Nursing and midwifery students: funding support 2020 to 2021

Eligibility

Students’ eligibility is governed by the Nursing and Midwifery Student Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2007. This booklet is only intended to guide students to the main eligibility criteria set out in these regulations; it is not intended to be exhaustive.

Students undertaking courses in pre-registration nursing and midwifery leading to the award of a degree may be eligible for a bursary under the NMSB scheme. Eligibility for support depends on Three conditions:

•  that your course is eligible;
•  that you have not had previous NMSB funding; and
•  that you meet the residence requirements.

Course eligibility

Bursaries are for eligible students attending courses which:

lead to registration on the Professional Register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which may include degree, honours and masters levels; and 

are partly or wholly funded by the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates (SGHSCD).

Funding Eligibility

You may not be eligible for a bursary if you have been in receipt of NMSB funding in the past for a pre-registration nursing or midwifery course; eligibility will depend on the type and level of funding previously received.

Students Resident In UK Countries – Reciprocal Arrangement

• Students from England, Wales or Northern Ireland, who started their course from 2017/18 and thereafter and choose to study in Scotland, should apply to their home country funding body for their tuition fees, bursary and income-assessed living cost loan.
• New Scottish students who started their course from 2017/18 and thereafter and choose to study nursing or midwifery in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, will not be able to access the non-repayable, non-income-assessed NMSB package. Instead these students should apply to SAAS for the standard undergraduate package of a tuition fee loan and an income-assessed living cost loan while studying nursing and midwifery in other UK countries. Students can also apply for an Independent Students’ Bursary, Young Students’ Bursary and other living-cost grants, where eligible.

Residence eligibility

To be eligible for the NMSB you must have been ordinarily resident* in the UK for the three years immediately before the relevant date (the first day of the first academic year of the course), and ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date. This date will be 1 August 2020. You must also be on a course that leads to registration on the Professional Register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Generally to qualify for support you must be:  

• ordinarily resident (see Note 1 below) in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man, for three years immediately before the first day of the first academic year of the course;  
• settled in the UK as described in the Immigration Act 1971;
• ordinarily resident in Scotland on the first day of the first academic year of the course; and
•  studying full-time in higher education.

If you don’t meet the general residence conditions above, you may still be eligible to apply to SAAS for funding
in certain circumstances.

The residence eligibility conditions can be complicated. If you are in any doubt about your residence status, you should contact SAAS for advice or visit their website for more information.

*Note 1.
Ordinarily resident has been defined in the courts as ‘habitual and normal residence in one place’. It basically means that you live in a country year after year by choice through a set period, apart from temporary or occasional absences such as holidays or business trips. Living here totally or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education does not count as being ordinarily resident.

Students from the European Union

Eligible EU students will only receive tuition fee support. As such they do not need to apply to SAAS as their university will handle payment of fees for eligible EU students.

If you do not meet the conditions above, you may still be eligible to apply to us for funding in certain circumstances. If you are in any doubt about your residence status, you should contact SAAS for advice or visit their website for more information.