Urgh, how many times is this discussed? How have you only just found out?
Nobody gave a damn until the English and Welsh voted in the Conservatives who put up fees in England and Wales. Issue? Don't moan at Scotland and its people for voting in a government that looks after its people.
-Under an EU agreement, students from OTHER EU MEMBER STATES must be treated the same as local students.
-The UK is an EU member state; England and Scotland, as far as the EU is concerned, are regions of the UK.
-Scotland, can, therefore decide to charge however much it likes to students from other areas of the UK. It is an internal UK matter, and if they wanted to stop it then Westminster could legislate that residents of one area can not be discriminated against in the provision of services in another. Watch the chaos that would ensue.
-Scotland has education as a devolved power, and made its decision to allow Scottish domiciled students to study free in Scotland. Therefore students from other member states in the EU are also entitled to.
And the Scottish Government would love to find a way round it so that they can charge something to EU students too.
Understand?