Foundation year tuition fee limits

From academic year (AY) 2025/26, there'll be an introduction of lower-fee limits for 'classroom-based' foundation years.

The maximum tuition fee in AY 2025/26 for a 'classroom-based' foundation year depends on your provider category. It also depends on whether you have a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) award or an access and participation plan (APP) from the OfS. You can find further information on fee limits on GOV.UK.

The lower fee cap of up to £4,315 will apply to 'classroom-based' foundation years from 1 August 2025. 'Classroom-based' subjects are currently in OfS price group D. They take place in a classroom setting and do not include laboratory, studio, or fieldwork elements.

Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) codes determine the fee limit for a foundation year under the specified Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH) 03 groupings.

The list of lower-fee subjects and the HECoS codes are on GOV.UK.

When you're saving or adding a new part-time course which has a foundation year, you must add “Foundation Year” to the course title.

Single HECoS codes

When you're saving or adding a new course with a single HECoS subject code, if this is in the list of lower-fee subjects, there's a cap at the lower rate for the foundation year fee.

Courses that have any other single HECoS code attached (higher-fee subjects) can charge up to a maximum of £7,145.

If you need any HECoS code changes on existing courses, please contact ssin_queries@slc.co.uk.

Multiple HECoS codes

Where a course with an integrated foundation year has multiple HECoS codes (a combination of both lower-fee and higher-fee codes) you'll need to identify the proportion of HECoS codes that are in the lower-fee subject list.

• If more than 50% of the subject codes are lower-fee subjects, there should be a cap at the lower rate for foundation year tuition fees.
• If 50% or fewer of the HECoS codes are in the lower-fee subject list, there should be a cap at the higher rate for the foundation year tuition fees.

Providers in the rest of the UK

You should enter the fee rate you are charging for your course on CMS. Students who live in England and apply to study a 'classroom-based' foundation year in another part of the UK may qualify for tuition fee loans of up to £4,315. You should advise your students if this loan will not cover the full cost of their tuition fees.

Example:

If you're charging £5,000 for a foundation year, this is the fee you should enter on CMS.

An English student who applies to the course may be eligible for up to £4,315 tuition fee loan. This means they'll have an outstanding amount of £685 which they'll need to self-fund.