Bursary
Maintenance funding or bursaries, are funds that are paid to eligible Further Education students to help cover living costs. You don’t need to pay bursaries back. Whether you are eligible to receive a bursary, and how much you are able to receive is means-assessed. This means that if your partner or parents make above certain amounts, the amount of bursary you can get is reduced.
Below is a general breakdown of the types of bursaries you can apply for, however any actual bursary you may receive will be subject to your application and assessment.
Please note, when your age is part of the eligibility criteria it is your age on the first day of your course. If your birthday is during your course, this will not change the type of bursary you can receive.
Students Under 18
If you are under 18, you may be eligible to apply for Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
Students Living At Home
If you are aged 18-24 and live at your parental home you can receive up to £99.35 per week.
Students Living Away From Home
If you are under 18 and living away from home you can get up to £49.91 on top of your EMA per week.
If you are 18-24, you can get up to £125.55 per week.
Self-Supporting Students
To be considered a self-supporting student, you must meet at least one of the below criteria:
- Be 25 or over
- Be living with your partner or spouse
- Have a dependent child
- Be estranged from or have no living parents
- Have supported yourself financially for at least 36 months not including any time in full-time education
If you are a self-supporting student you can get up to £125.55 per week.
Universal Credit
Most students will not be able to remain on Universal Credits (UC) while studying full-time. However there are exceptions, see the Universal Credit Guide for guidance on whether you will be able to stay on UC. (For further information, contact the Department of Work and Pensions)
If you are not able to remain on UC while studying, you will need to close your claim before you will be eligible to receive any bursary funding from the college.
If you are staying on UC, then you can receive a Universal Credit Top-Up Bursary of £28 per week.
Care Experienced
You are ‘Care Experienced’ if you have been in care or ‘looked-after’ at any time in your life. This could be in many forms such as:
- Foster Care
- Being looked after by a family member or friend under a Formal Kinship Care arrangement
- Looked after at home with a compulsory supervision order
- Residential Care
If you are classed as Care Experienced, then you can get a bursary of £225 per week and this is not means-assessed.
