Imagine growing up in the UK, going to school here, making friends here and seeing this country as your home, only to reach the point where you want to go to university and realise that your family may not be able to afford it.

This is the reality for many young immigrants living in the UK, including people like me.

My family moved to the UK over three years ago. Since then, we have built our lives here. We go to school, work, pay taxes, contribute to our communities and see the UK as our home. But when it comes to university, some of us can still be treated as international students and charged international tuition fees simply because we don’t meet the current requirements for home-fee status. Eligibility depends on specific nationality and residency rules, rather than simply how connected a young person is to life in the UK. 

For an average family, the difference in tuition fees can be huge. International students can be charged fees almost two times of the maximum home undergraduate fee, which is £9,790 for many eligible students at English universities in 2026/27. 

This isn’t just about money. It can change whether a young person gets to go to university at all.

For some of us, taking a gap year isn’t something we want to do. We aren’t taking time out to travel, relax or because we’re not ready for university. We are being forced to delay our education because our families simply cannot afford the fees.

Imagine being 17 or 18, working hard throughout school, getting the grades you need and having dreams of going to university, only to be told that your family has to find tens of thousands of pounds because you don’t qualify for the same fee rate as your classmates.

Many immigrant families are ordinary working families. We aren’t all wealthy international students coming from rich backgrounds. Some of us come from average households where our parents already work hard to support us and pay for everyday living costs. Asking families like ours to pay significantly higher tuition fees can make university feel completely out of reach.

We believe that young people who have built their lives in the UK and have genuine long-term connections to the country should have a fairer opportunity to access higher education.

We are not asking people to pay our university fees for us. We are asking for the tuition fee rules to be reconsidered so that students who have established their lives in the UK can have a pathway to pay the same tuition fees as home students.

No young person should have to put their future on hold simply because their family couldn’t afford a much higher fee.

We are asking the UK Government to review the current fee-status rules and consider allowing young immigrants who have lived in the UK for a significant period of time and have strong ties to the country to qualify for home tuition fees.

If you believe that where a young person has built their life should matter, please sign this petition.