An overview for those supporting eligible applicants applying to undergraduate courses.
For students who have received UK government funded free school meals (FSM) during the last six years up until the end of their final year at school or college, we have waived the application fee. The fee waiver aims to open more doors to accessing higher education for disadvantaged students.
As the rising cost-of-living continues to present challenges to everyone, particularly those suffering financial hardship, I am keen to ensure that at UCAS, we do everything we can to support students in taking their next step.
We introduced a new application fee payment option in 2026 that can be used alongside other payment options, ensuring you can manage what students see on the payment page to suit your centre.
The free schools meals waiver payment option is only visible to students who have indicated their eligibility by selecting 'yes' to the FSM question in 'More about you' (UK applicants only).
Our detailed step-by-step guide will help you understand how the FSM fee waiver works.
Please share this guidance with your colleagues.
We'd appreciate your help to encourage your eligible students to share they have been in receipt of free school meals and support the process in the adviser portal.
Eligible students will need to:
For the FSM waiver to be applied we need registered centres to check that you have enabled the ‘Free school meals waiver’ option in your payment methods in Centre Management. Only students who answer ‘Yes’ to the FSM question in the ‘More about you section’ will see the ‘Free school meals fee waiver’ when they review, pay and submit. In the adviser portal provide agreement for those students who've shared they have been in receipt of UK government funded free school meals in the last six years
For full guidance on how using each fee payment option would work, see the adviser guide:
Your school/centre will not be invoiced for eligible FSM students who you provide agreement for in the adviser portal. If the application fee payment method is not reviewed to add the free school meals waiver option and eligible students ‘pay by card’ the fee waiver cannot be applied.
| Current application fee payment method | Action required |
|---|---|
| UCAS will send your centre an invoice | No action needs to be taken |
| All your applicants will pay online by credit or debit card | Select the FSM option in Centre Management to enable eligible students to select the FSM fee waiver. |
| Some applicants will pay online by card. UCAS will provide an invoice for remaining applicants (invoice to be paid by your centre) | Select the FSM option in Centre Management to enable eligible students to select the FSM fee waiver. |
In 2026, we introduced two new features to the adviser portal to help you better support students in accessing the FSM fee waiver from UCAS – enhanced filtering options and alerts help you identify which students may impact centre invoicing.
In abolishing the application fee for students who receive free school meals, UCAS has in a single swipe stopped money being the psychological barrier for students.
We are a trust that wants to broaden our students’ horizons and open their eyes to the world of possibility. Now, instead of being able to fund just one trip to a university open day, the saving afforded to us means that we can afford to pay for two open days, giving students more opportunity to get a flavour of what life is like at different universities.
From the 2027 cycle UCAS is extending its fee waiver initiative to include students who are care leavers. Building on the positive impact of the free school meals fee waiver, this new support will allow eligible applicants to have their application fee waived.
The care leaver fee waiver is a student-led process. We appreciate your support in promoting this fee waiver to care leaver students.
The legal definition of a care leaver comes from The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 which states that a Care Leaver is someone who has been in the care of the Local Authority for a period of 13 weeks or more spanning their 16th birthday. A care leaver in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is eligible for the fee waiver up until their 25th birthday, in Scotland they are eligible up until their 26th birthday.
The questions in the UCAS application asks about ‘care experience’ which is a broader term than care leaver. Care experience can include students who have spent a shorter period of time in care or those who have had informal kinship care arrangements for example.
For the 2027 cycle, only students who are currently enrolled at school or college and have been in receipt of UK government funded free school meals at some point during the last six years (i.e. during their secondary education) up until the end of their final year, will be eligible to have the application fee waived.
Students applying from the independent school sector can indicate their financial circumstances would have made them eligible for UK government funded free school meals in the past six years. This can be verified by teachers/advisers using confirmation through the student’s previous school or college, a letter of confirmation from the local authority, or using the Bursary Assessment Associates contextualised data service.
Students who are not currently enrolled at a school or college, but who are applying through a registered centre and can demonstrate to the centre they have been in receipt of UK government funded free school meals at some point during the last six years, are eligible to have the application fee waived.
England guidance
Scotland guidance
Northern Ireland guidance
Wales guidance
The legal definition of a care leaver comes from The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 which states that a Care Leaver is someone who has been in the care of the Local Authority for a period of 13 weeks or more spanning their 16th birthday. A care leaver in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is eligible for the fee waiver up until their 25th birthday, in Scotland they are eligible up until their 26th birthday.
Care leavers will need to upload supporting information using document upload and follow the process to receive the fee waiver.
This information is shared (securely) with those who are responsible for supporting the student at university or college, and it is treated confidentially.
Knowing about an applicant's circumstances may also help admissions staff take their achievements into account and gain a better understanding of their achievements and potential in context. They may be able to offer additional support during their studies (e.g. through a scholarship or bursary scheme), or events or activities to help them prepare for higher education. Some may use this information to decide whether to make them a contextual offer.
The information an applicant provides in their UCAS application may also be used (anonymously) for monitoring purposes. This helps the university to inform and improve the support they provide to students in the future. The data is kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018: read our privacy policy.
The information students give about their care experience is treated sensitively and only shared with those who are responsible for arranging their support (e.g. the student support team). Knowing about their circumstances may also help admissions staff consider their achievements more fully. This is called contextual admissions.
In Scotland, you're guaranteed a place at university if you are care experienced and meet the minimum entry requirements – find out more.
The university or college may get in touch with the applicant to let them know more about how they can support them. Not all universities and colleges offer the same type of support, so students should research their options before applying to check what they offer.
The applicant is always in control – if they decide they don’t want support, they can choose not to accept it. But if they change their mind later on, or circumstances change, it’s ready for them.
Find out more about sharing information about care experience in the application, on our FAQs page and in our blog article, Three reasons to tick the box.
The information an applicant provides in their UCAS application may also be used (anonymously) for monitoring purposes. This helps the university to inform and improve the support they provide to students in the future. The data is kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018: read our privacy policy.
For the FSM waiver to be applied to undergraduate applications, we will accept agreement from teachers/advisers via the Adviser Portal for those students who share within the application, they are or have been in receipt of FSM.
For the care leaver fee waiver to be applied, we require applicants to upload supporting information using document upload.
To support the fee waiver and universities and colleges, we ask care leaver students to upload official and relevant documents. This could include:
The claiming of free school meals is a rigorous and widely accepted measure of acute financial hardship. In research conducted by the Sutton Trust, the number of years that a child has been eligible for free school meals is the best available marker for childhood poverty.
It is also the only defined widening participation characteristic which directly links to the individual’s circumstances of financial disadvantage (as opposed to postcode data, family background, school type). It is also already widely used in the education and higher education sector as a critical indicator of where to target resources, such as bursaries and contextual offers, to support those from low-income households to succeed.
Care leavers can face many barriers in going to university or college, often experiencing a lack of family support and a financial safety net. Waiving the application fee will remove a key barrier at a pivotal moment, allowing them to decide on their next steps based on ambition rather than affordability.
This builds on a successful first year of the initial fee waiver, where 40,000 students on free school meals benefitted from the scheme.
UCAS is working to ensure that every student, regardless of background, has the same opportunity to progress to higher education.
At this stage we are only planning to waive the fee for FSM and care leaver applicants. However, we know that this move will benefit many other under-represented groups within higher education, due to the high levels of overlap with other characteristics.
The application fee is not meant to prevent anyone from applying to university. There should always be a way to cover the fee.
You could encourage your students to contact your university or college directly as they may also have schemes to pay for application fees in some circumstances.
For students in certain circumstances, there may be other sources of financial help: Learn all about filling in your UCAS application for uni
As per existing logic to application management, staff who can view applications with either the ‘approve’ or ‘send applications’ permission can also agree answer to the FSM question.
Once you pay by card (even if eligible), this cannot be reversed; a fee waiver cannot be applied after the pay and submit process has been completed.
It’s important that students who might be eligible for the FSM application fee waiver do not enter any card details.
If a student has answered ‘No’ or ‘Don’t know’ or leaves the question unanswered in ‘More about you’ the ‘Apply with FSM waiver’ payment option will not be visible.
The invoice option only appears for those centres who choose the hybrid option via the adviser portal.
For those applicants who choose the ‘invoice’ option by mistake and submit to their school/college, there is an option for the adviser to return their application and include a message to the student to ‘pay by card’ along with any other updates to the application.
It's worth noting:
We understand introducing a new process may generate genuine mistakes despite best endeavours and intentions.
Please email reform@ucas.ac.uk if you believe a mistake has been made when agreeing that an applicant should receive the application fee waiver.
Yes. We know many centres support ex-students with their applications and to be able to support those students who have been in receipt of FSM they must link to you as a ‘full application’ as opposed to ‘reference only’. If the student shares they have been in receipt of FSM, you will need to answer in the adviser portal as you would with your current cohort.
Your school/college must be able to agree a student has been in receipt of free school meals in order to waive the application fee.
If this information is not available through your school/college information system, the student will need to provide evidence to you. Examples of this evidence could include confirmation through their previous school or college, or a letter of confirmation from the local authority.
Yes – students who have been in receipt of FSM and are making a conservatoire application will be contacted directly via email with further instructions when they declare they are in receipt of free school meals in the ‘More about you’ section of the application.
Conservatoires provide performance-based higher education, including music, drama, screen and production courses – both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. You can find more information about conservatoires here.
Yes – students who are care leavers and are making a conservatoire application will follow the same process as the undergraduate care leaver fee waiver.
Conservatoires provide performance-based higher education, including music, drama, screen and production courses – both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Find out more about conservatoires.
The school/college must be able to agree a student has been in receipt of government funded free school meals in order to waive the application fee.
If this information is not available through your school/college information system, the student will need to provide evidence. This could include confirmation through their previous school or college or a letter of confirmation from the local authority.
No, the fee waiver is only applicable for students who have been in receipt of government funded free school meals.
Details can be found below of the eligibility criteria and how to apply for government funded free school meals:
