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• Paying for your tuition
• Money to live on
• How much to live on
• Help with living costs table
• Applying for student support

Paying for your tuition

You do not have to pay your tuition fees up-front and, if you are starting your course in 2012, much of your fees will be paid by the Welsh government.

So long as you are eligible for student support, you can apply for a loan to cover your actual fees, up to a maximum of £3375 pa (in 2011; an inflationary rise after that). This loan is not means-tested; the money is paid direct to your university (so you can’t spend it on anything else); and you repay the loan later (you begin when you are earning at least £15k pa if you start in 2011, £21k if you start in 2012).

If your fees are more than this in 2012, the difference will be covered by a fee grant or waiver from the Welsh Assembly.

You have to apply: you will not get the loan or grant for your fees unless you do (and if you don’t apply, you may be charged the full cost of the course, which may be much more).

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Money to live on

You are expected to live on money from a variety of sources, depending on your personal circumstances. (If you are already a graduate, you should check carefully; you may not be eligible for any of this help and your fees may be higher too.)

• Student Loan & your family. Almost all UK undergraduates are entitled to take out a Student Loan (or Maintenance Loan) to provide money to live on, which you pay back after graduation. Most of this is available to everyone but if your family income is above a certain threshold, your family (parents, spouse/civil partner) will be expected to make a contribution.
• Assembly Learning Grant. If your family income is less than £50k, you will also qualify for a non-returnable Assembly Learning Grant.
• Special help. In addition, there is Special help for certain categories of students, eg those with a disability, those with children or other dependants.
• Bursaries. Universities usually provide some (non-returnable) bursary help for the lowest-income students (most are obliged to if they charge the maximum fee).

For more information, check out the Student Finance Wales website – www.studentfinancewales.co.uk.

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How much to live on

How much this all amounts to will depend on your family income and on where you live while you are at university. No information is available for a 2012 start but this is the position for 2011.

The maximum Student Loan is £4745 pa. Most (75%) is available to everyone so, even if your family is rolling in money, you will still get £3559 pa and your family expected to contribute £1186 pa. The remaining 25% is means-tested so if your family does not have much money, you will receive the whole amount. The maximum is reduced to £3673 pa if you are living with your parents, increased to £6648 pa if you are studying in London.

An Assembly Learning Grant of £5600 pa is payable to students whose family income is up to £18.4k; you do not need to repay this. The amount of grant gradually decreases as family income rises – down to no grant at all when your family income is more than £50k pa. The first £2844 of your Assembly Learning Grant will be deducted from the amount of Student Loan you can take, so you have less to pay back later.

Bursaries certainly should be available through your university if your family income is below about £20k, unless you are studying in Scotland. Bursaries are not repayable. If you are studying in Wales, most bursaries are paid from the Welsh Bursaries Scheme. Elsewhere, each university has its own bursary scheme, helping different groups of students with varying amounts of cash − from at least £338 pa to maybe £5000 pa for bright students from low-income families in specified subjects. Bursaries available are outlined in our university descriptions; and on the university search lists you can compare the amount available if your family income is around £18k−£20k pa.

Horribly complicated? See if this chart helps, which shows the approximate amount of help available to a student, depending on the family income.

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Help with living costs table in 2011 (if you live in Wales)

If your family income is..	£20k	£30k	£40k	£60+k
Student loan is.. (Less if you live with parents, more if you study in London)	£1901	£3166	£4094	£3559
Assembly Learning Grant is... (You don’t need to pay back)	£5168	£2633	£1086	Nil
Bursaries from university... (You don’t need to pay back)	£338+	Maybe	Unlikely	None
Total help of	£7407+pa	£5799	£5180pa	£3559pa
Assumed your parents pay at least	Nil	Nil	Nil	£1186pa
So what you have to live on	£7407+pa	£5799pa	£5180pa	£4745pa

Some small print. There are allowances against your family’s gross income before you arrive at the figure used in the calculation – other siblings still in education etc. All these figures go up in line with inflation each year. If your parents (or spouse/civil partner) don’t want to complete the financial assessment, you will only be able to claim the non-means-tested loan, ie £3559 pa.

This maintenance money is all in addition to the loan to cover your fees.

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Applying for student support

Apply. Apply for student support as soon as you can (usually from February). Do not wait until you have received an offer of a place or you risk not having your money by the start of the academic year. You need to apply each year of your course.

You make a single application for all types of student support. To apply online, go to the Student Finance Wales website – www.studentfinancewales.co.uk, and you can then track your application with the password you will be given. For a paper application, either download a form from the website or apply to your Local Education Authority (LEA).

Are you eligible? The first decision on your application is whether you are eligible for student support (you may not be if you are already a graduate). This first stage is important because it caps the tuition fee your university can charge you (so you won’t be charged the full cost of your course) and entitles you to take out those loans that are not means-tested – the loan to cover your tuition fees and 75% of the Student Loan.

If you only want to take the non-means-tested loans, you indicate this on your application. But if you want to apply for more, then you and your family must complete the financial sections, so a financial assessment can be made.

Financial assessment. If you opt for a financial assessment, you will need to declare your family’s income (yours and usually that of your parents or any partner). You will then be told how much help you are entitled to for that year − that is, how much loan you can take to cover your fees and how much maintenance money (the Student Loan, whether you are eligible for an Assembly Learning Grant and if so how much, whether you qualify for a Disabled Student Allowance etc).

Getting the money. Your money will be paid once you have started the course. The Tuition Fee Loan is paid directly to your university; your maintenance money will be paid directly into your own bank/building society account (usually a third at the start of each term).

Bursaries. Your university will usually use your financial assessment to decide if you are eligible for a bursary too. You need to indicate on your application that you agree to your financial data being shared with the university and then you should get the bursary money automatically if you qualify. At some universities you actually need to apply for bursary help. So if you think you may qualify, make sure you know the procedure at your university.

You can find out more about student support and apply directly on the Student Finance Wales website, www.studentfinancewales.co.uk.

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