Higher Education Student Finance

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Financial Support

Many students are worried about the increased cost of undertaking a degree. However, completing a higher education course will contribute to brighter employment prospects, as well as helping you to gain the confidence and transferable skills needed for today’s world of work. Riverside College supports students to access quality, local higher education in the most affordable way.

There is student financial support available for Higher Education students. There are loans which do have to be paid back, and for some full-time courses there are bursaries which do not need to be paid back.

Tuition fee loans and a bursary all make gaining a higher education qualification much more affordable than you may think.

How and When to Apply for Student Finance:

Tuition Fees Loans

You can get a Tuition Fee Loan to cover the full cost of your fees. You don’t need to pay for your tuition fees up front. Tuition Fee Loans cover your college tuition fees and are paid direct to college by Student Finance England. Tuition fee loans are available to all eligible students regardless of household income.

Tuition fee loans need to be paid back and the amount you pay back is dependent on how much you earn.

For more information and to apply, go to www.gov.uk/studentfinance.

Maintenance Loans

You may also be eligible for a Maintenance Loan to help with day-to-day living costs, such as rent or food. How much you can get usually depends on your household income, course intensity and where you live whilst studying.

For up to date information about eligibility and to apply, go to www.gov.uk/studentfinance.

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Repayment of Loans

You’ll be due to start repaying your loan the April four years after the start of your course or the April after you finish or leave your course, whichever comes first.

You won’t have to repay anything until you’re earning over a certain amount, which is currently £26,575 a year. If you earn less than that, you won’t have to repay anything. If you’re earning more than that, the Student Loans Company will work out your repayments at 9% of your income over that amount.

By the time you start repaying, the amounts will be different. Have a look at the table below to see some examples of what you might repay based on the current threshold of £26,575 a year:

Annual salary	Monthly repayment
£22,000	£0
£27,000	£3
£31,000	£33
£33,000	£48

For up to date information about repayments, go to: https://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/quickstartfinanceguide/repayment.html

Disabled Students’ Allowance

If you’ve got a disability, including a long-term health condition, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty, you could get help with the extra costs you might have.

Non-medical helper allowance
Specialist equipment allowance
General allowance (for other disability-related costs)
Disability-related travel allowance.

The amount you can get depends on your needs, not your household income. This doesn’t have to be paid back.

For up to date information about eligibility and to apply, go to www.gov.uk/disabled-students-allowances-dsas

Bursary

£500 bursary for new full-time Foundation degree students and for new full time HND students on Year One of their Higher Education course (who are studying in College for 12 hours a week or more).

Riverside College is committed to helping students within their first year of full-time Higher Education study on foundation degree and HND programmes (to purchase, for example, course related equipment). We are pleased to offer a £500 bursary which will be linked to student attendance, punctuality and achievement for first year full-time students who are studying in College for 12 hours a week or more).

Please click here to view our Higher Education Bursary Policy to find out more about other forms of bursary that we offer for Higher Education students.

To find out what support you could be eligible for, please call our Admissions Team on 0151 257 2053.

How to Apply

For more information on Higher Education courses at Riverside College and student finance, please call our Higher Education Admissions Team on 0151 257 2053. You can apply through the college application form by clicking here. You do not need to apply though the UCAS system. Please ensure that on your application form within the course section you indicate that you are applying for a Higher Education course.

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