What support is available this year 2010/11?

Student Loans

Loans are available to help with your living costs - course materials, accommodation, food, clothes, travel, and so on.

Who can apply for a loan?

If you are on a full-time or sandwich initial teacher training course, you are eligible to apply for a loan.

You may be eligible even if you have previously studied in Higher Education. Your Local Authority will tell you if you are eligible to apply for a loan again.

To receive a student loan you must be under 60 in age.

Interest Rates

From 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 the interest applied to income based loans is 1.5% per year.

There are two options for establishing the interest rate for income contingent loans.  The first is to use Retail Prices Index (RPI), or the bank base rate, whichever is lower.  There is also a low interest cap linked to that option, which means that the loan interest rate can be cut in-year, when the base rate plus 1% across a group of banks, is lower than RPI.

If you repay through PAYE or Self-Assessment, interest accrual will be suspended from the start of the tax year until the end-of-year repayment details are received from HMRC. Interest will then be calculated and applied to your account retrospectively.

How will my loan be paid?

Your loan is usually paid in three instalments, at the start of each term, directly into your bank account. If your application is successful, Student Finance Wales will issue a payment schedule letter to you which will explain what amounts will be paid and when.

How much can I borrow?

This depends upon your household income and where you live while you study.

For continuing students 75% of the loan is non income-assessed, while 25% is income-assessed. This means that a proportion of the loan paid to you will be dependent upon your household income.

For new students, the amount of loan available will depend upon household income, and may also depend on the amount of any Assembly Learning Grant awarded.

How do you work out my "household income"?

This depends on whether you are an independent or a dependent student

You are classed as an independent student if at least one of the following statements applies to you -

• you are over 25 when you commence your studies
• you have been married or entered into a civil partnership before you start your course (your Local Authority (LA) may ask for proof of this)
• you have supported yourself financially for at least three years before you start your course
• you have no living parents
• you are a full-time student who has care of atleast one child under the age of 18

If you identify yourself as an independent student and are married or in a civil partnership, your spouse or civil partner’s income will also be taken into account.

You are classed as a dependent student if you live in your parental home and / or rely on at least one of your parents for financial support.

"Household income" for dependent students is worked out in the following way -

• if you live with both parents, both their incomes will be taken into account
• if you live with only one of your parents, it will be their income only that is taken into account
• if you live with a spouse or partner(of either sex), this person's income will also be taken into account

If your parents or partner do not provide details of their income to your Local Authority, you will not receive all the financial support to which you are entitled.

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Partial cancellation of student loan debt

If you take out a Maintenance Loan in academic year 2010/11 you could have up to £1,500 cancelled from your student loan balance by the Welsh Assembly Government when you start repaying.

To receive this cancellation of debt you must: take out a Maintenance Loan through Student Finance Wales in academic year 2010/11.

When you first make a repayment to your loan we will automatically cancel up to £1,500 of the Maintenance Loan that you take out in academic year

Here are some simple examples that show you how the amount of cancellation you may be entitled to can be affected by:

• the amount of Maintenance Loan you take out; and
• the amount of your first repayment.

Example 1

If you take out £3,000 Maintenance Loan in 2010/11 and your first repayment to us is £50, we would cancel £1,500 of your outstanding student loan debt.

Example 2

If you take out £1,200 Maintenance Loan in 2010/11 and your first repayment to us is £5, we would cancel £1,195 of your outstanding student loan debt.

Example 3

If you take out £200 Maintenance Loan in 2010/11 and your first repayment to us is £200, you would not receive any debt cancellation.

Please note that the actual calculation is more complicated than this. In reality, your first repayment will be applied to interest first and then to the total balance of all the loans you took out during your studies. This mean you may have more of your outstanding student loan debt cancelled than these examples show.

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Loan Rates

Loan Rates are slightly higher if you live in London and outside your parental home, as London has a higher cost of living than the rest of the UK. Your Local Authority (LA) will decide whether you will be entitled to the London loan rates on the basis of the post code of your place of study. If you are unsure whether you come into this category, your LA will be able to advise you.

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Help towards your tuition fees

You can apply for a loan of up to £3,290 to cover the exact amount that the university or college charges for a course and the money will be paid directly to the university or college to cover the cost of fees.

Flexible Tuition Fees

Universities and colleges in Wales can charge their own level of fees, up to a limit of £3,290 for academic year 10/11.

If you study in England or Northern Ireland

You will be charged the fees set by your college or university, up to a maximum of £3,290. Student Finance Wales will provide a loan to cover these fees which you will need to repay in the same way as the loan to cover your living costs.

If you study in Scotland

If you normally live in Wales but study in Scotland, you will be charged £1,820 a year for all courses, except medicine, which is £2,895 a year. These figures are based on the 2009/10 academic year as the Scottish Government have no yet published the 2010/11 rates.  Student Finance Wales will provide a loan to cover these fees which you will need to repay in the same way as the loan to cover your living costs.

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Grants and other assistance

If you normally live in Wales, you may be entitled to the following support from the Welsh Assembly Government:

Assembly Learning Grant

The Assembly Learning Grant (ALG) provides financial support to help meet general living costs.

For further information contact your Local Authority.

The Assembly Learning Grant is paid in three instalments, one at the start of each term, just like your Student Loan.

How much you get depends on your household income, and will be calculated by your Local Authority when you make your application. The table below will help you estimate your entitlement:

Academic Year 2010/11

For every £1 of ALG you receive, the amount of Maintenance Loan you are entitled to will be reduced by 60p, up to £2,844. This means that up to £2,844 of repayable loan will be replaced, by the non-payable grant.

New Initial Teacher training students

Students on full-time Initial Teacher Training courses that do not lead to a first degree, and are studying for 10 weeks or more will be eligible for an Assembly Learning Grant or Special Support Grant based on household income.

Financial Contingency Funds

These are available through your university or college. The fund enables the institutions to provide discretionary assistance to students who are experiencing financial difficulties, or who might not otherwise have been able to afford to enter or remain in higher or further education.

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Bursaries

Bursaries are extra financial help for students which are provided by the college or university that you attend.

There will be a National Bursary Scheme operating for students in Higher Education in Wales. Further details are available at the Welsh Bursaries Scheme home page.

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Part-time students

If you are a part-time undergraduate student studying a course in higher education, you could get financial help through the Fee Grant, Course Grant and other support, if you have adult or child dependants, depending on your circumstances.

Fee Grant

If you are studying at least 50% of an equivalent full-time course you may be entitled to receive a Fee Grant, depending on your household income.

There are three different rates of Fee Grant depending on how intensive your course is. The table below sets out the maximum fee grant that you could get:

Your household income also affects the amount of Fee Grant available to you.

You will not be awarded a Fee Grant that’s higher than the actual tuition fee you are charged.

The Fee Grant is paid directly to your university or college and you don’t have to pay it back.

Course Grant

You may be able to receive a Course Grant of up to £1,095, depending on your household income.

The Course Grant is paid to you and you don’t have to pay it back.

Other part-time support available

You may be able to get extra help on top of the Fee Grant or Course Grant if you have adult or children that depend financially upon you. This extra hep includes:

• Adult Dependants’ Grant (ADG)
• Childcare Grant (CCG)
• Parents’ Learning Allowance (PLA)

The amount of grant available to you depends on how intensive your course is. The table below sets out the maximum grant amounts you could get if you are eligible.

These additional support grants are paid to you and you do not have to pay them back.

Disabled students - extra help

If you have a disability, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty, you can apply for extra help through Disabled Students' Allowances.

You can find Disabled Students' Allowances information and the application form in the full-time section of the Forms and Guides

Applying for part-time grants

In order to receive the Fee Grant, Course Grant or other support available, you need to complete an application for grants for part-time study (PTG1 form).

You can find this form on the Forms and Guides page Forms and Guides

If you are an Open University student

The same rules on the Fee and Course grants apply, but the Open University deals with its own applications.

You can contact the OU Financial Support Office on 01908 653411, or email financial-support@open.ac.uk

If you are a disabled student please contact the OU DSA Office for information about eligibility and how to apply. You can contact them on 01908 654136, Textphone: 01908 659955 or email to DSA-Queries@open.ac.uk.

Need more information?

You can find out lots of information about part-time student finance, including:

• more detail about what help you can get;
• whether you qualify for help;
• how you are assessed; and
• how to apply

In our Guide to financial support for part-time students in higher education

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Open University students

the Open University deals with applications for the fee grant, the course grant and Disabled Students Allowance from its own students. If you are studying with the Open University (OU) and you need any information, you should contact them on 01908 653411, or e-mail them at reg-fees@open.ac.uk for more details. If you are a disabled student studying at the Open University, you should contact your OU regional centre and ask about the conditions of eligibility for Disabled Students Allowances and how you should apply for them.

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