Fee caps

We’ll add your provider fee cap to the Courses Management Service (CMS). The fee cap depends on your domicile and will be the maximum amount stated by:

• the Office for Students (OfS)
• the Higher Education Council for Wales (HEFCW)
• the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland (DfENI)
• the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)
• the Department for Education (DfE) – The Secretary Of State specific designation

This cap is set for both full-time and part-time courses.

When you enter fee information at course level, you will not be able to enter a fee rate higher than your OfS category maximum.

If you’re in the Approved category, there is no statutory fee limit, but your students will only be able to apply for a tuition fee loan up to your OfS category maximum.

When your student applies on the customer portal, if the tuition fee charged is more than the Tuition Fee Loan borrowed, they will have to self-fund any remaining amount.

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) status

Your Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) status can affect your provider fee cap. Providers with TEF status from the Office for Students (OfS) can charge a higher fee amount than providers without TEF status.

Your fee caps will be set at the maximum amount as outlined on the fee limits information published on the OfS website. If you achieve TEF status and are in either of the following categories

• Approved
• Approved (fee cap without an Access and Participation Plan)

Your fee caps will be set at the amount outlined on your most recent Access and Participation Plan if you achieve TEF status and are in the ‘Approved (fee cap) with an Access and Participation Plan’ category. There may not always be an update to the fee caps on CMS if you are in this category.

It’s at your discretion whether you apply the higher TEF fee amount to all course years for all students, or only set it to course year one for new students. You must submit fee change of circumstance notifications for direct entry students who apply to a course year with a fee amount that’s lower than the provider fee cap.