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Student loans
Unless you have got a rich uncle tucked away, the chances are you will need to apply for a loan to help meet living costs while you study.
Full-time undergraduate students can borrow up to £4,700, if studying and living in London, £3,815 elsewhere and £3,020 if living at home, from the Student Loans Company. You should not have any problem getting a loan if you're under 50, but if you are between 50 and 54 at the start of the course, you will need to confirm you plan to work once it has finished.
Applying for a loan is a drawn-out process, so start as soon as possible. Do not wait until you have confirmation of a university place.
Your local education authority first needs to assess your eligibility for a loan. Forms are available to download on the website of the Department for Education and Skills. Once you are deemed eligible for a loan, you will then need to fill in a second form - also available on the DfES site - to assess the financial status of you and your family.
When this has been processed, you will receive a loan request form from the SLC.
The SLC will usually make its first loan payment by cheque to the university, although subsequent payments can be made direct to your bank account.
Part-time students are eligible for means-tested loans of up to £500 per year, usually paid in a single instalment.
All loan repayments begin after you leave university.
Tuition Fee Support
Tuition fees for the academic year 2001/02 have been set at £1,075, although more than half of students entering higher education will not have to pay any course fees, and some only a portion.
The amount is dependent on a means test. If your parents earn less than £20,000, you will not have to pay any fees; between £20,000 and £29,784, you will be required to pay a portion; more than £29,784 and you will be liable for the full amount.
To find out if you are eligible for help with fees, contact your LEA. Notification from the LEA of how much you are required to pay will be needed when you enrol at university.
Scottish students
In Scotland, tuition fees have been abolished, although graduates will be liable to pay a fixed amount at the end of their course in recognition of the benefits they gain from their degree -
£2,000 for entrants in 2001/02.
Scottish students studying in England, Wales or Northern Ireland will be liable for fees on the same means-tested basis as other UK students.
Support for living costs for students studying in Scotland will mainly be through a loan, but you will be able to get a bursary if your parents' income is less than £25,800.
For more information, contact the Scottish Executive, the General Enquiry Unit at the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Gyleview House, Edinburgh EH12 9HH, or telephone 0131 476 8212.
Hardship loans and grants
If you have applied for the full student loan entitlement and still don't think you can survive, don't panic. You could be able to apply for a top-up from your university. The amount varies from institution and will depend on the level of hardship.
If your student loan cheque is delayed at the start of term, or you suffer a short-term financial difficulty while studying, universities should offer emergency hardship loans. Such loans can be available to postgraduates, as well as undergraduates.
Some universities offer hardship grants to full and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate students, although expect to have to provide a fair amount of evidence to prove your eligibility.
Childcare Grant
Parents with children in registered childcare can apply for extra funding while studying.
Offered for the first time this year, the Childcare Grant is calculated on income and childcare costs.
Full-time undergraduate students, under 55, can receive up to £100 per week for one child and £150 for two or more children with an accredited childcare place. The grant is usually paid in three instalments from the Student Loans Company. The payment will not affect other benefit entitlements.
Forms are available from LEAs.
Lone Parents Grant
Although being phased out, this grant is still available for full-time students, under 55 and with dependant children, who are not applying for a Childcare grant.
It is means-tested, with grants of up to £1,075 available, paid in three instalments.
Applications are made through LEAs.
Dependant's grant
Students under 55, with children or adult dependants may be entitled to a grant of up to £2,175 a year while studying a full-time course.
The grant is paid in three instalments from the Student Loans Company.
Contact your LEA to determine your eligibility.
School Meals, Travel, Books and Equipment Grant
Up to £500 is available to help pay for travel, books and equipment for full-time students under 55, with dependant children. School meal grants are also available if you have dependants aged between three and 16.
Contact your LEA for eligibility.
Care Leavers' Grant
Students who were in care on their 16 birthday, or afterwards for at least three months, and are under 21 at the start of their course, are entitled to up to £100 per week during the summer holidays to help meet accommodation costs.
Applications should be made through your LEA. Keep in contact with your LEA as extra support may be available to care leavers in October.
Travel costs
If you are studying a full-time course in medicine or dentistry and have to travel away for training, or, in the course of your studies, have to attend an institution outside the UK for at least eight weeks, you may be entitled to help with travel costs.
Your LEA will decide if you are entitled to help, but you will have to pay the first £260.
If you need to visit an institution outside the UK for at least eight weeks, you can get help to cover medical insurance.
Disabled Students Allowances
Funds are available to help meet any extra costs that occur in the course of studies undertaken by disabled students.
The allowances are available to full, part-time and postgraduate students.
Applicants can apply for a specialist equipment allowance of up to £4,255; a non-medical helper's allowance of up to £10,755 per year - £8,070 for part-time students - and a general disabled students' allowance of up to £1,420 per year - £1,065 for part-time students.
Students may be eligible for help with travel costs.
The size of allowance, which does not have to be repaid, is not dependent on income, and is available from the LEA.
Opportunity Bursary
This is a relatively new scheme, available to full-time undergraduates from low income families, living, or studying in one of the government's Excellence in Cities local education authorities.
Applicants must be under 21, have little or no previous experience of higher education in the family and have a family gross income of less than £20,000.
The government has 6,000, £2,000 bursaries to give away, each awarded through individual institutions. Bursaries will often be paid in instalments of åÀ¿å£1,000 in the first year and £500 in the subsequent two. Those studying two-year courses will receive £1,000 in the first year and £500 in the second.
Contact the university you are applying to, or the school in which you were studying, for an application form.
Access Bursary
An extra £500 can be sourced through colleges and universities to meet the cost of informal childcare and other child-related costs.
The bursary is open to full-time student-parents, who are not receiving the lone parent grant or mature students' bursary, or those studying part-time teaching courses.
Mature Student Bursary
Students in at least their second year of a course, and who received a mature student bursary last year are eligible for this award.
The bursary, of up to £1,000, is designed to help with course-related costs, especially childcare, but if you apply for this, you cannot apply for the new childcare grant. Many students who received an access bursary last year will receive the new childcare grant this year.
Contact your college or university for eligibility.
NHS bursaries
This specialist bursary is open to students, over 18, studying full-time, pre-registration courses.
Different amounts and methods of assessment apply for degree and diploma students. Bursaries for degree students are means-tested, while payment to diploma candidates is based on age. Up to £5,305 is available per year to diploma students.
A bursary application form should have been sent to all students undertaking NHS-funded study from the NHS Students Grant Unit once an offer of a place was made. If this isn't the case, contact the unit as soon as possible.
Fee Waivers/Reductions
To qualify, students must be in receipt of a state or local authority means-tested benefit - and be able to prove it. Students who are the unwaged dependants of someone receiving such a benefit may also be eligible for help.
Certified evidence of benefit receipt will need to be produced to get a waiver.
Part-time students receiving the state's Old Age Pension are eligible to a 30% reduction in fees.
Contact individual universities for application forms.
Education Grants Advisory Services
The service provides individually packaged advice for students, largely assisting students ineligible for statutory funding, lone parents, students with disabilities, refugees, those from underprivileged backgrounds and those in exceptional circumstances.
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