Financial Support

College will help you overcome any financial barriers to successfully complete your studies. We have a Student Support Fund for students from low-income families to assist with transport, lunches and other college-related costs such as trips.

Families that have a household income below £35,000 will mean a student can apply for financial support.

You can as a student also claim for Free School Meals:

Free School Meals will only be awarded if you meet the government’s criteria for Free School Meals in further education:

Your family receives Universal Credit and your family’s working salary is less that £7,400 per year
If your family are still on a legacy benefit i.e. Income Support, ESA, JSA
Your family receives Child Tax Credit only and their annual gross income is below £16,190 (if they also receive Working Tax Credit you will not be eligible for FSMs)
The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

Important - Being on Universal Credit does not automatically award Free School Meals unless the Governments’ criteria are met – if a student does not meet the criteria and their family’s household income is below £35,000 a discretionary allowance for meals will be awarded

UNIVERSAL CREDIT – Information for families who receive Universal Credit

Many families will be changing from the legacy benefit to Universal Credit and any new claims will automatically be placed on Universal Credit. The College calculates Universal Credit household income set out by the Government Guidelines for assessing eligibility by adding the total amount of Universal Credit received i.e. (Your Payment this month is) £1,343 for example and the total of salary paid after tax (Earning’s reported by your employer) e.g. £1,045.42 this would give a monthly household income of £2388.42

We ask for three statements as advised by the Government's policy as salaries can fluctuate between months and this can allow us to calculate an average monthly salary.

For self-employed families, they may be set a Minimum Income Floor. An example is earnings from self-employment is £675.00 but the Minimum Income Floor is set at £1,410.89 – the £1410.89 would be the total take home pay and we would use this to calculate household income.

For more information on Universal Credit please follow the link (Many families are often entitled to Universal Credit and not aware so you can also check your eligibility):
https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit

Am I eligible to apply?

If you are either a new or returning student and are not sure if you are eligible, need more information on the criteria, or if you need information on what proof of household income is required from your family/carers, please do not hesitate to contact student services who will be able answer all your questions and give you the help that you may need.

All applications are online only, and it is the student’s responsibility to register and complete their application with the support from a parent/carer.

You can also download any of the more detailed documents listed for more information on the different eligibility criteria. Alternatively, you can contact student service direct by email or phone.