The majority of UK full-time students are funded by the ‘Student Finance’ system which provides assistance with paying tuition fees and a Maintenance Loan for living costs; alongside grants for students with dependants - outlined below – and extra support for Disabled Students.

Scottish students are funded through SAAS.

New undergraduates in 2019 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 – around March 2019 is the earliest – in order to be sure that you receive your funding at the start of the academic year in September 2019.

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 5 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.gov.uk/student-finance

You may have heard that, for most courses, students who have already studied in full-time higher education may have reduced funding if they choose to study another course. However, the good news is that if you are looking to study a pre-registration healthcare course your previous study will be disregarded (unless your previous study was also a pre-reg healthcare course in the same profession and you obtained the qualification). Seek our guidance if you are unsure about this.

All three of our Nursing pre-reg degree courses and our two AHP courses (Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy) qualify for the above-mentioned regulation that disregards previous study.

* Please note that neither our BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science course nor our BSc (Hons) Healthcare Science (Life Route) qualify under this regulation with Student Finance England. For both of these courses, any previous study will be considered by Student Finance England in potentially reducing your funding. Also, if you have a previous degree qualification this will prevent you receiving SFE funding for these courses at all. Please seek our guidance on this if you think this might affect you.

A year’s tuition fee for most of our Honours degree courses will be £9250 in 2019/20.  Students resident in England can apply to Student Finance England for a Tuition Fee Loan 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 £25,725 per year.

In order to apply for the highest rates of Maintenance Loan you need to be aged under 60 at the start of the course, although a reduced rate is now available to those over 60. 

For English students, the maximum amount of Maintenance Loan will be available to students whose taxable ‘household income’ is assessed to be less than £25,000 per year. 

For 2019/20, the maximum rates of Maintenance Loan are £8,944 for students not living with their parents whilst studying (the ‘elsewhere’ rate), or £7,529 for students living with their parents whilst studying.  A minimum amount of Loan is paid if your household income is above the thresholds shown below – this is the non-income-assessed part of the Loan:

Indicative levels of Maintenance Loan at ‘Elsewhere’ rate of Loan:

Income                            Loan           

£25,000                            £8,944         

£30,000                            £8,303         

£35,000                            £7,661         

£40,000                            £7,019         

£45,000                            £6,377         

£50,000                            £5,735         

£55,000                            £5,093         

£60,000                            £4,452         

£62,212+                          £4,168  (minimum)

Indicative levels of Maintenance Loan at ‘Parental Home’ rate of Loan:

Income                            Loan           

£25,000                            £7,529         

£30,000                            £6,895         

£35,000                            £6,260         

£40,000                            £5,626         

£45,000                            £4,991         

£50,000                            £4,357         

£55,000                            £3,722         

£58,215+                          £3,314  (minimum)

Scottish students should visit www.saas.gov.uk for details of their Bursary scheme, as this uses different income scales.

Your parents’ income (including that of your natural parent’s spouse/partner with whom you live) is assessed unless you qualify for ‘Independent Status’. You can be classed as ‘independent’ from parents, and therefore their income is not counted, 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 Maintenance Loan.

The gross taxable income 2017/18 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 deducted, 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 ignored; only certain taxable ‘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 while they study (e.g. Income Support, Housing Benefit) will be eligible for a higher rate of Maintenance Loan.  Generally, 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 maximum Maintenance Loan of either £10,194 (‘Elsewhere’ rate) or £8,882 (‘Parental Home’ rate).

If a student receives this maximum loan, £3783 will be disregarded when calculating benefits

If you have a spouse (or co-habiting partner if you are aged 25 or over) who is financially dependent on you, you may be eligible to receive a grant of up to £3,007.

Scottish students, funded by SAAS, can receive a Dependants’ Allowance of up to £3,640 for an adult or their first child.

If you are a lone parent, married to another student, or have a spouse/partner who is 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 £169.31 per week.  The maximum grant for 2 or more children is £290.27 per week.  Your childcare provider must be OFSTED 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 or Universal Credit, you cannot also receive the childcare grant.  You can, however, opt to receive the grant rather than the WTC/UC childcare element.  (WTC assists with 70% of costs, but the Childcare grant assists with 85% of the costs).  Student Finance England will want to see that you have stopped claiming for childcare costs through WTC/UC before awarding you the Childcare Grant.

Students from Scotland, who are funded by SAAS, will not be able 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 £1,716.

Scottish students, funded by SAAS, can receive a Lone Parent's Grant of up to £2,303 in addition to the Dependants’ Allowance.

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.  They are specialist grants for lower-income households.

Please contact Student Financial Guidance Team if you require further information on this calculation.

The NHS Business Services Authority provides additional funding for Nursing/AHP students. This includes our degree courses in Adult Nursing Practice, Mental Health Nursing Professional Practice, and Learning Disability Nursing Professional Practice – as well as our new courses in Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy.

The extra funding is called the Learner Support Fund, and currently this includes:

• a non-repayable grant of £1,000 per year if you have child dependants;
• support for excess travel and dual accommodation expenses incurred by attending practice placements; and
• exceptional/discretionary support of up to £3,000 per year for students who find themselves in severe financial hardship during their course.

All of the Learner Support Fund elements are grants, which means that you do not have to pay them back. You can find details, including an in-depth downloadable booklet, on the NHSBSA website – https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-learning-support-fund .

Our Paramedic Science or Healthcare Science courses do not qualify for the NHS funding in 2019/20, as they are not classed as Allied Health Professions in the government’s funding regulations. This is being changed for 2020/21. Please see the above link for more information.

The University of Sunderland will offer a number of scholarships in 2019/20.

Check out the University’s website here

This is a University fund to help students who face unexpected costs, higher than expected 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, students who are incapable of work, and final year students suffering financial difficulties.

As a student, you can receive free school meals for your children if you receive either:

• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190); or
• Universal Credit - your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Your student finance loan will NOT be taken into account as income for Free School Meals, as it is not taxable income.

You will need to contact the Local Education Authority of your child(ren)’s school and show evidence of your Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit award.

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 Council Tax Reduction/Support 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 print one from your university MySunderland account when you have started your course, or pick one up from the Gateway desk.

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.