Financing your studies

National Certificate, SVQ and GSVQ Courses
Students aged 16-17 undertaking these courses should use the Bursay/EMA application form to apply for an Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and to have their fees for the course paid. EMAs of £30 a week are payable to new students whose household income is less than £20,351 per annum (£22,403 per annum for families with more than one dependent child.) Assistance with the costs of travel and supplies for the course may also be available from the bursary allocation.

Students aged 18 and over will be eligible to apply for bursary funding using the same application form. The amount awarded currently ranges from a maximum of £70.48 per week for a student living in the parental home to £89.07 per week for an independent or married student, or a dependent student whose parental home is not within daily travelling distance of the College.

HNC/CertHE & HND/DipHE and Degree Courses
In addition to course fees for full time students, the following financial assistance may be available:
(a) assistance with the cost of travel in excess of £155 for the session;
(b) grants for adult dependants (Allowances are no longer paid for dependent children as these have been replaced by the Child Tax Credit);
(c) student loans to cover living costs while studying.
Travel and dependants’ grants are not repayable. Repayment of student loans does not begin until students have completed their course and are earning more than £15,000 per year. The amount then payable is 9% of the difference between £15,000 and their annual salary. No interest is added to the loan, so although it is inflation linked, in real terms graduates will repay the equivalent of the amount originally borrowed.

Young Students’ Bursaries – Higher Education
These bursaries will be available for students aged under 25, who are still dependent on parents whose income is relatively low. In session 2005-06 the maximum bursary for parental income of £19,310 or less is £2,640, reducing to £1,631 at parental income of £25,000, £744 at parental income of £30,000, and zero at incomes above £34,195.
These bursaries are not repayable; students receive the remainder of their support in the form of a student loan, making a maximum total of £5,230 for students living away from home and £4,270 for students living in the parental home. These amounts include a maximum additional young student’s loan of £605 and are based on a 30 week academic year. They may therefore be increased for courses lasting more than 30 weeks.

Modules
Undergraduate modules cost £161 each.
Postgraduate modules £283 per module.
Taught post graduate modules £378 per module.

Individual Learning Account
ILA Scotland is a Scottish Government scheme which helps you pay for learning that you can do at a time, place, pace and in a way to suit you.If you are over 18 and living in Scotland and earning £22,000 per year or less, you could get up to £200 towards the cost of learning new skills with an individual learning account from ILA Scotland.
Students studying the equivalent of 50% of a full time HE course (or 4 SCQF credits) can apply for an ILA500 to help towards the cost of their fees.
For more information visit the ILA Scotland section.


Additional Sources of Finance
Student Services Staff at Lews Castle College administer a range of Discretionary Funds to assist students who need financial help. These include the FE and HE Discretionary Funds and the FE and HE Childcare Funds. A lone Parent’s Grant of £1,305 per year may be available  from the Student Awards agency for Scotland, as well as an additional Childcare Grant for lone parents of up to £1,215 per year. Please complete the necessary details on the SAAS application form.