The Student Room Group

Should I study in the UK?

So, as you might imagine, Brexit has had a huge impact on EU students that had planned to study in the UK and I know that a lot of us that were to start this Autumn are not going to.
Provided that Unis have assured us that we're going to be eligible for student loans for the whole time of our course, what should I do? I'd love to be able to go to University, but I'm afraid about what is going to happen after undergraduate studies. I've accepted an offer for Law School, and the main problem about this is that I can't simply come back to Italy after undergraduate and do postgraduate here, because Law is a subject that is completely different in every country and in my country Law is a single, five-year course.
At the same time, I'm worried about this could affect my eligibility for postgraduate student loans, because I definitely can't afford to pay for postgrad on my own. So it would seem that I risk getting stuck, not being able to continue studying in the UK, and not being able to go back to my home country.
Also, I've seen a huge amount of racism and xenophobia as a result of the referendum. I know York voted to remain, but, honestly, how bad is it getting?
Original post by EleonoraDi
So, as you might imagine, Brexit has had a huge impact on EU students that had planned to study in the UK and I know that a lot of us that were to start this Autumn are not going to.
Provided that Unis have assured us that we're going to be eligible for student loans for the whole time of our course, what should I do? I'd love to be able to go to University, but I'm afraid about what is going to happen after undergraduate studies. I've accepted an offer for Law School, and the main problem about this is that I can't simply come back to Italy after undergraduate and do postgraduate here, because Law is a subject that is completely different in every country and in my country Law is a single, five-year course.
At the same time, I'm worried about this could affect my eligibility for postgraduate student loans, because I definitely can't afford to pay for postgrad on my own. So it would seem that I risk getting stuck, not being able to continue studying in the UK, and not being able to go back to my home country.
Also, I've seen a huge amount of racism and xenophobia as a result of the referendum. I know York voted to remain, but, honestly, how bad is it getting?


Ignore the hate crime, it will be fixed. UK isn't a stupid country I have LDR Italain bf who going to Cambridge University and yesterday I showed him that fees will be the same.
Postgraduate you get paid while learning anyway, well for what he will end up doing anyway.
Postgraduate isn't even expensive in UK, its quiet low but in your situation I'd say stay in Italy if you can't afford it, HOWEVER there are international student loans for people studying in UK.

https://www.futurefinance.com/uk
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 2
Go to Ireland instead.
Reply 3
Original post by Maker
Go to Ireland instead.


Believe me Maker, I'm severely tempted :frown:
I'd just hate losing a year, since applications have long since closed now...
Reply 4
Original post by ckfeister
Ignore the hate crime, it will be fixed. UK isn't a stupid country I have LDR Italain bf who going to Cambridge University and yesterday I showed him that fees will be the same.
Postgraduate you get paid while learning anyway, well for what he will end up doing anyway.
Postgraduate isn't even expensive in UK, its quiet low but in your situation I'd say stay in Italy if you can't afford it.


Well, the plan before Brexit was definitely to work and study at the same time, even for undergraduate, because even campus rent is super expensive and my parents can't afford to chip in for the fees. I've been working for the past three years so I have enough money to last me at least for the first couple of years, but no more than that.
I'm afraid about what this will all mean with a VISA. Will I have settled status? Will I have restrictions on the number of hours I can work?
Thanks for the link, by the way, I'll definitely check it out! :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by EleonoraDi
Well, the plan before Brexit was definitely to work and study at the same time, even for undergraduate, because even campus rent is super expensive and my parents can't afford to chip in for the fees. I've been working for the past three years so I have enough money to last me at least for the first couple of years, but no more than that.
I'm afraid about what this will all mean with a VISA. Will I have settled status? Will I have restrictions on the number of hours I can work?
Thanks for the link, by the way, I'll definitely check it out! :smile:


I don't know, but I think UK will accept free movement of people but reformed. I think your safe, just keep calm in the next few months as Britain going through a rapid shock and change. Np about link, just try your best... jobs will be less than before leaving EU ofcourse so it would be harder to find a job. UK is a very liberal, caring nation more than Europe mainland so we will sort things out ofcourse you won't be forced back due to fees changing.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by ckfeister
I don't know, but I think UK will accept free movement of people but reformed. I think your safe, just keep calm in the next few months as Britain going through a rapid shock and change. Np about link, just try your best... jobs will be less than before leaving EU ofcourse so it would be harder to find a job.


Yeah, I'll just try and worry about my finals right now and figure out after I've finished what to do. I don't have much time unfortunately, since I'll have to apply to Italian unis in the next few weeks if I want a place, but I'll see how it goes.
Thanks for your help!
Are you studying in London?
Original post by EleonoraDi
Well, if a student whose first language isn't even English can manage to make a better personal statement and interview that yours, I'd ask myself a couple of questions before trying to lay the blame on someone else. Just saying :wink:
(Oh, did you know that Universities have no fixed number of places they have to assign to EU students and that we pay exactly as much as you do, so they have no monetary reason to prefer us?)

What you will find is that many people are incapable of taking responsibility for their own failings. I'm a second generation immigrant who managed to get a job £2.50 above the minimum wage within two weeks of finishing my year 13 exams and with no prior experience. I'm now just finalising a contract for a commission-based role with a base rate well above minimum wage that will keep me very well during my four years at uni. This wasn't me taking an ethnically Briton's job - this was me bothering to get off my own backside and put myself out there; working hard to open opportunities for myself. If I sat back and said 'murr immigrants are taking all the jobs I stand no chance', I wouldn't be in this position now.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by saraxh
Are you studying in London?


No, I have a place this October at the University of York
Most of the racism is directed towards Eastern Europeans and non-whites.

Providing you speak English as good as you write it, I doubt anyone in York will really care about where you come from.
Original post by EleonoraDi
So, as you might imagine, Brexit has had a huge impact on EU students that had planned to study in the UK and I know that a lot of us that were to start this Autumn are not going to.
Provided that Unis have assured us that we're going to be eligible for student loans for the whole time of our course, what should I do? I'd love to be able to go to University, but I'm afraid about what is going to happen after undergraduate studies. I've accepted an offer for Law School, and the main problem about this is that I can't simply come back to Italy after undergraduate and do postgraduate here, because Law is a subject that is completely different in every country and in my country Law is a single, five-year course.
At the same time, I'm worried about this could affect my eligibility for postgraduate student loans, because I definitely can't afford to pay for postgrad on my own. So it would seem that I risk getting stuck, not being able to continue studying in the UK, and not being able to go back to my home country.
Also, I've seen a huge amount of racism and xenophobia as a result of the referendum. I know York voted to remain, but, honestly, how bad is it getting?


Just ignore that ignorant person. They arent representative of people in the UK.

1. The Issue of funding your degree. Think it will be fine. You are most likely to have finished it before we have left. You will be able to work during your degree.

2. For law, then most of the LPC courses are not covered by the new PGL.

3. Assuming you want to be a solicitor, then the key would be to get a training contract with a firm in your second year. They would then pay for your LPC, so you wouldnt have postgrad funding worries.

4. The sticking point might be about work permits, but I dont think that would happen as the UK wants access to the single market and freedom of movement comes with that. It is one of the dilemmas they have to resolve about whether they want it enough to allow free immigration. It all depends what boris wants and what the EU will agree to.

I doubt law firms know how they will respond at the moment if visas are withdrawn for EU students, but I doubt they will be or there will be transitional arrangements to cover you or they will be sympathetic. There is uncertainity, but still a good chance you could follow what you wanted to do.

If it were me and it was my dream, then I would do it.
If I was especially bright and knew I could succeed, then I would do it.

Don't forget law is competitive for everyone. Not everyone makes it.

Finally the racism/xenophobia, then I wouldnt let it worry you. You arent likely to encounter any or its only a small minority and thats mostly directed at Eastern Europeans asylum seekers and non whites. That is their mentality.

Highly unlikely you would experience any at Uni.
Reply 12
Original post by IFoundWonderland
What you will find is that many people are incapable of taking responsibility for their own failings. I'm a second generation immigrant who managed to get a job £2.50 above the minimum wage within two weeks of finishing my year 13 exams and with no prior experience. I'm now just finalising a contract for a commission-based role with a base rate well above minimum wage that will keep me very well during my four years at uni. This wasn't me taking an ethnically Briton's job - this was me bothering to get off my own backside and put myself out there; working hard to open opportunities for myself. If I sat back and said 'murr immigrants are taking all the jobs I stand no chance', I wouldn't be in this position now.


Yeah, I know the feeling... It's simply a question of getting up your a** and looking for a job, but apparently it's much easier just finding someone to blame.
Also, I've been paying my own high school tuition fees for the past three years by working and you have no idea how many people have told me that the job I was doing was better for an immigrant that "for a proper Italian girl". As if there were first and second class jobs and immigrants could only take certain jobs and not others. A job is a job you ungrateful jerks :angry:
Reply 13
Original post by TelAviv
Most of the racism is directed towards Eastern Europeans and non-whites.

Providing you speak English as good as you write it, I doubt anyone in York will really care about where you come from.


English is not a problem, no. However, I've seen multiple people ranting angrily about immigrants taking "their jobs", so I'm quite worried about how many employers are going to have this same idea and how that's going to affect my possibility of finding a job.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 14
Original post by 999tigger
Just ignore that ignorant person. They arent representative of people in the UK.

1. The Issue of funding your degree. Think it will be fine. You are most likely to have finished it before we have left. You will be able to work during your degree.

2. For law, then most of the LPC courses are not covered by the new PGL.

3. Assuming you want to be a solicitor, then the key would be to get a training contract with a firm in your second year. They would then pay for your LPC, so you wouldnt have postgrad funding worries.

4. The sticking point might be about work permits, but I dont think that would happen as the UK wants access to the single market and freedom of movement comes with that. It is one of the dilemmas they have to resolve about whether they want it enough to allow free immigration. It all depends what boris wants and what the EU will agree to.

I doubt law firms know how they will respond at the moment if visas are withdrawn for EU students, but I doubt they will be or there will be transitional arrangements to cover you or they will be sympathetic. There is uncertainity, but still a good chance you could follow what you wanted to do.

If it were me and it was my dream, then I would do it.
If I was especially bright and knew I could succeed, then I would do it.

Don't forget law is competitive for everyone. Not everyone makes it.

Finally the racism/xenophobia, then I wouldnt let it worry you. You arent likely to encounter any or its only a small minority and thats mostly directed at Eastern Europeans asylum seekers and non whites. That is their mentality.

Highly unlikely you would experience any at Uni.


Thanks for the answer, it was extremely exhaustive!
I actually don't really care much about being a solicitor, my main aspiration would be staying in academia in the field of healthcare, but I guess as long as I stay in the healthcare I don't really care. So you'd suggest I find a firm, right?
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by EleonoraDi
Thanks for the answer, it was extremely exhaustive!
I actually don't really care much about being a solicitor, my main aspiration would be staying in academia in the field of healthcare, but I guess as long as I stay in the healthcare I don't really care. So you'd suggest I find a firm, right?



On the one hand you say an offer for law school and on the other you want healthcare? How are you reconciling that?

You have some special interest or experience?

I cant see why you would be any worse off?

1. You know your first degree funding would be ok.
2. You are then relying on the PGL scheme for an MA/LLM/MSC? that is only £10k though?
3. It will still depend on what's negotiated. Nobody knows. You could do some research in what has happened with Norwegian and Swiss Unis in terms of a bilateral education agreements. My suspicion is that links are being maintained and i'd be more optimistic if I was from one of the traditional Western European members of the EU.
4. Whether or not you can build an academic career, whill depend on how good you are and have much less to do with what country you are from. Again its completely unclear what the Brexit campaigners are going to do about immigration or what deal they are going to reach. At one end there may be no chance in numbers at the other end some of the Brexiters want definite cuts to immigration and are quite xenophobic. Again a lot of that is aimed at Easter Europeans and non white asylum seekers.

ps I made the presumption of solicitor because of law school and postgrad.

I dont think its as grim as you think, but there is uncertainty. Feel free to drop me a pm if you have any other concerns. A lot of answers to questions you may have are simply unknown at this stage. Please dont be put off by racist or xenophobic idiots, they are only a small minority abd its ublikely you woyld experience or notice any if you came to study here.
Original post by EleonoraDi
English is not a problem, no. However, I've seen multiple people ranting angrily about immigrants taking "their jobs", so I'm quite worried about how many employers are going to have this same idea and how that's going to affect my possibility of finding a job.


The idea of immigrants "taking our jobs" is almost exclusively focused around low-skill jobs being taken by Eastern European migrants.

Being Italian and at awell-regarded university, I highly doubt any professional employer will discriminate against you on those grounds.

That said, if Britian doesn't get some free movement deal after it leaves the EU it will become much more difficult to get a job here for non-British graduates anyway.

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