Since 1998-99, when the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly were established, higher education policies appear to have diverged across the four "home countries" of the UK. This divergence is most visible in the contrasting tuition-fee and student-support arrangements for students entering HE in 2012, and in the values and philosophies that underlie them. Devolution, it would appear, has started a process which is inexorably leading the four HE systems of the UK to go their own separate ways. Or has it? In this paper, the author suggests that the forces which keep the four systems together are at least as strong as those which pull them apart. There has been some divergence, and there will probably be more, but even this divergence has been constrained and shaped by the four systems' continuing interdependence. The UK dimension continues to be important. (Contains 2 tables.)