Bursary fund

Criteria

If you are aged 16 to 19 and one or more of the following applies:

• In care
• A care leaver
• Receiving Income Support or Universal Credits because you are supporting yourself and/or a dependent child/partner
• In receipt of Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credits AND Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments

* If you make a successful claim for Employment Support Allowance, Income Support or Universal Credits and your parent is claiming Child Benefit for you, they will not be able to continue to claim Child Benefit.

Criteria

• Take home household income of less than £30,000 per annum
• Aged 16 to 19
• Aged 19+ and continuing into year 2 of a Level 3 course you started in 2024/25
• Aged 19 – 24 with an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan)

Criteria

If you or your parent /guardian are receiving:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC))
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after someone stops qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit with net earnings not exceeding the equivalent of £7,400 pa (after tax and not including any benefits you get).
• Transitional protection for students in receipt of free school meals since 1 April 2018

• Travel payments are calculated by the cheapest route, using any available student fare card. (Please see our useful links for available fare cards). Weekly travel payments will be up to £50 per week depending on your actual costs by the cheapest route.
• The teaching team will confirm any items or trips essential for your course. We will not consider support for any non-essential items. We will decide if it’s more appropriate to buy or lend you equipment. If you withdraw for whatever reason, or do not have satisfactory attendance, progress and behaviour, you may be asked to repay part of the cost of any items provided to you or to return the items. The amount to be repayable will be determined by the College.
• All applications for attending a university open day or interview are considered on a case by case basis. We will look to make a contribution if there are sufficient funds available. Any contribution that we make must be agreed before you attend the open day or interview, we will not consider retrospective claims.
• Students not eligible for the Free Meals in Further Education Scheme may receive a discretionary meal from the College if sufficient funds are available. These meals will be allocated on a term by term basis.

• Travel is paid weekly, in arrears, direct to your bank account, subject to you meeting the required attendance in line with the college attendance policy. We will only pay travel to those who have at least 75% attendance overall in the previous week. If you are absent for a whole week you will not be eligible for a payment, no matter what the circumstances are. There may be some instances where you have been granted an authorised absence and payment may still be made subject to confirmation from your Curriculum Team and following the College’s absence process. We do not expect this to happen regularly. We will reimburse you once for any relevant fare cards needed to enable you to access the cheapest travel on production of a receipt or proof of purchase. You will be required to produce proof of purchase for your travel tickets each term. Please email receipts to studentfinance@nescot.ac.uk. Failure to provide this each term will result in the termination of any further travel payments. Please see the weekly payment calendar here.
• If you pay for Protective Personal Clothing (PPE), kit, uniform, books and trips yourself we will reimburse you if you provide a receipt. Alternatively we can transfer the money to your department to purchase the items for you. Please remember we will only provide support towards costs and amounts that the teaching team has confirmed to us, so please check before you pay for anything yourself. Any costs applied for that are not claimed in the term that you apply will be cancelled.
• For university interview and open days we will reimburse direct to your bank account the agreed contribution subject to receipts.
• For Free FE Meals and Discretionary Meals, a daily allowance of £6.50 will be made available via your Nescot ID card for the days that you are required to attend college. You can use your free meals allowance in any of the on site catering facilities. Please see the information on our college website to confirm the meals that you can have. The college will review this allowance on a termly basis subject to demand and will inform you if the allowance will change.

Please let us know before you go on any work placement or trips so that we can make alternative arrangements, but note that any contributions agreed for work placement can only be paid on production of a signed placement timesheet, or confirmation via the college's online placement system, which must be provided to Student Finance on a weekly basis. Receipts will be required for reimbursement of any work placement costs.

Please phone Sheila Gallagher on 020 8394 1181 or Sharon Greenwood on 020 8394 3033 for further details, or email studentfinance@nescot.ac.uk

If you are a student aged 20 or under, you can apply for childcare support, know as 'Care To Learn' via the college's online bursary portal.

Your course and your childcare provider must meet the 'Care To Learn' eligibility criteria. You may receive up to £180 per week towards your childcare costs (£195 if you live in a London borough). Payments are made directly to your childcare provider on your behalf. Support may also be provided towards any deposit (up to £250) and any registration fees (up to £80 per child) required by your childcare provider.