The majority of UK full-time students are funded by the ‘Student Finance’ system which provides assistance with paying tuition fees, a Maintenance Loan and Grant for living costs and certain other grants - outlined below. Scottish students are funded through SAAS.

New undergraduates in 2014 will need to apply to their national Student Finance office. There are separate offices depending on whether you live in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. Details are available at www.gov.uk/student-finance where you can also apply online or download the application (PN1). You should apply early in order to be sure that you receive your funding at the start of the academic year in September 2014.

In order to be generally eligible for Student Finance funding you need to:

• have ‘settled status’ in the UK*; and
• have been ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK for 3 years before the start of the course*; and
• be ordinarily resident in the UK at the start of the course

*Refugees who have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK do not need to fulfil the 3 years residence requirement; asylum seekers who have been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, or Humanitarian Protection, do need to fulfil the 3 years residence requirement.

European citizens classed as EEA Migrant Workers (or their spouses or children), and EU nationals who have lived in the UK for 3 years before the start of their course, may also be eligible.  Certain European students are eligible for fees support only from the Student Loans Company EU Team – telephone 0141 243 3570 for a form or visit  www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance

Students who have already studied in full-time higher education – if they received government funding and/or studied at a publicly-funded Higher Education Institution – may not be eligible for, or may have only a limited eligibility to, the Loans/Grants outlined below.

The University of Sunderland charges fees on a tiered structure (£7000, £7800, or £8500) depending on the subject and type of course.  For students resident in England, a Tuition Fee Loan will be available from Student Finance England to pay the fees.  This loan is not subject to any age restriction and does not depend on household income. You do not start to repay student loans until you are earning over £21,000 per year.

Maintenance Grants are available to students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish students should visit www.saas.gov.uk for details of their Bursary scheme, as this is paid instead of Maintenance Grant and uses different income scales.

In order to be eligible for a Maintenance Loan you need to be aged under 60 at the start of the course. 

For English students, the maximum amount of maintenance grant will be £3,387 per year.  This will be available to students whose household income is assessed to be less than £25,000 per year. 

The amount of this grant decreases until household income is £42,875; no grant is payable at household income above this.  The maximum rates of loan will be £5,555 for students not living with their parents whilst studying (‘elsewhere’ rate) and £4,418 for students who continue to live with their parents whilst studying.  If household income is above £42,875 this affects up to 35% of the maximum maintenance loan.

Indicative levels of grant and loan at ‘elsewhere’ rate of loan:

Income                        Grant                            Loan               Grant+Loan

£25,000                       £3,387                         £3,862             £7,249

£30,000                       £2,441                         £4,335             £6,776

£35,000                       £1,494                         £4,808            £6,302

£40,000                       £547                            £5,282            £5,829

£42,620                       £50                              £5,530            £5,580

£42,875                       £0                                £5,555            £5,555

£45,000                       £0                                £5,341            £5,341

£50,000                       £0                                £4,836            £4,836

£55,000                       £0                                £4,331            £4,331

£60,000                       £0                                £3,826            £3,826

£62,132+                     £0                                £3,610            £3,610 (minimum)

Indicative levels of grant and loan at ‘parental home’ rate of loan:

Income                        Grant                           Loan                Grant+Loan

£25,000                       £3,387                        £2,725             £6,112

£30,000                       £2,441                        £3,198             £5,639

£35,000                       £1,494                        £3,671             £5,165

£40,000                       £547                           £4,145             £4,692

£42.620                       £50                             £4,393             £4,443

£42,875                       £0                               £4,418             £4,418

£45,000                       £0                                £4,204            £4,204

£50,000                       £0                                £3,699            £3,699

£55,000                       £0                                £3,194            £3,194

£58,195+                     £0                                £2,871            £2,871 (minimum)

Your parents’ income (including that of your natural parent’s spouse/partner with whom you live) is assessed unless you have ‘independent status’. You are ‘independent’ if you meet one of the following conditions:

• you are 25 or over at the start of the academic year; or

• you have been married before the start of the academic year; or

• you have financially supported yourself for at least 3 years before the start of your course (you will need to show evidence of earnings / welfare benefits); or

• you have no living parents; or

• you are responsible for a child/children; or

• you are ‘irreconcilably estranged’ from your parents.

If you are married, or you are aged 25 or over and living with a partner, then your spouse/partner’s income is taken into account in assessing your entitlement to the Grant and Loan.

The gross income of your parent(s)/spouse/partner is taken into account but any payments made into a personal pension fund which is subject to tax relief are ignored and £1130 will be deducted for any other child who is financially dependent on them.  Any earnings that you, the student, may have from part-time work whilst studying are totally ignored; only certain ‘unearned’ income you may have will be taken into account.

Students who are classed as being in ‘vulnerable groups’ and who are eligible to claim means-tested welfare benefits (e.g. Income Support, Housing Benefit) will be eligible for a Special Support Grant of up to £3,387 rather than a Maintenance Grant.  This Grant is not offset against the Maintenance Loan.  The main groups of students who will be eligible for this are lone parents, students with certain disabilities, and students who the Department for Work and Pensions have deemed to be incapable of work.  So, a student who fulfils one of these criteria and has a household income of less than £25,000 will receive a Grant of £3,387 and a Maintenance Loan of £5,555 (at e.g. the ‘elsewhere’ rate) = £8,942 for the year.

The Special Support Grant will not be taken into account as income in calculating means-tested benefits (see below).

If you have a spouse or co-habiting partner (if you are aged 25 or over) who is financially dependant on you, you may be eligible to receive a grant of up to £2,668.

Scottish students, funded by SAAS, can receive a Dependants’ Grant of up to £2,640 (figure to be confirmed).

If you are a lone parent, married to another student, or have a spouse/partner on a low income or unable to work, you could receive a childcare grant to meet up to 85% of your childcare costs.  The maximum grant for one child is £150.23 per week.  The maximum grant for 2 or more children is £257.55 per week.  Your childcare provider must be registered or approved.  This grant is payable over the vacations (including summer) as well as during the academic year.

If you are in receipt of assistance towards childcare costs through Working Tax Credit (WTC, see below) you cannot also receive the childcare grant.  You can, however, opt to receive the grant rather than the WTC childcare element.  As the grant assists with 85% of the costs, and WTC assists with 70%, this may be advantageous.  Student Finance England will want to see that you have stopped claiming for childcare costs through WTC before awarding you the Childcare Grant.

Students from Scotland, who are funded by SAAS, will be unable to receive funding for childcare costs if studying outside of Scotland.

This is a grant for students with children to help with study-related costs.  The maximum is £1,523.

Scottish students, funded by SAAS, can receive a Lone Parent's Grant of up to £1,305 instead (figure to be confirmed).

** The amount of Adult Dependants Grant, Childcare Grant and Parents Learning Allowance you may receive depends on the income of your spouse/partner and/or children.  Student Finance England will calculate your entitlement by looking at the amount of your dependants’ gross income and then deducting £8,473 for students with one child and £9,627 for two or more children. It then assesses your grants using the income that is left.

Lone parents with no assessable ‘unearned income’ and whose children have no independent sources of income should receive the maximum Childcare Grant (depending on actual costs) and Parents’ Learning Allowance.  For lone parents with children who do have sources of income, £9,627 of income is disregarded if they have one child or £10,792 if they have 2 or more children – i.e. the full grants will be paid if the child(ren)’s income is less than these figures.

Please contact Student Financial Advice if you require further information.

PGCE courses are classed as “postgraduate courses of Initial Teacher Training” and are the only post-graduate courses funded by the Student Finance system, so the above-mentioned grants and loans apply.

Also, the Teaching Agency provides Training Bursaries for PGCE students studying to teach shortage subjects. Bursary amounts are determined by the qualification held by the applicant, and by the subject you are training to teach.

Further details of the Training Bursaries for 2014/15 will later be available on the TA website:  
http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/funding

The NHS Business Services Authority currently provides bursaries to those training to become social workers. The bursary is only available to students in years 2 and 3 of the course, and funded places are limited.

Further details are available via the University’s Faculty of Education and Society, as well as on the NHSBSA website:
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/students

The University of Sunderland will offer a number of scholarships in 2014/15, details of which can be found on the following website:
www.sunderland.ac.uk/ug/feesandfunding/sunderlandscholarships/

This is government funding which the University administers to help students who face higher than expected costs, unexpected costs, or face serious financial problems for other reasons.  Applications can be made once you have enrolled for the academic year.  You will need to provide evidence of all of your income and costs for an assessment to be made.  Priority groups of students for assistance from the Fund include students with children, mature students, and final year students suffering financial difficulties.

(Please be aware that the following information is subject to change due to the government’s welfare changes, being rolled out from October 2013. The full implications for students are yet to be announced).

You can claim CTC if you are responsible for children or certain young people aged 16-18.  Student funding is effectively ignored in the calculation of CTC and vice versa.  If you have been working and intend to give up your work, or reduce your hours, you should notify the Inland Revenue of this and ask for a reassessment of any CTC you have been receiving.

This is a payment to top up the earnings of working people on low incomes.  If you are responsible for children or certain young people aged 16-18, or you have a disability which puts you at a disadvantage in getting a job, you can claim WTC if you work at least 16 hours per week (it is not generally recommended that full-time students work any more than 16 hours per week).  If you do not have children or a disability, you can claim WTC if you are aged 25 or over and work at least 30 hours per week – this may be of benefit during the summer vacation.  Student funding is effectively ignored in calculating WTC – with the exception of the Adult Dependant Grant.

Please note: From April 2012 couples with children have been required to work 24 hours per week between them, with one member of the couple working at least 16 hours per week, in order to qualify for WTC.

If you are in receipt of CTC, but not entitled to WTC and have a household income below £16,190, you should be passported for free school meals for your children. You will need to contact the LEA of your child(ren)’s school and show evidence of your CTC award.

Most full-time students are not eligible for welfare benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support (IS), Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Support (CTS) throughout their ‘period of study’ – this includes during vacations as well as the academic year.

Some students are eligible to continue to claim IS and/or HB – single parents, students of pensionable age, students with certain disabilities, students deemed by the DWP to be incapable for work – but the Maintenance Loan is taken into account as income in calculating entitlement for the period from the beginning of September until the end of June. 

The Adult Dependants Grant (if received) is also taken into account in calculating IS, HB, CTS and income-based JSA.  You may therefore only receive a limited amount of benefit (if any) during most of the year but receive more during the summer.  The non-student partner of a student can claim these benefits if they meet the usual eligibility criteria – but the student’s Loan and Adult Dependants Grant is taken into account in calculating entitlement.

If a full-time student is eligible for a Maintenance Loan but decides not to take it out, it is still treated as income.  Not all of the Loan is taken into account - amounts are disregarded for books/equipment and travel and then a further £10 per week is disregarded.  The Loan (and Adult Dependants Grant) is treated as income from the beginning of September until the end of June (usually 43 weeks).  In July and August you are treated as not having this income and you should ask for your benefits to be reassessed for this period.  From the first benefit week in September your benefits will again be reassessed even though you will not receive your student funding until the beginning of the actual academic year.  For this period (usually 3 weeks) the University’s Access to Learning Fund will provide assistance due to the reduction of your benefits.

In practice, undergraduate full-time students who are lone parents in receipt of CTC (and no other income e.g. maintenance) tend not to receive IS during the 43 week period but do receive HB to pay most of their rent.  Students eligible for disability premiums in IS may continue to receive a limited amount during this period (and therefore maximum HB).

If you are currently receiving means-tested benefits and are considering full-time education, it is usually best to seek financial advice first. Please use our contact details below.

If you have been receiving Incapacity Benefit (IB) or DLA/PIP, you will need to inform the DWP that you are becoming a full-time student.  Becoming a student should not necessarily affect your continued eligibility for IB or DLA/PIP.  However, your ability to study, and your ability to undertake any work placements, may be taken into account if you are required to undergo a personal capability assessment for IB.  You could undergo a similar process for the continuance of a DLA/PIP claim, as the DWP need to assess whether their payments are still relevant to your circumstances.

If you are in receipt of income-based Employment & Support Allowance, then the DWP will not continue to pay this to you when you become a full-time student - UNLESS you are also in receipt of DLA/PIP (as those applicants are protected).

If you have been receiving Carer’s Allowance (CA) because you are providing care for somebody else, again you need to inform the DWP if you become a full-time student.  It is quite likely that you will lose your entitlement to CA.  If you undertake a course of study which involves at least 21 hours ‘supervised study’ per week, you are deemed not to be eligible for CA.  A Court of Appeal decision in 2002 made it more likely for full time students to lose CA due to its definition of ‘supervised study’.

Certain kinds of properties are exempt from Council Tax.  These include student halls of residence and ‘dwellings occupied only by students’ (which includes the house or flat of a student who lives alone). 

If you live with non-students then your property may not be exempt from Council Tax.  If you live with a non-student spouse or partner, and there are no other adults living in your home, you can receive a discount of 25% on the Council Tax bill when you become a student, irrespective of your spouse/partner’s income.  Your spouse/partner may also be able to claim CTB to further reduce the bill.

You will need to obtain a Council Tax Certificate from the University after enrolment to prove your status as a full-time student. Simply pick one up from the Gateway desk when you have started your course.

Surveys indicate that around 50% of full-time students have part-time jobs during term-time.  Most students work during the summer vacations.  Any earnings you receive do not affect the amount of student support funding you receive. They may, however, affect any tax credits or means-tested benefits you may be eligible to claim.  Contact the University’s Careers and Employability Service at the Gateway, for advice on finding part-time work.

If you would like further information, advice or help on any Student Finance issues please contact us.