EU students used to pay ‘home student’ fees which were capped at around £9,000 a year for undergrads (ie a German student will pay the same as an English student). Now, due to the UK leaving the EU, EU students will pay international student fees which are significantly higher.
Very true and particularly worrisome considering the lack of any announced bailout or funding oppurtunities from the government. Though, I wouldn’t be too sure just yet that UCL and LSE won’t be too bothered. Currently, the only university likely to benefit financially from this situation is Oxford. It’s been reported that LSE is in a particular spot of bother since a third of its students are from the EU. But you’re right the top schools, the golden triangle, are likely still going to be far better off than most other schools.
An over supply of domestic students, due to well needed COVID educational measures, and an undersupply of EU students leads to very unhappy universities.
I doubt LSE and unis at that level are all that bothered. EU students were paying UK (so “in-state”) rates and Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, and UCL have a strong enough global reputation (especially among the current/former Commonwealth countries) to replace with higher-paying Internationals without seeing a discernible drop-off in student body quality.
Brexit probably makes it easier for Americans to get in to Warwick, KCL, Durham, and every other English uni, though. Maybe no discernible difference for St. A’s, though, as I don’t believe St A’s drew a lot from the Continent in the first place. Actually, maybe any of the ancient Scottish unis as EU students paid the (very low) Scottish rates there so would have been competing with Scots for places.
At English universities, yes.
At Scottish universities, they were treated like Scottish nationals (Scotland is/was trying to internationalize its campuses and paid admitted European students’ fees directly to the university) so, no.
At Welsh and North Ireland universities (…well, at Queen’s Belfast, really :p) Europeans paid half what English students paid.
As a result, since Americans pay international tuition, UK universities will only need to attract 1 new international to replace 2 or 3 Europeans - that was the plan at least. Therefore there’s some advertising going toward India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, but Australia and Canada are on that segment too and have been making inroads in the past 10 years. The universities most likely to be impacted are the middle-tier ones.
Add Covid and you have a perfect storm for British universities.
As a result, American tuition dollars will be welcome, at least for Fall 2021 and Fall 2022.
(In Scotland, the problem is bigger because English students paying English fees may not be sufficient to replace the “missing” European students. I agree StA’s won’t be as affected but it did admit European students and will need to replace them when its brand often isn’t as strong in England as in either Europe or the US.)
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English unis below the Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial tier may try to recruit Americans but considering how little known even UCL and Warwick are in most of the US (outside of academia), it’s more likely that the British unis that are seeing enrollment shortfalls will redouble efforts to recruit from Asia, where they had better brand recognition in many places.
I see your point but 1/3 of all students is a significant deficit to make up in just a couple of years. Entire applications patterns will have to change and there will be a lag before students, of different regions, will start to apply. It is possible that Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial, UCL and maybe Kings draw in a similar number of EU applications as to normal years despite the fee hike through sheer brand imagine but I think that is unlikely. There are a number of news articles on this that may be interesting to you (which I don’t know if I’m allowed to link).
Pretty certain St’s A’s brand is much stronger in England (amongst the upper/upper-middle classes, at least) than on the Continent.
Not really if the unis were rejecting an equal or higher number of applicants with equally high marks, which Oxbridge, LSE, and Imperial were doing. Granted, UCL may be the last uni on the pecking order that can say that, so unis below UCL may be worried. But LSE? Not so much.
The Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial tier (and likely UCL too) will simply be admitting equally qualified applicants from outside the Continent. Granted, that exacerbates the effect on British unis that are lower on the desirability list.
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The general perception here is that St Andrews is respected but not a top brand with it only really gaining prominence after the royals attended. Certainly, St Andrews presence on the continent is not particularly strong. Interestingly the general perception, and it is just perception, I and others I know have is that St Andrews is most popular with Americans and very much respected within America’s upper middle class (especially with the great lengths they go to make the application process simpler for Americans). I also hear of advertising at top US private/boarding schools like Exeter.
Yes, I mentioned India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan in particular - former commonwealth Asian countries, especially if they still have O’Levels/GCSE/A-Levels.
I’m sure they’ll also try to recruit in China but the HK issue may make it a bit iffy.
In addition, I wonder how many Asian students will be interested in Canterbury Christchurch, Brighton, Bath Spa, or Greenwich, just to name a few universities European students totally didn’t mind attending despite mediocre rankings…
US students will be welcome (one question upthread was about “which universities don’t want Us students”) meaning that if they apply they’ll get in much, more easily than before or than other students would, simply because there’s a huge shortfall of students and funds. In short, if someone wants to study in the UK, Fall 2021 or Fall 2022 may be good years to apply. 
(There’s also research fund shortfalls since the EU funded a lot of research and not everything’s been ironed out at that level. In the meanwhile, there was a “brexodus” of European top researchers in the 2016-2017 year in particular due to fears about European research partnerships, projects, and funding.)
As far as I can tell, St A’s brand is strong at Independent Schools not so much at public colleges and comprehensives. such students who have the grades for St Andrews would likely have other choices and I know its “posh” nature is discussed, one of the few universities for which it is AFAIK, as well as its “American” imprint.
On the continent, St Andrews’ brand rose thanks to Prince William&Kate, also for its top rankings in some subjects, and, well, (mostly?) because if you apply to Scotland for the free tuition/top school combination, you apply to all 4 “ancient ones” +1 safety and pick the one that admitted you - their criteria can actually vary.
Very true. My understanding is that while St. A’s certainly isn’t seen as Oxbridge-level in England, it has even less of a reputation on the Continent.
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I think that’s fair, yes.
As to St Andrews, I think it is true that most people who applied there also applied to other similarly or higher ranked institutions - namely Oxbridge or even other top US schools. I don’t think the same is true for LSE and Imperial for example, there is of course bound to be overlap. However, it appears to me that Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial (and UCL to an extent) are top aspirational destinations in themselves in a way St Andrews simply isn’t. In fact, it is not uncommon for students to be ushered away from applying to the LSE due to its extremely low acceptance rate and low domestic intake and I believe that generally Imperial has the highest grade requirements in the country. This brand issue may hurt them, yet I think it’s important to note that of course St A is a top university nevertheless. What’s the perception in the states?
Yes, totally not seen as Oxbridge level on the Continent. But it is internationally competitive in a few subjects (off the top of my head, Maths, International Relations, Art History, Environmental science - I could be wrong) and it’s excellent overall, so that with the free tuition, really, top European applicants would have been stupid to skip applying.
@ACUNI123: I wouldn’t say that in the States StAndrew’s is seen as equal to Oxbridge but it’s definitely seen as being an elite university.
There’d be a big difference between students for whom paying €13,000 for tuition would be okay (thus being able to apply to any English uni) and students for whom that would be impossible, who would focus on Scottish and Welsh universities + Queen’s Belfast.
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I didn’t read all the comments here, as the discussion seems to have broadened to other UK schools, but I looked at the University of Edinburgh website page on requirements for US students. United States of America | The University of Edinburgh In the first paragraph they say “At the point you apply, please list any test scores you have been able to take, and any you plan to take over the course of senior year. If you will be unable to take these tests, please contact the relevant admissions office after you apply, quoting your UCAS application number, to explain your situation. Our admissions offices may be able to consider your transcript, or other evidence in lieu of standardised tests.” It sounds as though you should start by contacting the admissions office and seeing what they recommend.
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Well, tuition for Internationals at Brighton and unis at that level actually isn’t much more than the UK rate. They could always make up some easy-to-get scholarships so that EU/Internationals end up paying something like the UK rate.
Good point that the HK issue may adversely affect UK uni recruitment in Mainland China (but help recruitment in HK itself).
The rise of the India and Bangladesh economies is a tailwind that UK unis can harness, however.
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Yes, to get back to the initial question (and summarizing the above discussion):
shortfall of applicants + lack of US tests = need to find alternate ways to admit Americans whose tuition dollars are needed.
I think British universities will be more flexible than usual for now but I don’t see how they can do without AP scores so any future applicant should plan to take 5 relevant AP’s between sophomore, junior, and senior year.
A relevant AP is a subject listed in the “entry requirement” tab. Note that some are considered “half” subjects, so for instance you must take both micro and macro Econ to get one “full”, recognized AP.
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Though 3 APs may be enough at some UK unis.
Even 2 APs are okay at some UK universities!
Thanks for this discussion. I hadn’t thought about how Brexit might affect the universities needing more “high-paying” Americans (not really that high compared to the costs of universities in the US). I guess that is good news for my d22.
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Which ones (besides St. A’s)?