Activate Learning has put in place a HE Study Support Fund to provide students with access to financial support in meeting the additional costs of their course. Such additional costs might include obtaining digital technology to aid remote/online studying, material to support studying i.e. research papers, equipment/material for coursework, travel arrangements for an event or project directly linked to their course of study i.e. field trips, off-site research * or undertaking a dyslexia assessment. This is not an exhaustive list and as such, an application will be considered for this bursary as long as the eligibility criteria is met, and financial support can be justified.
*Students studying on either a FdSc or a BSc awarded by Kingston University at Merrist Wood College can apply for a grant from the HE Study Support Fund to help in meeting the financial costs of undertaking the professional development requirement within their course.
The HE Study Support Fund also provides limited discretionary financial support for students on higher education programmes who are experiencing unforeseen financial difficulty where their ability to continue their studies is compromised because they are unable to meet basic or unexpected additional costs from other sources of support. In such circumstances the Fund is able to make small grants. Applications for such support will be assessed based on individual needs preventing attendance or full participation in the programme of study. If you are entitled to welfare benefits, these should be applied for before submitting an application to the fund. Any award from the fund may affect your benefit payments, but on request, we can produce a letter for your Job Centre Plus/Housing Benefit office, which will confirm whether or not the award will affect your benefits.
What’s it worth?
This offers a grant of up to £500 is available and will be subject to sufficient attendance (at least 80% attendance) and academic progress on the part of the student. You will be required to provide evidence that you meet the eligibility criteria. Application is not a guarantee of an award as a limited number of awards are available.
You should be aware that requests for support in purchasing IT equipment and other study aids will be limited to £250 or 50%, whichever is the lower, of the cost of the equipment unless there are exceptional circumstances. Where an application is in respect of unforeseen financial hardship the maximum amount of grant available is £250.
Who is eligible?
You are eligible to apply for the HE Study Support Fund if you are an active student on an undergraduate programme and normally resident in the UK. You will need to be up to date in the payment of tuition fees.
Please note that you will need to be able to demonstrate relevance to your studies of the support requested.
All applications must be made using the online form and will be limited to a maximum of two applications per student per academic year - HE Study Support Bursary application form 2023.24
Funds are not unlimited and applications for the HE Study Support Fund will be processed in the order they are received preference will also be given to students where neither parent has a higher education qualification. The application process will be closed once the funding has been used. Please note that you may be required to provide receipts to validate the expenditure and applications must be submitted at least 15 working days prior to the date on which funds are required. Failure to provide evidence is likely to result in a delay in applications being considered.
You should be aware that payments will not be made until the start of the academic year and if you withdraw from your programme of study prior to the end of the academic year you may be liable to repay all or part of any HE Study Support Fund paid to you.