What is the UK international student levy?

A charge of £925 per international student per year of study, paid by higher education providers in England from August 2028 — the start of the 2028/29 academic year. It was announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, and in July 2026 the government confirmed it remains committed to implementing it. Each provider gets an allowance of 220 international students before the levy applies, and the government expects it to raise around £445 million in its first year.

Do international students pay the levy directly?

No — the levy is charged to universities, not added to your invoice. But universities price international fees commercially, and a recurring £925-per-student annual cost is overwhelmingly likely to be passed into tuition fees over time. Universities UK has warned the sector faces a £330 million annual hit; that money will come from somewhere, and international fee-setting is the obvious somewhere.

When does the levy start, and what are the trial years?

Charging begins in August 2028 for the 2028/29 academic year. Before that, the government is running two no-charge trial cycles across 2026/27 and 2027/28, in which levy calculations are worked out and reported to providers — a dry run that also tells every university exactly what its future bill will be, well before it sets 2028/29 fees.

Does the levy apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

The levy announced applies to higher education providers in England. The devolved nations set their own arrangements, and at the time of writing no equivalent levy has been confirmed for Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish universities — worth factoring in if you are comparing offers across the UK for 2028 entry onwards.

Should I apply before 2028 to avoid it?

If you are ready, yes — starting in 2026/27 or 2027/28 means your course begins before levy charging exists, and fee rises for continuing students are typically gentler than headline-price resets for new cohorts. But do not distort a good plan for £925: visa timing, course fit and scholarship windows matter more than the levy. What we do advise is locking fee schedules in writing and asking universities directly how they intend to treat levy costs for your intake.

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Study in UK

The £925 International Student Levy: Will Your UK Tuition Fees Rise?

user 11 August 2026 international student levy uk, £925 levy international students, uk tuition fees rise 2028

Buried in the Autumn Budget 2025 was a policy that will quietly reshape what international students pay to study in England: a levy of £925 per international student, per year of study, charged to universities from August 2028. In July 2026 the government confirmed it "remains of the view" that the levy should go ahead — ending any hope in the sector that it might be shelved.

The official line is that students don’t pay it — universities do. Anyone who has watched how international fees are set knows how that story ends. This guide explains what the levy actually is, what the two "trial years" now underway mean, where the cost will really land, and how applicants for 2027, 2028 and 2029 entry should plan.

The short answer

£925 per international student per year, paid by universities in England from the 2028/29 academic year, with the first 220 international students at each provider exempt.
Confirmed, not speculative: announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, re-affirmed by the government in July 2026, with no-charge trial calculations running through 2026/27 and 2027/28.
You won’t see a "levy" line on your invoice — you’ll see it in the fee. Universities price international tuition commercially; a permanent per-student cost gets built into the price.
Applicants starting before August 2028 begin under pre-levy pricing — one more reason not to drift an extra cycle if you are ready.

What was announced — the verified facts

The mechanics, as confirmed by the government’s own publications and sector bodies:

Who pays: higher education providers in England — not students directly, and not (so far) universities in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
How much: £925 per international student per year of study, with each provider receiving an allowance of 220 international students before the levy is charged.
From when: August 2028 — the 2028/29 academic year.
The trial years: two full dry-run cycles in 2026/27 and 2027/28. No money changes hands, but levy calculations are worked out and reported to each provider — meaning every university will know its exact future bill before it sets 2028/29 fees.
The money: the government expects roughly £445 million in 2028/29, rising toward £480 million a year — while Universities UK puts the sector’s annual hit at around £330 million after allowances.

The policy logic, stated plainly: international fee income has become the financial engine of English higher education, and the Treasury has decided to tax the engine. Whether that is wise is a debate for the sector; what matters for you is where the cost flows next.

Who really pays: follow the fee-setting

International tuition in England is not price-capped. Universities set it commercially, reviewing it every cycle — which is why fees already drift upward by hundreds of pounds a year at most institutions (our verified 2026/27 fee tables across the cost guide and our university pages show the pattern clearly).

Now add a permanent, predictable, per-student annual cost of £925 — announced years in advance, with two trial cycles that tell each university its exact exposure. It would be commercially eccentric for institutions not to build it into 2028/29 pricing. Our expectation, and the sector’s quiet consensus: the levy lands in headline international fees, mostly on new cohorts, from the 2028/29 price lists onward — sometimes as a visible jump, more often folded into a larger "annual review" increase that never mentions the levy at all.

Two softer effects matter as much as the number:

Scholarship arithmetic tightens. Automatic awards of the kind we track — £3,000–£4,000 discounts at several of our recommended universities — are funded from the same international income the levy taxes. Expect awards to be defended at flagship universities and quietly trimmed where finances are weakest.
The value gap between universities widens. A £925 cost is a rounding error at a university charging £28,000, and a real margin hit at one charging £15,000. Budget-priced providers — precisely the ones many of our readers choose — have the least room to absorb it, which cuts both ways: more pressure to raise fees, but also more fear of losing price-sensitive applicants who are the business model.

What it means by intake year

Your entry year	Levy position	Our advice
2026/27	Trial calculations only — no charging	Fully pre-levy pricing. Proceed as planned.
2027/28	Second trial year — no charging	Your course starts pre-levy; later years of study may see gentler continuing-student rises. Get the university’s multi-year fee schedule in writing.
2028/29 onwards	Levy live	Expect it inside headline fees. Compare offers with the levy question asked directly, and weigh Scottish and Welsh options where no equivalent levy is confirmed.

One equity point worth knowing: fee treatment for continuing students varies — some universities fix your fee for the course duration, others reserve annual increases. That clause in your offer letter, usually skimmed, is now worth reading properly. We check it as standard in every application we manage.

Our predictions for 2026–2029

The levy survives politics. It taxes universities, not voters, and raises nearly half a billion pounds a year. Expect implementation on schedule in August 2028, whatever the sector’s lobbying achieves at the margins.
2028/29 price lists absorb it silently. Most universities will fold the levy into ordinary-looking fee rises rather than itemising it — watch for above-trend increases announced in late 2027.
Scotland gains a talking point. With the levy confirmed for England only, Scottish universities get a genuine comparative-cost argument for 2028 entry — expect their international recruitment to use it.
The squeeze meets the visa file. The levy arrives on top of the student-route tightening we have tracked all year — the shorter Graduate visa and stricter compliance. The UK is deliberately moving from volume to value in international education; plan on the assumption that studying here keeps getting more expensive, and never cheaper by waiting.

What to do now

If you are ready for 2026/27 or 2027/28 entry, move. Your course starts under pre-levy pricing — and every other cost on the pathway (visa requirements, IHS, English tests) has only trended upward.
Ask the levy question in writing. "How will the international student levy affect fees for my intake and my continuing years?" — a university’s answer (or refusal to give one) is itself useful information.
Read the fee-variation clause in any offer before you pay a deposit — fixed-for-course versus annually-reviewed matters more from 2028.
Compare across borders for 2028+ entry. England’s levy is not (yet) Scotland’s or Wales’s. Keep at least one cross-border option in your shortlist.
Maximise scholarship windows now — automatic awards are at their most generous before the levy bites university budgets. Our team tracks which universities’ awards are genuinely automatic and sequence deposits so no client leaves one behind.

Frequently asked questions

What is the international student levy?

A £925-per-international-student, per-year charge on higher education providers in England, starting August 2028, with a 220-student allowance per provider. Announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 and re-confirmed by the government in July 2026.

Do students pay it directly?

No — universities do. But international fees are set commercially, so the strong expectation across the sector is that it flows into tuition prices from 2028/29, mostly for new cohorts.

What are the trial years?

2026/27 and 2027/28 — full levy calculations run and reported to providers, but nothing charged. They exist so the system works on day one; they also mean every university knows its bill before setting 2028/29 fees.

Does it apply outside England?

The confirmed levy covers England only. No equivalent has been confirmed for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland at the time of writing — a genuine comparison point for 2028 entry onwards.

Should I rush to apply before 2028?

Don’t distort a good plan for £925 — but don’t drift either. If you are ready, starting before August 2028 puts your course under pre-levy pricing, and the broader trend of UK study costs is one-directional. Readiness, not panic, is the play.

The levy is one more line in a ledger that has been moving against late deciders all year — fees, visas, compliance, now this. The answer is not alarm; it is planning with current numbers instead of last year’s. For a fee-accurate comparison of your university options — including how each treats the levy years — book a free consultation, or start with our verified cost of studying in the UK guide and the most affordable universities list.