Pupil and Student Services

Student Support

What student support can I apply for?

Students can apply for a variety of financial support, depending on circumstance, to help towards tuition or living cost. These include:

Non-income assessed loan

You can get a student load irrespective of your income, provided you are under 50, or under 55 and intending to work after your studying. You can get a reduced rate loan if you are receiving an NHS or Department of Health Bursary which depends on your income.

Income assessed loan

You may be able to get more student loan, depending on your income. You can also get extra loan if you are studying for more than 30 weeks and 3 days in the academic year, subject to your income.

Help with tuition fees

You may be able to get help with your tuition fees, depending on your household income. If you get help with your fees, the Student Loans Company will pay this directly to your university or college for you.

Higher education grant

Higher education grant is a grant which depends on your household income. It is to help with the costs of higher education. You do not need to apply for this grant separately.

Disabled students' allowance

You can get help with the extra costs you have to pay in following your course as a direct result of a disability or specific learning difficulty. This may cover the costs of specialist help you need, such as special equipment, or non-medical helper or special travel arrangements. Please provide details of your disability in the application for support.

Parents' learning allowance

You may be entitled to an additional grant to help with course-related costs where you have dependant children. It is not counted by Job Centre Plus when calculating your other benefits, so your do not have to choose between parents' learning allowance and other benefits. You do not need to apply for this separately.

Adult dependant's grant

You may be entitled to a grant to help you support an adult dependant, if you have an adult in your household who depends on you financially. This grant depends on your income and any income of your dependants.

You can only apply for this grant if you are married, in a civil partnership, or over 25 and living with a partner of either sex. You can only apply for this grant for 1 adult dependant. You do not have to fill our a separate form to apply for this grant.

Childcare grant

You may get help with some of your childcare costs, depending on your income, if you have dependant children aged under 15 at the beginning of the academic year - or under 17, if they have special educational needs - and your need childcare services for them.

You will also need to complete a further form about your weekly childcare costs and submit with your application for higher education support. These forms are available from Pupil and Student Services at 90 Stour Road, Dagenham, RM10 7JD.

Travel grant

Depending on your household income, you may be able to get a travel grant only if you either:

Have to go abroad to study for more than 8 weeks in the year as part of your course; or
Have to go to a different location regularly for clinical training as part of a course in medicine or dentistry

Care leaver's grant

Students who have left care can get extra help with their living costs during the long vacation in certain circumstances. Apply for a care leaver's grant if you: