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Repeat periods of study and previous assistance
Repeat periods of study
We will not normally pay the standard tuition fee or bursary for periods of study you have to repeat, or for any extension to the minimum length of the course. However, we will consider individual requests for repeated or extended periods of support for medical or strong compassionate reasons, such as the death or serious illness of a close relative. We will need written evidence to support your request. If we do not pay your fees for your repeat period of study, you can still apply for the student loan and supplementary grants.
Previous assistance
The following links take you to the relevant section of this page.
- Tuition fees
- Tuition fees for graduate entry courses
- The student loan, bursary, supplementary grants and additional loan
- Allied Health Profession students
- PGDE and PGDipCE students
- Postgraduate students except those doing a PGDE or PGDipCE
How previous assistance affects tuition fees
We will not usually pay your tuition fees if you have previously been on a full-time higher education course at HNC, HND, degree or equivalent level, and had help from public funds to do so.
If you are studying in Scotland, and you are returning after a break in study of one year or more, you may be eligible to apply for some of your fees. If your college or university are charging you more than the standard £1,255 fee you can apply to us to pay the difference between the normal standard tuition fee of £1,255 and the higher tuition fee of £1,775 (£2,825 for medicine).
The rules relating to support are complicated. If you are in any doubt about your entitlement, you should contact us to confirm whether we can pay your tuition fees for your new course.
The main points to remember are as follows.
- If you have received support for a HNC but did not gain a qualification, we will not pay your fees for another HNC.
- We will not support you for an HNC course if you already hold a qualification at HNC or HND level (or above), for which you received support from public funds.
- If you have completed a course leading to an HND, a Diploma in Higher Education, or certain other two-year full-time courses of higher education, you may qualify for support for the second and any following years of a degree course.
- If you change course or institution after receiving tuition fees for more than one year, your entitlement to more payments will be limited. We will pay standard tuition fee for the minimum length of your new course or the minimum length of your old course, whichever is longer, less the period of support you have already received.
- If you have received support for an ordinary degree and you are not qualified with a profession (for example, accountancy, architecture, engineering, nursing, ministers of religion and priests, physiotherapy or podiatry), you may still qualify for support for an honours year. This is not a full list of professions, if you want to know if your first degree qualifies you with a profession, please contact us.
If your entitlement is not enough to cover the full length of your new course, the support will be available for the later years of the course. For example, if you have had support for two years of a five-year course, you are entitled to another three years' support. If you then transfer to year one of a new four-year course, you will receive support for the last three years of your new course only, so you will not receive the standard tuition fees during the first year of your new course.
The rules relating to support are complicated. If you are in any doubt about your entitlement, you should contact us as soon as possible for advice. We strongly advise you to contact us before you change your course if you already hold a qualification at HNC, HND, degree or equivalent level, which you gained without support from public funds. You may qualify for support to take a second full-time course at the same level.
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Tuition fees for courses intended for graduate entry
Tuition fees for these courses may be much higher than the standard rates that we pay. Students who already hold a degree, regardless of whether they received UK public funds to do so, will not receive support for fees for a degree specifically designed for those holding a degree or an equivalent qualification. We can make an exception if you want to train for the ministry, priesthood or dentistry. The highest fee that we can pay in cases like this is the standard rate for the level of course you are studying and we will assess your entitlement to this fee individually.
How previous assistance affects the student loan, supplementary grants, young students bursary, students outside Scotland bursary and Additional Loan
Previous study does not affect your entitlement to a student loan or to appropriate supplementary grants. You can apply for this help even if you have received previous support for a full-time higher education course.
Previous study does affect your entitlement to the Bursary and Additional Loan. You may not receive the Bursary or the Additional Loan during any session when we do not pay the full standard rate of your tuition fees (£1,775 in Scotland).
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Allied Health Profession students
If you have completed a degree course with support from public funds and would like to study one of the Allied Health Professions, you may qualify for the current Scottish Government Health Department support package for the first two years from the time you enter the course.
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How previous assistance affects postgraduate students except those doing a PGDE or PGDipCE
If you have previously taken a postgraduate course, including teacher training, with support from UK public funds, we will not normally give you funding for a second postgraduate course. However, if you have taken a course which qualified for an advanced research-level postgraduate award, such as a PhD, you can still apply for support for a vocational postgraduate award.