You are counted as a student for Council Tax purposes if you are:
- undertaking a full-time course at a college or university in the UK, including universities within the European Union, or worldwide under the Turing or Erasmus+ programmes.
- under 20 years old and in part-time or full-time education
- a foreign language assistant registered with the British Council's Education and Training Group and working at a school or other educational establishment
What is a full-time course
A full-time course is one that:
- lasts at least one academic year, or one calendar year if the establishment doesn’t have academic years
- normally requires 24 weeks or more of study in each academic or calendar year
- involves an average of at least 21 hours a week of study, tuition, work experience, or a combination of these
Courses that do not qualify
The types of courses that do not qualify are; day release courses, block release courses and part time and evening courses which do not meet the minimum requirement of 21 hours of study per week.
Students studying English at language schools
English language school courses in Oxford do not meet the criteia of a qualifying course for Council Tax purposes. Usually these courses are for pupils under 18 years of age, and therefore not liable to pay council tax, and the courses are typically not long enough to qualify under the student criteria.
