The Department for Education has announced that EU students applying for courses at English universities for the academic year 2017/2018 will be able to receive loans and grants until the end of their degree.
The announcement came after concerns were raised on the status of future EU students during the Conservative party conference.
In a statement on Tuesday, universities minister Jo Johnson said: "International students make an important contribution to our world-class universities, and we want that to continue.
"This latest assurance that students applying to study next year will not only be eligible to apply for student funding under current terms, but will have their eligibility maintained throughout the duration of their course, will provide important stability for both universities and students".
A total of 125,000 European students, who generate £3.7 billion for the UK economy, are currently in Britain. They pay the same fees and have access to the same loans as UK students. Confirmation was given earlier this year that current EU students and those starting courses this autumn will not face a change in status.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham earlier this month, Ben Howlett, the Tory MP for Bath, warned: "We know confidence in the higher education sector has been dented by Brexit. It's going to be challenging," adding that he wasn't sure if "there had been discussions that relate to" the effect on foreign students and that the issue "needed to be looked at".
Sorana Vieru, the National Union of Students' vice president for higher education, also told BuzzFeed News earlier this month: “The student vote to remain in the EU was strong because our campuses are international and our education is international. The government are playing with the lives of thousands of EU students as they continue to offer any commitment or protections to them and their status in our universities."
Vieru, an EU student herself, said: "I am ... due to finish studies after we leave the EU and I don't know what guarantees or rights I will have before I graduate or what would happen to my fee status."
She went on: “Our patience is wearing thin. Brexit very much means Brexit for all those EU students studying here right now who need assurances from the UK government on their status as a student, not just in terms of their fees and loans, but their right to remain and work after studying.
"It’s not just the quality of education and our institutions' global reputations that are under threat by the governments heel-dragging, it is the opportunity for UK students to exist and work in a globalised world and students from across the EU to make our institutions and our economy stronger.”