Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
Tuition rates are as follows: UK << EU <<elsewhere.
Tuition fees must be equal for all EU citizens as long as the UK remains a member. In some countries they could try to differentiate them by the language of instruction but this wouldn't work in the case of the UK for obvious reasons. Can you give an example of the rates being different for the UK and other EU nationals anywhere?
And in general this is because the UK government subsidizes the tuition fees of their nationals. Does the Chinese government subsidize travel expenses of the Chinese people?
In the US, there are different tuition rates for residents and non-residents. The interpretation of residency depends on the state but is not directly related to nationality. In the case of California, all it takes is being able to prove living there for more than a year, and foreigners can qualify as well. As far as I know even the immigration status is not verified.
I think what happened was probably just an unintended glitch in the system but in any case all these tuition analogies are just spurious.