FE Funding

Bursary and Education Maintenance Allowance rates 2023/24

The figures below are the maxiumum allowance based on household income.

Self-supporting Students

• £113 per week

Parentally supported students (under 25yrs old)

• Away from parental home - £113 per week
• At parental home - £89.42

Student (lone parent or part of joint UC claim) in receipt of Universal Credit

• £28 per week

Care-Experienced Award

• £225 per week

Students under 18 EMA (household income below £24,421 for 1 child, £26,884 more than 1 child)

• £30 per week

FE Hardship Fund - max, for single people mainly to help with rent

• £100 per week

Travel allowance

• Mileage - for more than 2 miles from centre. Capped at £12 per day - 20p per mile
• Students under 22 or 60+ - National Entitlement Card to be used

Childcare

• Paid for teaching weeks only, with regitered childcare provider

Under 25 at the start of your course?

If you are under the age of 25 at the start of your course you are usually assessed as still being financially dependent on your parents, regardless of whether you still live with them or get any money from them. This means that you will have to provide your parents’ financial details (P60s, proof of benefits, pensions etc). If you still live with them then the maximum bursary you might receive is £89.42 per week. If you live away from them then you can still get up to a maximum of £113 per week, dependent on their income. You might also be able to apply for Hardship Fund if you have rent to pay.

There are times though when even though you are under 25 you can be assessed separately from your parents, again regardless of whether you still live with them or not. These are:

• Both parents are deceased – you will need to provide evidence for this.
• You have a child who is dependent on you (e.g. your own child, you are a lone parent or you are financially responsible for and look after a sister or brother)
• You are married or living with a partner – your partner’s income will then be taken into account
• Estranged from parents – you will need supporting evidence of estrangement, see later section
• You have supported yourself for 3 or more years through employment or benefits – you will need to provide evidence for 3 separate tax years with income of £3,500 or more in each year.

You may be eligible to continue/start a claim for benefits and as a result will not be awarded the Maintenance Allowance but will still be considered for Travel Allowance and Study Allowance. The main groups which this applies to are: Lone Parents, severely disabled students, young students estranged from parents, students living with a partner who make a joint Universal Credit (UC) claim. Students who currently claim or may be eligible to claim UC (which may include the Housing Element for help with rent) may be awarded a Maintenance Allowance of £28 per week and still receive their UC. UC disregard the first £28 of FE Bursary

Students and benefits

The rules around when a student can and cannot remain on benefits can be very complicated. These rules are set by DWP and we have a duty to ensure that when we process any student funding applications we follow these rules. Ultimately DWP are the ones who decide if you are eligible to remain on a benefit or should no longer have it but apply for a bursary instead. If you are unsure then please check with DWP.

If you are eligible to continue/start a claim for benefits then you may not be awarded the bursary allowance for living costs, but you should still make the bursary application as you will still be considered for Childcare, Travel Allowance and Study Allowance. The main groups which this applies to are: Lone Parents, severely disabled students, young students estranged from parents, students living with a partner who make a joint Universal Credit (UC) claim. Students who currently claim or may be eligible to claim UC (which may include the Housing Element for help with rent) may be awarded a Maintenance Allowance of £28 per week and still receive their UC. UC disregard the first £28 of FE Bursary.

Benefits that are likely to stop when you become a student:

• Universal Credit or Job Seekers if you are single
• Carer’s Allowance – you must inform DWP if you become a full time student
• Work related ESA
• Housing benefit
• Working tax credit

Benefits that may continue when you become a student:

• Non-work related ESA
• Universal credit – if you are a lone parent, living with a partner and you have a joint UC claim. Any bursary payment will be reduced to £28 per week
• Child tax credit (not on UC claim)
• PIP and Disability Living Allowance

These lists are not exhaustive and we cannot give benefits advice. If you are not sure then please contact someone at DWP

Submitting funding evidence

It is important that you provide the right evidence and that it can be clearly read. Make sure that it is:

• For the correct year (P60s, Tax Credit Award letters)
• Bank statements - the name and account number can also be clearly seen (screenshots of individual payments are not acceptable)
• All pages of any tax credit award notices are included – and that the whole page including the page number can be seen
• Universal Credit statements – the full statements of the most recent UC payment must be provided, not just the summary page.

Different evidence will be required for different situations so please check your funding page on your student hub to see what you might need to provide.

You can send us photographs of your evidence but you must make sure that:

• all your information is in focus and readable
• we need to see your name & address or name & account details on the document
• we need to see page numbers for documents with multiple pages
• we need all pages for documents with multiple pages
• tenancy agreement - only need address, rent and your signatures

Here are some examples of the types of documents you may need to submit as evidence.

Acceptable example - Universal Credit Monthly Statement

Acceptable example - Bank Statement

Acceptable example - HMRC P60 and HMRC Personal Tax Account

Acceptable example - HMRC Self Employment SA032

Travel, textbooks, and protective clothing

Even if you are not applying for funding for living costs, you should make a Bursary applications to ensure you get travel costs (for eligible students), and that any textbooks or course equipment costs are covered. See the attached document for more information about the travel allowance.

Your bursary or EMA application will also cover the costs of any protective clothing, kit or study aids such as core text books. If you are not awarded any bursary or fail to complete your funding applications then you will have to pay some of these course-related expenses.

Travel allowance

The Scottish Government provides free Bus Travel to Young people under 22 years, persons 60+ years and Disabled travellers. If you meet the criteria to access free bus travel, you are expected to use this for all college related travel where possible. No Travel Allowance will be awarded from FE Bursary funds to you for the time you are eligible for free bus travel even if you choose to travel by car/car-share for your convenience.

You will only be considered for a Travel Allowance if you:

• Are under 22 years of age and do not live on or near a bus route thus you require either to use your own or train transport to get you to college in good time for classes or
• Are 22-59 years, and you live 2 miles or more from the college or
• Require to take a dependent child/ren to school or childcare which would require you to use your own transport or
• You have a disability that means you have to use a taxi or other means that have a cost in order to get to and from college.

Travel allowance is awarded for the most economical/cost effective, direct travel route on public transport. This is a requirement of the Scottish Funding Council who issue the College with Student Support Funds. If this is not suitable, please provide full details of your travel needs in the Additional Information section of your funding application.  If you need to use a car because there is no public transport available then this is calculated at a rate of 20p per mile.

There is a maximum travel allowance of £12 per day.  If your travel costs more than this you may need to pay the additional cost yourself.

Childcare

You may be eligible for help with the cost of childcare while you are studying - visit our funding guide for further details.

The childcare fund is available to both Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) (HNC and above) levels to assist students on a low income with their childcare costs when using registered childcare providers. This money is paid directly to the childcare provider, but a weekly timesheet must be completed both by the provider and the student, and this then submitted to us for payment.

Childcare funds are discretionary and limited - this means that even though you may be eligible to apply, funding is allocated on a first come first served basis and may run out. Payments may also be withheld if attendance or behaviour is not satisfactory.

FIND REGISTERED CHILDCARE PROVIDERS IN YOUR AREA

Information for care experienced, estranged and student carers

If you have been in care (residential, foster care, kinship care for example) then you are entitled to some additional support during your time in college. You could be eligible for the Care Experienced Bursary, which is £225 per week.

There is a named person – Meredyth Reynolds – who can support you and help with accessing any services that you need. You can contact her by email: Meredyth.reynolds@uhi.ac.uk

Estranged students - If you are under 25 and irreconcilably estranged from both of your biological or adoptive parents or only living parent, then you would be considered an estranged student. If you are estranged then please let us know at ACBursary@uhi.ac.uk and we can give you extra support to complete your funding application. Read more about this below.

Students who are Carers - If you have caring responsibilities we may be able to give you more support. See the Student Carers section below.

Support for care experienced students

Estranged students

Student Carers

How attendance affects your funding

You need to attend your classes at the times specified in your course timetable. Your lecturers take registers for each class and your attendance is checked before each bursary or EMA payment is made.

Please take the time to read the Attendance procedures for students below. 

All student funding awards are based on good attendance, satisfactory engagement with your learning and reasonable behaviour. If your attendance falls below 85% in any week then that week’s funding may be stopped. Your centre manager will have a meeting with you to talk about your attendance and to support you to improve it. If there is no improvement then you will be asked to sign an attendance agreement and to abide by it. Remember that if your attendance, engagement or behaviour is poor you will lose your student funding and you may be asked to leave the course.

It is recognised that situations do arise where you may have to miss a small amount of class time and there are some absences that may be considered acceptable and not affect your funding.

Reporting Absences

You must report your absence as soon as possible, and you can do this using this online form on the college website. There is also a tile on your MyDay page that will take you straight to the absence reporting form. If you are absent for an appointment, then you must send a copy of your appointment card or letter to ACBursary@uhi.ac.uk or your absence will not be authorised. Any absence information given will be treated in confidence.

If you are ill for more than 5 days then you will need to provide a doctor’s certificate and this period of illness will not affect your funding. Self-certification certificates are not accepted.

Over the duration of your course you may have up to 4 weeks (or 2 weeks for a Short Full Time course) of medical certificates before your bursary or EMA is stopped. When you return to college you must hand in your medical certificate to your centre staff. If you do not do this then the absence will be counted as un-authorised and you will lose your funding. If you are going to be absent for longer than 4 weeks then you will be withdrawn from your course although this will be looked at on a case by case basis.

If your absence is not authorised then your funding will be stopped for any week where attendance is less than 85%. This includes any travel, hardship and childcare funds so if your childcare provider still requires to be paid for that time you must do this from your own pocket.

Attendance procedures for students

See some examples of acceptable reasons for absence

Addressing Digital Poverty

Help with IT equipment and connectivity

If you don’t have a suitable computer or laptop, or you have a poor broadband connection and you can’t afford to upgrade, we may be able to help – your local centre staff will be able to advise you more fully and can accept your application to the correct fund.