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home > financial support > previous assistance

Repeat periods of study and previous assistance

If you have to repeat a period of study or you are doing a second course of higher education, we may limit your entitlement to tuition fees and a bursary. However, you can still apply for the student loan for living costs and any supplementary grants that apply to you.

The rules relating to entitlement to tuition fee support and a bursary are complicated. Entitlement to a bursary is linked to entitlement to tuition fee support. So if we do not pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees, you are not entitled to a bursary.  If you are in any doubt about your entitlement, you should contact us.  Entitlement to tuition fee support means:

  • If you study in Scotland, we will pay the standard amount of tuition fee direct to your college or university on your behalf; or
  • If you study elsewhere in the UK, we will give you a loan to pay all or some of your tuition fees.

We will not normally pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees if you have previously been on a full-time higher education course at HNC, HND, degree or equivalent level, and had help from UK public funds to do so. The same rule applies if you are an EU (including UK) national and you already have a degree for which you received support from an EU country other than the UK. In certain circumstances, we may pay your tuition fees in year four. Contact us for advice.

Repeat periods of study

We will not normally pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees or give you a bursary for periods of study you have to repeat, or for any extension to the minimum length of the course. However, we will consider individual requests for repeated or extended periods of support for medical or strong compassionate reasons, such as the death or serious illness of a close relative. We will need written evidence to support your request. 

If you have to repeat a period of study due to academic failure and you choose to do this part-time, as long as you are still registered with your institution as a full-time student, you can apply to us for the standard student loan and any supplementary grants that normally apply to you.  You will not be able to claim any tuition fees, bursary or the additional loan.  We will need a letter or e-mail from your institution confirming your status.

Previous assistance

The following links take you to the relevant section of this page.

How previous assistance affects tuition fees

The main points to remember are as follows.

  • If you have received support from UK public funds for an HNC but did not gain a qualification, we will not pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for another HNC.
  • We will not pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for an HNC course if you already hold a qualification at HNC or HND level (or above), for which you received support from UK or other EU public funds.
  • If you have completed a course leading to an HND, a Diploma in Higher Education, or certain other two-year full-time courses of higher education, with assistance from UK public funds, we may pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for the second and any subsequent years of a degree course.
  • If you have received support from UK or other EU public funds for an ordinary degree and you are not qualified with a profession, we may still pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for an honours year if you have not already received support from UK or other EU public funds for such.
  • EU nationals - we will not pay your tuition fees in the first three years of a degree if you already have a degree for which you received support from your home country or another EU member state. In certain circumstances, we may pay your tuition fees in year four. Contact us for advice.
  • If you change course or institution after receiving support from UK public funds for more than one year, we will pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for the minimum length of your new course or the minimum length of your old course, whichever is longer, less the period of support you have already received.

If your entitlement to help with your tuition fees, as explained above, is not enough to cover the full length of your new course, we will pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for the later years of your proposed course. For example, if you received help from UK public funds for two years of a five-year degree course, and you withdraw from this, we will pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for the last three years of another four or five year degree course.  This means you will have to pay your tuition fees in the first year of a four year degree or the first two years of a five year degree.

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Tuition fees for courses intended for graduate entry

Tuition fees for these courses may be much higher than the standard rates that we pay. Students who already hold a degree, regardless of whether they received support from UK or other EU public funds, will not receive help with their tuition fees for a degree specifically designed for those holding a degree or an equivalent qualification. We can make an exception if you want to train for the ministry, priesthood or dentistry. The highest tuition fee that we can pay, or give you a loan to pay, in cases like this, is the standard rate for the level of course you are studying and we will assess your entitlement to this fee individually.

How previous assistance affects the student loan, supplementary grants, young students bursary, students outside Scotland bursary and Additional Loan

Previous study does not affect your entitlement to a student loan for living costs or to appropriate supplementary grants. You can apply for this help even if you have received previous support for a full-time higher education course.

Previous study does affect your entitlement to a Bursary and the Additional Loan. You may not receive a Bursary or the Additional Loan during any session when we do not pay, or give you a loan to pay, the standard rate of tuition fees

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Allied Health Profession students

Previous study does affect your entitlement to tuition fees and the Health Directorate Bursary. It does not affect your entitlement to a student loan, placement expenses or to appropriate supplementary grants.

You may not receive the Health Directorate Bursary during any session when we do not pay the standard rate of your tuition fees (£1,820 in Scotland). However if you have completed an honours degree course with support from UK or other EU public funds and would like to study one of the Allied Health Professions, you may qualify for the current Scottish Government Health Directorate support package for the first two years from the time you enter the course. If you have completed an ordinary degree course, you may qualify for the support package for years 1,2 and 4. In both instances, we will restrict the funding for any other years of study to the non income-assessed loan, supplementary grants and placement expenses only. We will not pay any bursary or tuition fees. You cannot get this concession if you already hold a degree in one of the Allied Health Professions.

How previous study affects your support for a PGDE

If you have previously studied at postgraduate level, with or without support from UK or other EU public funds or your first degree, funded from UK or other EU public funds, qualifies you with a profession (for example, accountancy, architecture, engineering, medicine, nursing, ministers of religion and priests, physiotherapy or podiatry) we will not normally be able to pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for a PGDE.  However the following exceptions apply.

  • If your previous postgraduate course qualified for a Scottish Studentship or other studentship award  from a research council or government department, we will still pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees for a PGDE.
  • If you are doing a PGDE in one of the following priority subjects in Scotland, we will pay, or give you a loan to pay, your tuition fees no matter what previous postgraduate or undergraduate study you have done.  This concession is available once only. The priority subjects are currently English, Gaelic, home economics, maths, modern languages (French, German Italian, Spanish and Chinese), physical education, physics, technological education, primary education and any primary education with Gaelic medium.

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