University of Sunderland Bursaries 2024/25

Overview

The University of Sunderland offer generous bursaries to full-time, Home, undergraduate students studying eligible courses. EU students with UK Settled Status at the time of application are eligible for these bursaries. Bursary awards will be allocated according to the following criteria outlining cohorts currently under-represented in higher education.

*Subject to receiving satisfactory evidence.

**As assessed and confirmed via the Student Loans Company application process.

Bursaries will be awarded over the period of three academic years for courses longer than one academic year. Top-Up students will receive a one-year award. Please see ‘Awarding Bursaries’ section below.

Who's eligible?

1. You must be a 'Home', 'Refugee', or 'Overseas Island' student on an eligible course

The Government classes all students as ‘Home’ or ‘International’. This status determines which tuition fees you pay, and which bursaries you are eligible to receive.

All students who apply must have undertaken a means-tested Student Loans Company assessment.

Overseas Island; Isle of Man and the Channel Islands students are eligible for these bursaries.

Asylum seekers and refugee students are eligible for these bursaries.

EU students with UK Settled Status at the time of application are eligible for these bursaries.

You must be a first-year or a year three Top-Up student applying to commence your studies in autumn 2024 based at City Campus, Sir Tom Cowie at St Peter’s Campus, Dance City, or the Northern Academy of Music Education (NAME).

If you are an ‘International’ student, you are not eligible for these bursaries.

Students who already hold a higher education degree, including any overseas equivalent are not eligible for these bursaries.

2. You must apply for and meet the conditions of your offer, then successfully enrol onto and study a relevant course

See our comprehensive list of full-time undergraduate courses eligible for bursaries.

Some University of Sunderland courses are not eligible for these bursaries due to the additional funding that students studying these courses are eligible to receive. These include:

• Medicine MBChB (see our Medicine scholarships and bursaries pages for further information)

Courses where students are in receipt of the NHS Learning Support Fund:

• Midwifery
• All Nursing courses
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Paramedic Science and Out of Hospital Care

Courses where students are in receipt of an NHS bursary:

• Social Work

Postgraduate courses where undergraduate fees are charged or where students are in receipt of bursaries and scholarships for teacher training:

• PGCE/PCET courses

Undergraduate Initial Teacher Training courses where students can receive a teaching bursary.

You are not eligible for these bursaries if you are in receipt of a Troops to Teaching Bursary.

You are not eligible for a University of Sunderland Bursary if you have been awarded a We Care Bursary. This is because the We Care Bursary has the highest financial value of the two awards. You cannot receive both awards. See the We Care Bursary terms and conditions for further information.

If you are initially awarded a University of Sunderland Bursary and are later found to be eligible for and awarded the We Care Bursary, any funds/credit you have received from the University of Sunderland Bursary scheme will be deducted from any in-year We Care Bursary payments.

You are not eligible for these bursaries if you have been funded by the Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service (ELCAS).

How to apply

If you are starting an undergraduate course in autumn 2024, you can apply for this bursary from March 2024. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 31 July 2024 at 12 noon.

You can apply for this bursary via your myApplication account. We will provide information to eligible course applicants detailing how to apply for these bursaries when the application window opens at the start of March 2024.

Awarding the bursary

Successful applicants will be awarded based on only one of the under-represented groups criteria.

Successful applicants will be notified via email to inform them of their provisional award in September 2024. Following enrolment onto an eligible University of Sunderland course and confirmation of satisfactory evidence of priority, bursary awards will be confirmed. You must give consent to the Student Loans Company to share your financial information with the University of Sunderland.

If the number of bursary applications meeting the bursary criteria exceeds the total number of awards available, the University will use the awarding criteria at Appendix two to prioritise the applications.

Bursaries will be awarded over a period of three academic years as shown in the table below for courses longer than one academic year. Top-Up students awarded a bursary will receive a one-year award.

Students who are on a placement year or a year where they are not paying full fees, will not be eligible to receive the bursary during that year.

If you are awarded a bursary, you can spend your StudyPlus credit to buy study materials including books, stationery, study tools and other items from the StudyPlus store. You can also top up your account with additional funds to spend on a wide range of learning resources and everyday living items that StudyPlus offers.

Your StudyPlus credit will be made available on the fifth working days of November, February and April each academic year.

Eligible students will receive three instalments for a one-year award, over the course of their academic year.

Students receiving a cash element will receive this in three instalments throughout the academic year paid via your StudyPlus account.

The cash element of your bursary award is intended to support you with any of the following:

• Travel costs – including public transport, petrol, vehicle costs such as insurance, maintenance, other costs such as parking, tolls.
• Digital – IT equipment including laptops, tablets, specialist software and digital connectivity such as broadband costs.
• Childcare costs – related to additional childcare needs for attending university and/or placement.
• Other expenses - such as books, specialist equipment and essential course materials.

If you have not registered on your course within three weeks of the course start date or provided sufficient evidence of eligibility, the bursary will be withdrawn and offered to another eligible student.

The bursary award is conditional on you maintaining satisfactory engagement and making academic progress in your course of study in the reasonable opinion of the Programme Team. If you withdraw from your course before receiving a bursary payment, the bursary offer will be withdrawn. If you withdraw after a bursary payment is made, the University will not seek reimbursement however you will not receive any further instalments.

If you do not supply us with the required information and the bursary is not awarded by November 2024, the bursary offer will be withdrawn.

If you transfer to another course and repeat a year, or if you repeat a year of the same course, the bursary will not be awarded in the repeated year. However, the bursary award will continue once you progress onto the following level(s) of study.

If you take a Leave of Absence (LOAB) in academic year 2024/25, you will be eligible to receive the remainder of your award when you return, up until the end of academic year 2025/26.

If you have an outstanding university debt of £50 or more, you will not receive the bursary until the debt has been cleared.

The University agrees to pay to you, the student, all bursaries, and payments that are awarded and due to you whilst you are on your course of study. If a scholarship or bursary payment is made to you in error, the University reserves the right to recover any awards or overpayments from you, the student. This may result in you being asked to repay an award if it was paid to you in error. It is also the responsibility of you, the student, to ensure that all awards and payments received are accurate. Any payment discrepancies will be rectified by the University or the student.

These payments will be made into a UK bank account of your choice. It is your responsibility to enter your bank details onto your myApplication account so that these payments can then be made to you.

If you fail to enter your bank details to enable the payment to be made to you before your course end date (or your date of leaving your course of study if earlier), these bursaries and payments will be withdrawn and will no longer be due.

All StudyPlus credit can be rolled forward to the next academic year(s) up until the time of the end of your course (or date of leaving the course if earlier).

Income assessed bursaries

Income assessed bursaries will be based on the Student Loans Company’s definition and assessment of household income. Your declared household income will be checked and verified. Bursaries will only be offered to those students who have a confirmed annual household income of £27,500 or less, or a confirmed annual household income of between £27,501 and £47,500.

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’, ‘Overseas Island’ or ‘EU Settled Status’. 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

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 for potential bursary applicants and in no way should they be considered legally binding or guarantee an award of a bursary.

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 from time to time sometimes without notice. The University’s decision is final.

Appendix 1 – Evidencing priority criteria

Appendix 2

Awarding criteria if bursary applications meeting the bursary criteria exceed the total amount of awards available.

Published: 27 November 2023