Overview
Funded from a philanthropic donation via our Development and Alumni team, the Helen McArdle Scholarship aims to support undergraduate students studying an eligible nursing course. Each scholarship offers £1,200 in cash for each year of continuous study.
There are five scholarships available.
By applying for this scholarship, you agree to participate in PR/marketing activities if awarded.
Who is eligible?
1. You must be a 'Home' student on an eligible course
The Government classes all students as ‘Home’ or ‘International’. This status determines which tuition fees you pay, and which scholarships and bursaries you may be eligible to receive.
Isle of Man and the Channel Islands students are eligible.
EU students with a UK Settled Status at the time of application are eligible.
International students are not eligible.
You must be a first-year student applying to start your studies in autumn 2026.
2. You must apply for and meet the conditions of your offer, then successfully enrol on and study an eligible course
You must successfully enrol on one of the following eligible full-time nursing courses in academic year 2026/27:
- BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing Practice
- BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing Practice
- BSc (Hons) Children’s and Young People’s Nursing Practice
Some nursing courses are not eligible. These include:
- BSc (Hons) Nursing (Top-Up)
- BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing (Blended)
- FdSc Registered Nursing Associate
3. Priority will be given to applicants who, or whose family members, have previously been employed by Helen McArdle Care
The Helen McArdle Nursing Scholarship Trustees will verify applicants’ or their family members’ previous employment with Helen McArdle Care.
4. Secondary awarding priority will be given to students who are the first in their family to enter higher education (first-generation) or are mature students with family commitments
During the enrolment process, we will verify ‘first generation’ evidence.
Mature students (aged 21 and above) with family commitments will be verified through an application for the NHS Learning Support Fund. For the scholarship, we define family commitments as having parental responsibility for a child who is under 15 years of age at the start of the academic year, or under 17 years of age if the child is registered with special educational needs.
5. Tertiary awarding priority will be given to students who meet any of the widening participation criteria below
When awarding this scholarship, priority will be given to applicants from the following underrepresented groups:
- Care-experienced student
- Estranged student aged under 25 at the start of the course
- Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman or Boater
- Refugee
- Student with caring responsibilities
- Low household income (equal to or below £30,000 per annum)
- Live in a low-participation neighbourhood (POLAR4 Quintile 1)
- Previously eligible for free school meals
- Students who do not live on the mainland and have a home address within Northern Island, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands or Islands of Scotland.
Please note, if we need to verify your household income as part of your bursary application, you must have undertaken a means-tested Student Loans Company (SLC) assessment. You must also agree to share your data with the University via the SLC. The University will liaise with the SLC to verify household income.
How to apply
Applications open in February 2026. The deadline for applications is Monday, 31 August 2026. Once the deadline has passed, we are not permitted to accept any further applications.
You can apply via your myApplication account.
Your username is your student number, which can be found on all correspondence you have received from the University. If you are unsure of your student number, please contact Student Administration at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk.
Please note that applying does not guarantee you will be awarded this scholarship.
All applications that meet the criteria will be shortlisted for consideration by the Awarding Committee.
When and how will you receive your award?
The Helen McArdle Nursing Scholarship will be awarded following an application and ranking process based on the priority awarding criteria above.
Once scholarships have been allocated, you will be notified via email of your provisional award.
You will receive the following cash payments:
- £1,200 on Friday, 5 February 2027
- £1,200 on Monday, 7 February 2028
- £1,200 on Wednesday, 7 February 2029
The scholarship cash payments will be paid via bank transfer into your UK bank account via the University’s Development Trust.
Additional information
If you have not registered on your course within three weeks of the course start date or provided sufficient evidence of eligibility, the scholarship will be withdrawn and offered to another eligible student.
If you do not supply us with the required information by February 2027, the scholarship provisional award will be withdrawn.
If you withdraw from your course before receiving a scholarship payment, the award will be withdrawn.
If you transfer to a course not listed above, you will not be eligible for this scholarship.
If you withdraw transfer to a non-eligible course in the same academic year after receiving your scholarship payment, you will be required to return the funding to the donor.
The award is conditional on you maintaining satisfactory engagement and making academic progress on your course in the reasonable opinion of the Programme Team.
If you repeat a year of the same course, the award will not be paid in the repeated year. Any payments due to you will continue once you progress onto the following level(s) of study on the course.
If you take a leave of absence (LOAB), your payments will stop until you return to full-time study and progress academically.
If you are in debt to the University to the value of £50 or more, you will not receive payment until the debt has been cleared.
All payments will be made into your UK bank account. It is your responsibility to enter your bank details and ensure these are kept up to date.
Income assessed applications will be based on the Student Loans Company’s definition and assessment of household income. Your declared household income will be checked and verified.
As part of the admissions process, the University will verify various aspects of a UCAS or direct application to determine that you should be classed as ‘Home’. The following criteria will be verified:
- Declared nationality
- Country of birth
- Area of permanent residence
- Date of entry into the UK (if applicable)
- Location of previous education provider
Funding is provided by the University’s Development Trust, registered charity 1041658.
Disclaimer
Every effort is made to ensure that all details included in these guidance notes are correct at the time of writing. They are intended to act as an information source only, and in no way should they be considered legally binding or guarantee an award.
The University will not be deemed to be in breach of any legal or contractual obligations due to changes to eligibility criteria beyond the reasonable control of the University. It should therefore be noted that these guidance notes are regularly reviewed and are naturally subject to change, sometimes without notice. The University’s decision is final.
Appendix
Use the information below to determine what evidence will be required as proof of priority group.
You are a refugee
Your refugee status can be verified using Home Office documents.
You were eligible for free school meals in secondary school (Years 7–11)
Your student record will evidence this following your application and enrolment. For mature applicants that a letter from your school could also be used.
You have caring responsibilities
This can be verified by one of the following:
- By a teacher, adviser or GP that you are a carer who has caring responsibilities for an average of 15 hours per week
- You can provide proof of your average of 15 hours per week caring responsibilities
- You are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance
You reside in a low-participation neighbourhood (POLAR4: Quantiles 1)
This refers to geographic areas where the number of 18 and 19-year-olds participating in higher education is less than two-thirds of the UK average rate. Check your eligibility on the OfS website.
During the enrolment process, the University will verify this based on your postcode. This will be based on your address at the time of applying to the University.
You have an annual household income of less than £30,000
If you are a ‘Home’ student who has applied for means-tested loans and grants from the Student Loans Company (SLC), the University will liaise with the SLC to verify your household income.
You are care-experienced
We use the broader definition of ‘care-experienced’ as this term is inclusive of the range of care settings someone may have experienced.
Our definition of care-experienced is someone who, at any stage of their life, and for any length of time, has been in care e.g. looked after by the local authority.
This includes the following:
- Spent time in the care of the local authority (e.g. foster care or children’s home)
- Privately fostered
- ‘Looked after at home’ under a supervision order
- In kinship care (where a friend or family member becomes the foster carer). Kinship care can be through a formal agreement, recognised by the local authority, and could be prior to a Special Guardianship Order.
For further information, please contact the We Care Team on 0191 515 2216 or email care.contact@sunderland.ac.uk.
You are an estranged student
You have had no contact at all with your parents/carers for at least 12 months, and this is unlikely to change.
or
You can demonstrate on other grounds that you are irreconcilably estranged from both of your parents/carers (e.g. exceptional circumstances)
or
You are assessed as independent by Student Finance England because you are estranged from both parents/carers.
For estrangement cases that cannot be confirmed by Student Finance England (SFE), proof of evidence of ‘genuine estrangement’ would need to be supplied to the University. All applications of estrangement are assessed on an individual basis.
You will not be considered estranged on the basis that you:
(i) live separately from your parents/carers, or
(ii) have recently fallen out with your parents/carers, or
(iii) your parents/carers are unwilling to complete income assessment forms or contribute towards your student finance.
You do not live on the mainland and have a home address within Northern Island, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands or Islands of Scotland.
Eligible postcodes
Northern Ireland
BT1, BT2, BT3, BT4, BT5, BT6, BT7, BT8, BT9, BT10, BT11, BT12, BT13, BT14, BT15, BT16, BT17, BT18, BT19, BT20, BT21, BT22, BT23, BT24, BT25, BT26, BT27, BT28, BT29, BT30, BT31, BT32, BT33, BT34, BT35, BT36, BT37, BT38, BT39, BT40, BT41, BT42, BT43, BT44, BT45, BT46, BT47, BT48, BT49, BT51, BT52, BT53, BT54, BT55, BT56, BT57, BT58, BT60, BT61, BT62, BT63, BT64, BT65, BT66, BT67, BT68, BT69, BT70, BT71, BT74, BT75, BT76, BT77, BT78, BT79, BT80, BT81, BT82, BT92, BT93, BT94.
Channel Islands
GY1, GY2, GY3, GY4, GY5, GY6, GY7, GY8, GY9, GY10
JE1, JE2, JE3, JE4, JE5
Isle of Man
IM1, IM2, IM3, IM4, IM5, IM6, IM7, IM8, IM9, IM86, IM87, IM99
Isle of Wight
PO30, PO41, PO31, PO32, PO33, PO34, PO35, PO36, PO38, PO39, PO40, PO41
Isle of Scilly
TR21, TR22, TR23, TR24, TR25
Scottish Islands (Outer Hebrides)
HS1, HS2, HS3, HS4, HS5, HS6, HS7, HS8, HS9
Scottish Islands (Inner Hebrides)
IV41, IV42, IV43, IV44, IV45, IV46, IV47, IV48, IV49, IV55, IV56, PA41, PA42, PA43, PA44, PA45, PA46, PA47, PA48, PA49, PA60, PA61, PA62, PA63, PA64, PA65, PA66, PA67, PA68, PA69, PA70, PA71, PA72, PA73, PA74, PA75, PA76, PA77, PA78, PH42, PH43, PH44
Scottish Islands (Islands of the Clyde)
KA27, KA28, PA20
Scottish Islands (Orkney Islands)
KW15, KW16, KW17
Scottish Islands (Shetland Islands)
ZE1, ZE2, ZE3
Published: 18 June 2025