NUS is a confederate association of around 400 students’ unions, representing the interests of more than seven million students. Around 95 per cent of all students’ unions throughout the country are affiliated to NUS, ranging from those based at small specialist colleges through to general further education colleges, large universities and higher education colleges.

Benefits of membership can be found on these pages.

Who can affiliate?

To be able to affiliate to NUS your students’ union must meet the following criteria:

• Must be a UK based students’ union
• Must be a students’ union whose institutions receive public funding for the provision of education and training
• Must only have learners aged 16 and over

The institution could be a private training provider, a charity, a further education college, school sixth form, college of higher education or university.

Don't have a students' union? Talk to us about setting one up. Our friends at NUS Charity have created a step-by-step guide to starting up a Students' Union.

How do we apply?

For more information on how you can become affiliated to NUS, please contact our Membership Team on [email protected]

Further queries

Q. How much does it cost to join?
A. Your affiliation fee will depend on your student numbers and students' union income. The minimum affiliation fee is £250 and varies by the block grant you receive.

When you contact the membership team to apply they will be able to discuss this with you further. 

Q: How do we leave membership of NUS UK?

A: The process for leaving NUS UK is outlined in the following two documents:

In accordance with the NUS articles, please find the relevant section below:

Termination of membership:

13.2.4 if they give written notice to the Directors before 1 July in the year in which they wish to withdraw from membership, this notice to take effect on 31 December of that year;

A resolution was also passed in December 2023 which added further clarification. The relevant section is below:

Clarifying our shared commitments is not only about the health of NUS UK but an agreement between students’ unions on how we will work fairly, consistently, and collectively, in our shared interests. If notice is served before 30 June, membership ends on 31 December of the same year. If notice is given after 30 June, membership ceases on 31 December of the following year. This all assumes a successful all-student vote has taken place. The all-student vote must be completed before notice is given; conditional notice has no legal standing. This is detailed in the Articles of Association. If members choose to leave by any other means, such as a board resolution, membership contributions would be payable for up to two years from the date of notice.