Other Financial Support

We have already described the main loans, grants and bursaries available from public sources but there are others for some students who fit particular circumstances.

Disabled Students' Allowances provide extra financial help for disabled students. They are designed to meet the extra costs that a disabled student may face, such as a note-taker or specialist equipment. Each of the student finance organisations offer different support (Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Student Finance Northern Ireland).

The Access to Learning Fund (Support Funds in Northern Ireland, Discretionary Fund in Scotland, Financial Contingency Fund in Wales) is a further source of modest government help to students on university courses and is allocated by the universities themselves to undergraduates in financial difficulties. This may simply be help with day-to-day study and living costs or to meet an unexpected or exceptional cost. The university decides which students need support and what the level of that support will be. Priority groups tend to be older or disadvantaged students and finalists. The Access to Learning Fund is a back-stop and is normally given as a non-repayable grant according to need. It can be available as a one-off sum or in the form of a bursary payable every year.

If you are ineligible for any of the above financial support, you may still be able to apply for a Professional & Career Development Loan, available through some major high street banks in partnership with the government. Students on a wide range of vocational courses can borrow from £300 to £10,000 at a fixed rate of interest to help fund up to two years of learning and not pay anything back until you have finished your studies.