# The Lifelong Learning (Student Support) (Amendment of Fees and Awards etc.) Regulations 2026, Paragraph 3

Extent: E+W

(1) In these Regulations, a “foundation year” is a period of study of 120 credits (or 1,200 notional learning hours), whether in a single course year or otherwise—
(a) that is integrated with an undergraduate course at the start of that course, and may be enrolled for at the same time as enrolling for that undergraduate course,
(b) that is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge that are needed for progressing to an undergraduate course,
(c) that a student must complete successfully in order to progress to the first year of an undergraduate course,
(d) that may result in the student being awarded a qualification that is separate from the qualification awarded as a result of completing the undergraduate course to which the student progresses, and
(e) that may, where contractual arrangements are in place, be undertaken at an institution (which may or may not be a registered higher education provider) that is different from the provider to which the student applied and with which the student has enrolled for the undergraduate course.
(2) In these Regulations, in relation to foundation years, “CAH3 code” means a Common Aggregated Hierarchy 3 code associated with a subject, as referred to in version 1.3.4 of the Higher Education Classification of Subjects coding system.
(3) In a foundation year—
(a) “lower fee foundation year study” is study for a foundation year where more than 50% of the CAH3 codes associated with the foundation year (for student loan purposes) are listed in the table in paragraph (4);
(b) “higher fee foundation year study” is study for a foundation year where 50% or less of the CAH3 codes associated with the foundation year (for student loan purposes) are listed in the table in paragraph (4).
(4) The table below lists certain subjects together with their respective CAH3 codes, for the purpose of determining the fee for a foundation year.
CAH3 version 1.3.4 subject name
CAH3 version 1.3.4 subject code
rural estate management
06-01-04
social sciences (non-specific)
15-01-01
sociology
15-01-02
social policy
15-01-03
anthropology (excluding forensic anthropology)
15-01-04
development studies
15-01-05
cultural studies
15-01-06
economics
15-02-01
politics
15-03-01
social work
15-04-01
childhood and youth studies
15-04-02
law
16-01-01
business and management (non-specific)
17-01-01
business studies
17-01-02
marketing
17-01-03
management studies
17-01-04
human resource management
17-01-05
finance
17-01-07
accounting
17-01-08
others in business and management
17-01-09
English studies (non-specific)
19-01-01
English language
19-01-02
literature in English
19-01-03
studies of specific authors
19-01-04
creative writing
19-01-05
others in English studies
19-01-06
linguistics
19-01-07
Celtic studies (non-specific)
19-02-01
Gaelic studies
19-02-02
Welsh studies
19-02-03
others in Celtic studies
19-02-04
American and Australasian studies
19-04-08
history
20-01-01
history of art, architecture and design
20-01-02
heritage studies
20-01-04
classics
20-01-05
philosophy
20-02-01
theology and religious studies
20-02-02
education
22-01-01
teacher training
22-01-02
combined, general or negotiated studies
23-01-01
personal development
23-01-02
humanities (non-specific)
23-01-03
liberal arts (non-specific)
23-01-04
publicity studies
24-01-02

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/858/schedule/1/paragraph/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/lifelong-learning-student-support-amendment-of-fees-and-awards-etc-regulations-2026/schedule-1/paragraph-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.