application for UPE leave is submitted between 4 February 2025 (the UPE scheme launch date) and 4 August 2025.

More information can be found on the UK Government website.

If you have any questions about this scheme or your funding please contact the Student Money Advice Team