Sponsored by
Fees shock for British student classed as foreigner after spell Down Under
A WOMAN born and raised in Yorkshire has been told she will have to pay three times as much as her fellow students to continue her degree because she is now classed as a foreign student after spending time abroad.
Hospitality student Jenefer McCabe deferred her place at Huddersfield University, where she had spent four years studying, to go to Australia working on a temporary visa for five years.
She came home this summer hoping to resit her final year and improve on her 2003 result – but was staggered to be told she had to pay 8,500 international tuition fees, three times what other UK-born students pay.
A little-known rule says students must have lived in the UK for three years before enrolment to qualify for the UK rate.
Miss McCabe, 29, from Burley-in-Wharfedale, said: "I never took up official residency in Australia, I was on a temporary visa. My parents even paid my national insurance contributions in the UK.
"It's absolutely ridiculous that as a British citizen I should be asked to pay the full fee. I am still a resident of this country whether I have been in it or not.
"It is not just me that has lived in England all of these years, but my sister, parents and all of our ancestors. I am so disappointed and my parents are furious, no-one had ever heard of this rule.
"It's the same university I was at just six years ago, and even the same course, so they know who I am but they still class me as a foreign national. It's laughable."
Miss McCabe received a diploma from the Huddersfield University in 2003 . After a serious illness in her final year she was disappointed with her result and decided to go to Australia.
She worked as an events manager at a hotel in Perth but was made redundant this summer.
Leeds NW Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland MP who has campaigned over tuition fees for the last six years, said: "This student is clearly a British national and should not be treated otherwise just because she chose to spend some time abroad. That she wouldn't be entitled to the same rates as other British nationals is simply wrong."
A Huddersfield University spokesman said: "We are a public service, funded by the public and must abide by laws set by the Government. It's very sad for Jenefer but sadly these are the rules."
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
