A YORK teenager's university plans are in jeopardy and her brother may have to leave university, because they haven't lived in Britain for the past three years.

Hannah Campbell, 18, who was adopted as a baby from an Ethiopian orphanage by her parents Jill and Gary, and is a British citizen, has been offered a place at Loughborough University in September.

Her brother Joshua, 18, who was also adopted by the Campbells and is a British citizen, started at Swansea University last September.

But he found in November he was not entitled to a student loan because he had not resided in the UK for the past three years and, after losing an appeal, may now have to withdraw from university, and Hannah looks set to be hit by the same rule later this year.

Their mother Jill, who was awarded the MBE in 2014 for looking after sick people and running a feeding programme for homeless people living on the streets of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, says she does not believe it is fair for her children to have to wait for three years to attend university.

"We have always paid our national insurance voluntary contributions for every year spent outside the country," she said.

"We are not asking for a hand out but a loan for our British children who have worked so hard. The loan will be repaid.

"We adopted Joshua and Hannah from the Mother Teresa’s Orphanage in 1997 and endeavoured to stay in Ethiopia to allow them to be part of their birth culture. They became British citizens within a year of us adopting them.

"We also immersed them in British culture bringing the children home to Britain every summer. They also attended Sandford International School, formerly known as Sandford English Community School. They completed their IGCSE’s as well as their IB qualifications."

She said the law made it extremely difficult for any British person who had worked abroad. "It penalises children of parents who are teachers, aid workers and average British citizens working overseas," she said.

The couple have started an online petition on the 38 degrees website, calling for a review of the three year rule. More than 400 people have signed it so far.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “The residency requirement for eligibility for student funding is a long-standing test of a reasonable and relevant connection to the UK.”

He added that the three year requirement had been consistently upheld by the High Court as a justified test and was clearly stated in eligibility criteria, which could be found at https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/who-qualifies.