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Business model

Student fees first. University partnerships second, with the rules published before the first fee is taken.

Each revenue line is sequenced behind the evidence, contract or permission it needs. Only the first exists in any form today, and only as a plan.

Pilot 2027 · Phase 1 2028

Student service fees

  • £49 introductory fee for three universities
  • £20 per additional university; £30 priority handling
  • Translation and apostille passed through at cost

Status: planned. No regulatory permission is needed beyond ICO registration and consumer-law compliance. Price under review after the pilot.

From 2028 · requires signed agreements

University partnerships

  • Flat per-enrolment fee, the same for every partner, published openly
  • Labelled sponsored listings
  • Later: inbound applications to UK universities from EU students

Status: no agreements exist. Flat fees rather than a percentage of tuition so that no course is worth more to us than another; see the independence policy below.

Conditional · 2029 or later

Relocation and ancillary services

  • Housing, insurance and banking referrals
  • Visa support only with appropriately regulated advisers
  • Study-finance introductions only with FCA authorisation or an authorised principal

Status: not in the forecast. Credit broking is a regulated activity and a potential SEIS exclusion issue; any such line stays immaterial to the business and is subject to professional advice.

Commercial-independence policy, in draft

Before any partner fee is accepted we will publish, and hold ourselves to, the following.

  1. Eligibility results are produced from published entry requirements and never depend on whether a university pays us.
  2. Search results rank by the criteria the student chooses. Any paid placement is labelled as such.
  3. Partner fees are a flat amount per enrolled student, identical across partners and published on this site.
  4. Advisers are not paid by partner outcomes.
  5. Students are told, before they choose a university, whether it is a partner.

Unit economics · one application at £49, including average add-ons

At the introductory price the service roughly breaks even per application. That is a choice, and a lever.

With fully loaded adviser time, payment processing, software, a refund allowance and a £15 blended acquisition cost, a £49 application contributes about £7 before VAT registration and a loss of about £3 after it. Growth in margin comes from three places: automation of document checking, partner fees, and a price review after the pilot. The financials below let you test the price.

  • Adviser time, 35 min per university × 3.2 on average at £17/hr loaded £31.73
  • Payment processing (1.5% + 20p) £1.06
  • Software and AI £1.50
  • Refund allowance £1.50
  • Blended acquisition cost £15.00
  • Contribution after acquisition £6.70 · 12%

Blended fee £57.50 assumes 20% of applicants add one university and 15% take priority handling: assumptions, not data. Once VAT-registered, £57.50 gross is £47.92 net and contribution after acquisition is about −£2.88. Card fees per Stripe UK pricing. Full workings in the financial model note.