Are there university tuition fees in Scotland?

In a Scottish election leaflet from the SNP, First Minister and party leader John Swinney claimed “there are no university tuition fees in Scotland”.

That isn’t quite right, however. While many undergraduates have their degrees paid for, university tuition fees do need to be paid by some other students, including many taking postgraduate degrees.

The Scottish government does cover the cost of up to five years of mainly undergraduate study for full-time students ordinarily resident in Scotland who are studying in Scotland, meaning these eligible students do not pay tuition fees.

Undergraduate tuition fees for Scottish students are typically £1,820 a year. Students need to apply annually to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), an executive agency of the Scottish Government that supports higher education students with information and funding, to have these fees paid directly to their university. SAAS also covers the cost of the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) for eligible students, and provides tuition fee and living cost loans to students.

But there are tuition fees in Scotland for other types of students or degrees. Those undertaking a second undergraduate degree or repeating more than one year, for example, would pay fees.

Postgraduate students are also required to pay tuition fees, though some may access grants, scholarships or funding through other bodies.

And those moving to Scotland from other UK nations, or other countries, in order to study their first undergraduate degree are not eligible for free tuition fees.

In 2023, a Scottish Government-commissioned study found that in the 2023/24 academic year some 56% of postgraduate students in Scotland were paying tuition fees along with 12% of higher national and undergraduate students.

When we asked the SNP about the claim it told us: “The SNP is proud that we abolished Labour's tuition fees, meaning that Scotland is the only part of the UK where undergraduate students can study at university without needing to pay tuition fees. We will always protect the principle that education should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay.”