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Student loans
Loans are available to students to help with living costs, e.g. accommodation, food, clothes, travel etc. Interest is charged at the rate of inflation, so the amount the student repays will be equal in value to the amount borrowed. The interest rate is currently 3%.
Help with tuition fees
Students can apply for a loan 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
The Higher Education Act 2004 gives universities and colleges in England the powers to set their own level of tuition fees, subject to a cap set by the Department for Education and Skills. The 2004 Act also gives responsibility for the tuition fee regime in Welsh Higher Education Institutions to the National Assembly for Wales. Institutions in England can now charge different fees for different courses, between £0 and £3000.
Higher Education Institutions in Wales will charge an annual deferred flexible fee of up to £3,070 from academic year 07/08.
In 07/08 the annual deferred flexible fee will apply both to new students and to students who started studying in 06/07.
From 07/08, students normally resident in Wales AND studying at a higher education institution in Wales will be entitled to a tuition fee grant of £1,845 which does not have to be repaid. The tuition fee grant is available irrespective of family income, and is paid directly to the student’s place of study.
Students normally living in Wales but studying elsewhere in the UK will not be entitled to a tuition fee grant. They will be charged fees according to the fee regime of the country in which they study, and set by their institution. However Student Finance Wales will provide a loan to cover these fees.
Additional support
There are further grants available in certain circumstances for full-time students normally living in Wales. You may be entitled to the following support from the Welsh Assembly Government:
Assembly Learning Grant
If you come from a lower income household, you may be eligible for a maintenance grant from the Welsh Assembly Government. Grants do not have to be paid back.
New full-time higher education students from lower income households are eligible for a non-repayable maintenance grant - the Assembly Learning Grant - of up to £2,765.
The full grant will be available for students with a household income of £17,920 or less; a partial grant will be available for those with a household income of up to £38,325.
Continuing students may be eligible to receive the Higher Education Grant of up to £1,000 and up to an additional £500 Assembly Learning Grant.
Financial Contingency Funds
These are available through universities and colleges. 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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