British nationals?living abroad?have called on UK universities to introduce a new tuition fee tier to put an end to the requirement?that they?pay international student prices.

Currently,?expats?may not be eligible for home fee status when they return to the UK for higher education and are instead required to pay international fees, which can be up to three times as much.

Many people who move abroad ¡°don¡¯t realise that when their kid finishes school and they get sent back to England, they are probably going to have to pay international fees¡±, said Simon Landy, head of the policy group for higher education fee reform at the British Overseas Voters Forum.

¡°It comes as something of a shock to a lot of people and it seemed to us that this was an inadvertent consequence of policy rather than a deliberate policy.¡±

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Although the system is designed to stop those who don¡¯t pay taxes in the UK from benefiting from subsidised education, a new policy paper from the British Overseas Voters Forum criticises this unequal treatment and highlights the inconsistent approach UK citizens living overseas face when applying to university.

Currently, institutions are left to decide whether or not a student qualifies for home fees.

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¡°Many overseas students will be offered a basket of home and international fees when applying to different institutions and often have to spend a great deal of time and money proving links to the UK in order to qualify for a home fee offer,¡± the paper says.

While data on the topic is scarce, Landy said that anecdotal evidence suggests that higher-tier universities may be less flexible on granting home fee status, leaving students forced to decide between paying international fees or studying at a university that was not their first choice.

¡°Families are put in a position where they are trying to second-guess the decision-making process,¡± the paper says. ¡°Some HEIs develop a reputation for being ¡®soft¡¯ on the home fee issue, others ¡®difficult¡¯.¡±

Landy said this ¡°advantages people who¡­have the financial resources to investigate these things or hire consultants to help them get the home fee status¡±.

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The paper also highlights the impact on UK universities, which may be losing out on students.

¡°The current policy is detrimental to the finances of HEIs in two ways: it encourages British overseas students to seek less expensive higher education options outside the British system and it fails to generate significant income for HEIs due to the many British overseas students who achieve home fee status,¡± it says.?

Instead, the group suggests introducing a new fee cap for British overseas students that falls between home and international fees.

It adds that overseas students applying to high-cost courses, such as medicine and dentistry, could be required to stay and work in the UK for a given period after graduating.

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The group also calls for these students to be able to access UK student loans and for the application process to be simplified by establishing a standard fee-status questionnaire for use by all higher education institutions.

The paper adds that universities should allow British overseas students to qualify for home-fee status if they or their parents or guardians have been paying UK income taxes prior to enrolment.

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¡°This is a way of bringing young Brits back into the system and hopefully they¡¯ll be creating economic benefit for the country,¡± said Landy.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com