International student levy: report on impact

Posted on Tuesday 7 October 2025

Economic modelling from Public First, commissioned by universities including York, provides empirical analysis aimed at influencing policy decisions and the potential consequences of the government's initial forecasts. 

Given the well documented financial challenges in the sector, the report concludes that most universities are unlikely to be able to take much of a hit to their bottom line, and therefore any levy will be passed on to international students in the form of fee rises.

Read Board member Joan Concannon’s comment piece about the report.

Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb, York SU Activities Officer, has written a comment piece for the Yorkshire Post about the issue.

She writes: “When we discuss the role of international students, we often forget the weight of the choices we make. Some students sacrifice almost everything to take up these sought-after opportunities. There is the obvious financial toll [...] the emotional toll, the inability to see family and friends; the stress of navigating visas; the challenges of studying in an entirely new education system [...] Such impactful decisions are never made on a whim, and remain deeply informed choices, balancing the world-class reputation of a university against the personal sacrifices.

“Simply put, international students understand the value of the degree they are pursuing even before their first steps on British soil. So why, it seems, doesn’t this government?”

Read a full transcript of her article: Government policy is threatening Britain’s reputation for world-class higher education.

Public First’s modelling suggests that a policy change that increases international student fees will lead to the loss of 16,100 international students in the first year of the levy, and 77,000 cumulatively in the first five years. 

This would mean a loss of £240 million of fee income to the sector, and the UK economy in the first year of the levy, and a loss of £2.2 billion cumulatively over five years.

This impact will not be spread evenly across the country, as international students tend to be concentrated around large universities. 

Public First have therefore also modelled the impact of the levy on the Gross Value Added (GVA) on every constituency in the UK each year, once the levy has bedded in.