University Level Bursaries 2026/27

Nottingham College is pleased to offer 3 bursary schemes for its full-time University Level students.

1. Special Support Bursary
2. Care Leaver Bursary
3. Student Carer Bursary

This provides up to £1,000 per year (based on household income) for University-Level students at Nottingham College in the 2026-27 academic year. To qualify, students must be paying the full tuition fee, receiving their maximum maintenance loan entitlement and have an assessed household income of £40,000 or less.

To apply for the bursary, students must also meet the following criteria:

• be studying on a full-time HNC/D, Foundation degree or Bachelor degree course at Nottingham College
• be assessed as a ‘Home’ student - subject to the standard tuition fee of £8,250.
• provide evidence of their student finance assessment, showing the Maintenance Loan amount
• not be receiving a bursary or scholarship from any other source (such as the NHS)

Evidence of your student finance assessment showing your eligibility for a maintenance loan must be included alongside the bursary application.  Applications cannot be processed without this. 

If you haven’t received your finance entitlement letter by the deadline, submit your bursary application anyway. However, it won’t be processed until proof of eligibility is provided.

A new application form must be completed for each year of study.

As a Care Leaver, you may be eligible for an extra £2,000 bursaryin each year of study.  Please provide evidence in the form of a letter on headed paper from your Leaving Care Worker, Social Worker, Personal Adviser, local authority or another professional person such as your Head Teacher.  To qualify, you must be:

1. studying a full-time undergraduate course AND
2. a UK student under the age of 25 at the start of your course;

Definition of a Care Leaver: Using advice from the national organisation Become – we define a care leaver as being: “a young person who has been looked after for more than 13 weeks since they were 14, including some time at age 16 or 17.”

As a Student Carer, you can apply for a further £1,000 bursary in each year of your study. This helps to support University-Level students who are also Primary Carers.  This is defined as anyone who is an unpaid Primary Carer for an adult family member who, due to illness, disability, mental health problem or addiction, cannot cope without their support.  Please provide ONE piece of evidence from the following list:

• supporting letter/email from an appropriate medical professional or manager of a Carers' Centre/Young Carers’ Project (or similar Carers’ support organisation).
• document from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirming receipt of Carer’s Allowance.