Higher Education

The HE Maintenance Bursary exists to provide you with some extra financial support while you’re studying with us.  You can use this money for whatever you need, whether that’s a helping hand with your rent or travelling to campus. 

What’s it worth? 

The HE Maintenance Bursary offers a grant of up to £1000 paid in two instalments (55% at the beginning of the academic year with the balance of 45% paid in April) subject to your satisfactory attendance and academic progress. Application is not a guarantee of an award as a limited number of awards are available. 

Who is eligible? 

• Be eligible for funding as a home student; 
• Be normally resident in the UK; 
• Be in receipt of the full SFE maintenance loan; 
• Have a family income of £25,000 or less; and, 
• Studying on an FdSc/BSc awarded by Kingston University, or an FdSc/BSc awarded by Middlesex University. 

All applications must be made using the online form. 

As part of your application, you will be required to provide evidence to show that you meet the eligibility criteria. It is important to note that you can apply for a HE Maintenance Bursary in each year of study. 

You will be able to apply for an Activate Learning HE Maintenance Bursary from September 2023 onwards, provided Activate Learning is your firm choice through UCAS.  Awards will be made following the initial Award Panel on 10 October 2023. 

You should be aware that funds are not unlimited and that applications for the HE Maintenance Bursary will be processed in the order they are received. The application process will be closed once the funding has been used. Please note that should it be necessary, preference will be given to students where neither parent holds a higher education qualification. 

The HE Care Leaver Bursary is a grant of £1000 paid in one instalment in October to eligible students. 

Who’s eligible? 

I In order to be considered for HE Care Leaver Bursary you must meet our definition of a Care Experienced or Estranged student: someone who has been in the care of their local authority/had experience of the care system after the age of 14 for a minimum period of 3 months. You will also need to registered on a full-time undergraduate course and classed as a Home student and under the age of 25 at the start of your course. 

You will receive the HE Care Leaver Bursary in each year of your course on the condition that you meet attendance requirements and progress normally on the programme. 

You should be aware that you can apply for both a HE Maintenance Bursary as well as a HE Care Leaver Bursary. 

All applications must be made using the online form. 

You should be aware that funds are not unlimited and that applications for the HE Care Leaver Bursary will be processed in the order they are received. The application process will be closed once the funding has been used.  Payments will be made at the beginning of the academic year. 

Activate Learning is aware that caring may have financial implications with students experiencing higher travel costs and/or finding themselves less able to work part-time to supplement their student finance awards.  

To help ease some of these financial worries, Activate Learning offers unpaid young carers, ie those carers who are under the age of 25 at enrolment, with an annual bursary of up to £500. 

Who’s eligible? 

We define a Carer as  

someone who looks after a member of the family, partner or friend with a physical or sensory disability, learning disability, medical condition, mental health issues or someone addicted to drugs, alcohol or gambling. 

(Please note that these duties would be in addition to the usual caring responsibilities that a parent would have for a dependent child.) 

You should be aware that you can apply for both a HE Maintenance Bursary as well as a HE Carers Bursary. 

All applications must be made using the online form.  You will also need to provide evidence from a professional person who is aware of the family’s situation and your caring responsibility. If you were previously in receipt of Carers Allowance, we will need evidence from the Department of Work & Pensions that this has now ceased 

You should be aware that funds are not unlimited and that applications for the HE Carers Bursary will be processed in the order they are received. The application process will be closed once the funding has been used.  Payments will be made at the beginning of the academic year. 

If you are a carer who is paid a salary for your caring duties or are in receipt of Carers Allowance, we regret that you are not eligible for this bursary. 

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. 

HE Financial Hardship Fund 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. The fund can also offer limited support to students who have experienced a change in financial circumstances due to unforeseen events which compromise their ability to study.

The HE Financial Hardship Fund is intended to act as a safety net for those in financial difficulty rather than as a main source of income. The size of the fund is limited and so may not be able to meet your need in full or guarantee that funds will be available, especially towards the end of the academic year. Awards are discretionary and are paid in the form of a non-repayable grant.

The HE Financial Hardship Fund cannot fully compensate for the lack of parental contribution, especially where a student has only been able to take out the non-means tested part of the Student Loan though some limited support may be available. If you already hold an HE qualification which is the same or higher than the course you plan to study, then you may not be eligible for statutory funding from the Student Loans Company; you may still be eligible to receive an award from the HE Financial Hardship Fund.

What’s it worth?

The maximum payable for each individual award is £250. 

You can apply to the fund during any and every year of study, and there is no limit on the number of requests that can be made during each academic year. The fund is open to full and part-time students.

Students studying on a franchised HE course should, in the first instance, seek support from the hardship fund of the relevant awarding university.  If they are unable to access support due to circumstances such as the fund at the university having been exhausted, they may make a subsequent claim to the Activate Learning HE Hardship Fund.

Who is eligible?

• You are eligible to apply for the HE Hardship Fund if you are an active student on an undergraduate programme or PGCE student and are normally resident in the UK.
• You must be up to date with the payment of tuition fees.

All applications must be made using the online form and will need to be supported by evidence of financial hardship and need, including the last 3 month’s bank statements.

How are applications assessed?

Applications 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.