Financial support for students
We believe education should be based on the ability to learn, not to pay, and are providing record levels of support for students in higher and further education.
Support for higher education students
In addition to free tuition, from academic year 2022 to 2023 our student support package provides a minimum income of £8,100, through a combination of bursaries and loans, for eligible students with a household income of less £21,000. This includes a £350 increase to the undergraduate student loan package from academic year 2021/2022 and represents the first step in delivering our commitment to provide student support equivalent to the living wage over by 2024/25. All Scottish domiciled students, irrespective of circumstances are eligible for a loan of up to £5,100 a year.
Scottish domiciled students studying at a Scottish university are entitled to apply for a package of bursary and loan support, based on household income. Support includes:
- a non-income assessed student loan of £5,100 a year for all students
- a £8,100 bursary for care experienced students
- a loan of up to £10,000 (comprising £5,500 for fees and £4,500 for living costs) for any taught or research postgraduate course at any Scottish HEI up to full Masters level
- continued support for disabled students through the Disabled Student Allowance (DSA)
- living costs grants for certain categories of students such as lone parents and those with dependants
Students who require additional support on top of this can apply for Discretionary Funds. These funds are intended to provide assistance e.g. with housing or travel costs, for students who experience financial difficulty accessing or remaining in further or higher education. They are allocated by Scottish Ministers and administered by individual colleges and universities.
Part-time
Students undertaking a part-time undergraduate course are eligible for the Part-Time Fee Grant (PTFG).
The Part-Time Fee Grant is a grant of up to £1,805 and supports low income learners i.e. people whose individual income per annum is £25,000 or less, by providing a non-repayable grant towards tuition fee costs.
In addition to that, eligible students are able to apply for the Disabled Students Allowance from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) and to the discretionary funds administered by their institution.
Studying rUK
Scottish domiciled students studying in the rest of the UK, are required to pay the fees set by the UK Government – currently up to £9,250 a year. The Scottish Government has had to make a difficult decision therefore, that in order to continue free tuition in Scotland for Scottish domiciled students, and as the majority of Scottish domiciled students choose to study in Scotland, tuition fee loans will be offered to Scottish students who choose to study in the rest of the UK. This is on a par with the support English students studying at English universities are entitled to.
Therefore eligible students can apply to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for a tuition fee loan of up to £9,250 per annum to help with the cost of their course fees and also to SAAS for bursary and loan support to help with their living costs.
Distance learning
Students undertaking an undergraduate course through distance learning are currently treated as part-time students, regardless of the rate at which they choose to undertake their course, and are therefore eligible for the Part-Time Fee Grant (PTFG) of up to £1,805.
In addition to that, eligible students are able to apply for the Disabled Students Allowance from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) and to the discretionary funds administered by their institution.
Further information on all the above funding is available at the Scottish Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) which administers higher education student funding.
Higher Education Funding - Student Information Scotland
Support for further education students
In addition to free tuition, we have provided £135m in student support for further education students attending college in the 2022 to 2023. This a real-terms increase of 45% since 2006-07. Colleges can use these funds flexibly to meet demand across further education student bursaries, childcare and hardship funding.
Based on household income and circumstances, Scottish domiciled FE students in academic year 2022-2023 may be able to receive:
- a non-repayable means tested bursary of up to £113 per week (£4,859 a year). This is an increase of 4.1% from academic year 2021-22 and is the best level anywhere in the UK - In comparison, a full-time FE student can receive up to £1,200 per year in England, and up to £1,500 in Wales
- non-repayable bursary of £202.50 per week (£8,100 a year) for care experienced students
- a dependant allowance of up to £57.32 per week if you care for an adult who is financially or legally dependent on you
- childcare funding if you need to pay for childcare while studying
- benefits
We also offer an Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) of £30 per week to young people from low income families to help them stay on in post-16 education either at school or college.
Students who require additional support on top of this can apply for Discretionary Funds. These funds are intended to provide assistance e.g. with housing or travel costs, for students who experience financial difficulty accessing or remaining in further or higher education. They are allocated by Scottish Ministers and administered by individual colleges and universities.
Funding your college education - Student Information Scotland.
Student Support Review
In 2016 we commissioned the Student Support Review (SSR). This was an independent review into the student support system for further and higher education, to make it less complex and easier to understand. The review group was independently chaired by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO Virgin Money, and published its final report on 20 November 2017. The independent review was announced in our A plan for Scotland: the Scottish Government's programme for Scotland 2016-2017.
As part of the process, the review group published a consultation paper asking for ideas for improving how students access, receive, manage and understand the support they receive, as well as surveying more than 3,500 students and holding a number of focus groups across Scotland. The results of these and other evidence gathering exercises the group carried out have been published alongside the final report.
The Scottish Government responded to the independently chaired SSR in June 2022. In response to the SSR’s recommendations, Scottish Ministers announced that over £21 million will be invested per year in improving student support by the end of this parliamentary term. This will provide an increase in bursaries for full-time FE/HE care-experienced students to £8,100 per year in 2018/19. Further to that, £16 million will be invested in 2019/20 to increase bursaries for students from the lowest income families across FE and HE; deliver a guaranteed bursary for eligible students in FE and increase the HE bursary income threshold to support access. It was also announced that the HE student loan repayment threshold will increase to £25,000 from 2021.
Ministers recognise that there are a number of recommendations made by the Review which require further work and have committed to considering those. These include a commitment that the Scottish Government will work with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to explore the recommendation for a ‘Special Support’ system for students eligible for social security benefits whilst studying, further consider of the recommendation that loans should be introduced to FE with external focus group research underway, and consider the recommendation that students should have more choice on the timing of their payments, particularly in HE.
We will also be conducting a review of non-core and discretionary support which will include support for part-time students. A consultation will be launched to inform this work as Ministers are keen to hear from students directly.
In 2017, the Independent Review of Student Support (SSR) recommended further review of all non-core support in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE).
Disability related student support
The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) led a review of the disability related student support element on behalf of the Scottish Government in 2022. The purpose was to evaluate the provision of disability related student support across both sectors, focusing on the additional support needs for Learning Allowance (FE) and the Disabled Students Allowance (HE). The resulting disability related student support summary was published in October 2022. The report includes evidence-based recommendations which seek to improve the provision of support for students with a disability or additional learning need.
Archive content
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