Welsh Ministers have made the Education (Student Finance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026. Signed by Vikki Howells on 13 January 2026, the instrument takes effect on 5 February 2026 and applies to academic years beginning on or after 1 August 2026. It updates eligibility tests, immigration references and several administrative provisions across undergraduate and postgraduate support.
The amendments span the Education (Fees and Awards) (Wales) Regulations 2007, the Higher Education (Qualifying Courses, Qualifying Persons and Supplementary Provision) (Wales) Regulations 2015, the Student Support regulations for 2017 and 2018, and the postgraduate Doctoral (2018) and Master’s (2019) schemes. The Education (European University Institute) (Wales) Regulations 2014 are revoked, with consequential omissions to tidy cross‑references.
Assessment points for eligibility are clarified. For fee status under the 2007 regulations and “qualifying person” status under the 2015 regulations, category tests are taken on the day the first term of the first academic year actually begins for new entrants, and otherwise on the first day of each academic year. The 2015 instrument is redrafted so that persons falling within paragraphs 2A and 8A are assessed on that basis, alongside specified exceptions.
The definition of “person granted leave to enter or remain as a protected partner” is widened across all affected instruments to include bereaved partners of Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veterans discharged before 1 July 1997. This applies to leave granted under AF (GHK) 14.1 from 5 October 2023 and to earlier grants made outside the Immigration Rules. Their children are in scope. The effect is to confirm eligibility for home fee status, fee limits and student support under undergraduate and postgraduate schemes.
Routes for protected Ukrainian nationals are aligned. The Regulations now reference the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme alongside the Family Scheme, Homes for Ukraine and the Ukraine Extension Scheme under Appendix Ukraine Scheme. The ordinary residence test is simplified so that applicants must be ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands and have not ceased to be so, mirroring the formulation already used for family members.
Overseas territories references are updated for accuracy. Mentions of the “Netherlands Antilles” are replaced with “the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands” and Aruba is removed as a standalone entry. This is a technical change and does not alter substantive eligibility beyond terminology alignment.
Obsolete undergraduate constructs are removed from the 2017 regulations. The disused college fee loan product and its schedule are repealed, associated definitions of “college fees/loan”, “qualifying course” and “qualifying student” are deleted, and application‑time references to college fee loans are stripped out to reflect current practice.
Parallel tidying occurs in the 2018 undergraduate scheme. Oxbridge college fee loans (Part 16 and Schedule 5) are abolished, cross‑references in “ceased to have leave” provisions are removed, and the definition of “fees” no longer carves out Oxbridge college fees. The time‑limit table for applications is re‑set to list tuition fee and maintenance loans, including additional amounts where relevant.
Interaction with healthcare bursaries is tightened. In the 2017 regime, the uplift to maximum maintenance is unavailable where a student receives a healthcare bursary or universal healthcare bursary calculated by reference to income, even if the assessment yields a nil award. The 2018 scheme mirrors this for extended‑year loans and adds that sandwich years with under ten weeks of study are excluded unless the placement constitutes unpaid service, which is defined to include specified NHS, local authority, justice and research settings across the UK.
Support for care leavers is strengthened. Under the 2018 regulations, Grants for Dependants for care leavers are now set at the aggregated maximums rather than a tapered calculation. The adult dependants grant provision is adjusted so that the new care‑leaver rule interacts correctly with household‑two‑student scenarios.
Armed forces mobility protections are consolidated. Eligibility is preserved for distance learners studying outside the UK where the student, or a close relative, is serving in the armed forces. Equivalent wording is inserted across tuition fee, maintenance, Disabled Students’ Grant and dependants’ grant conditions so that being unable to be in Wales on day one due to overseas service does not disadvantage the applicant.
Pandemic and other transitional drafting is removed. Coronavirus‑specific definitions and exceptions are stripped from the 2018 and 2019 frameworks, the “students living in more than one location” provision is omitted, and references to an obsolete Northern Ireland body are corrected alongside updates reflecting current NHS England structures.
For postgraduate support, eligibility now terminates immediately before the relevant day where a person’s protected partner leave (or a child’s linked status) has expired and no further leave has been granted. This applies to both doctoral loans and master’s support, providing a clear endpoint aligned to immigration status.
Providers and Student Finance Wales should prepare for the 2026/27 admissions and awards cycle on the basis of these rules. Practical steps include updating guidance on first‑day category tests, training caseworkers on the expanded protected partner definition and the revised Ukraine routes, and removing residual references to Oxbridge or college fee loans. With commencement on 5 February 2026 and application from 1 August 2026, the changes will shape funding decisions for courses starting in autumn 2026.