Hidden Scholarships and Funding

If you’re going to university, there are some hidden pots of funding available. They’re often less about academic ability and more about factors such as where you live or what your parents do for a living.

Family Action’s Educational Grants Programme: This service offers students, especially disadvantaged ones, over the age of 14 the chance to get grants of £200 to £300 to start or continue their education.

Postgraduate funding: New master’s students are able to get a master’s loan of up to £10,906. Doctoral level students are eligible to apply for the doctoral loan of up to £25,700.

Scholarships and bursaries: Visit: www.postgraduatesearch.com/funding you’ll be surprised at what’s available.

16 to 19 Bursary Fund If you’re aged between 16 and 19, you could be eligible for the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund to help with education-related costs. You’ll need to be studying at a school or college in England (not a university), or on an unpaid training course. If eligible, you could get up to £1,200. There are two ways to qualify: Vulnerable student bursary: If you’re in local authority care or have recently left it, if you receive income support or universal credit, or if you are disabled and receive both employment support allowance (ESA) and disability living allowance (DLA) or universal credit, or you get personal independence payment (PIP), you could be eligible for this.

Discretionary bursary: If you don’t qualify for the vulnerable student bursary, you may qualify for this. Your education or training provider will set their own criteria for this and will look at family income among other things.

If you think you might qualify for the bursary you will need to apply to your school, college or training provider.

Widely Available Student Loans No-one in the UK should be put off studying because of potential student debt. Done right, it’s very different to normal debt. It’s only repaid when you finish studying, and if you don’t earn enough when you leave you don’t have to pay for it.

Types of funding Student loans: Most UK higher education students are eligible for a student loan. The tuition fee loan can cover tuition fees up to £9,250 (for the 2019/20 academic year).

Maintenance loan: Students are also eligible for a loan of up to £11,672 (for the 2019/20 academic year) to help with living costs, depending on circumstances. you get depends on what you’re studying and what you’re charged in tuition fees. The minimum loan is £300 and it’ll be paid directly to your college or training provider. The maximum you can get depends on your course. You might get less from the loan than your college or training provider charges – if so you’ll have to pay the difference yourself. To get this you must be 19 or over and studying level 3 upwards. Ie if you are taking 4 A Levels you get 4 loans. Those resident for more 3 years are eligible, there’s no credit check to get it, and it doesn’t depend on your household income. Once earning you pay back 9% of your earnings above £25,725 a year. There’s also an advanced learner loan bursary fund, which you can apply to if you need learning help, or to cover childcare or residential costs. It could be paid directly to you or to your landlord or your childcare provider. Apply directly to your college or training facility for the bursary.

Other grants can be found called Learner Support, Care to Learn (if you are main carer for a child), Local council grants, yes there are still some! Plus don’t forget Free online courses in almost any topic to start your education adventure.

Tuition loans for students aged 19+ in England An advanced learner loan can help with college or training tuition costs in England. How much We recommend you start your search on Moneysavingexpert.com, they have lots of links to available funding websites. n