For course advice call 01536 413123
Our Adult Support Fund and Advanced Loans Bursary is strictly for students aged 19 and over on 31 August 2020, who have lived in the UK/EEA for the past three years and whose total household income is less than £30,000. If you are in receipt of an Advanced Learner Loan, please visit the Advanced Learner Loans Bursary page. If you are aged 19+ but on the second year of a course you started last year or you have an EHCP, please visit our 16-19 Bursary page.
Travel Bursary | This is a means-tested bursary of £360 or £600 depending on where you live to help with the costs of travelling to college. It is only available if you do not receive subsidised travel through your local authority; you live more than three miles from the campus and have a household income of less than £30,000. |
Tuition Examination and Professional Fees Bursary | The support will be either 75% or 50% of tuition examination and professional body fees. It’s advisable that you receive a decision from the Student Finance Team before you complete your course enrolment.
Note: if the course you are applying for is eligible for the Advanced Learner Loan then you will be unable to apply for help towards this bursary. |
Essential Course Costs Bursary | The support will either be 75% or 50% of your essential course costs such as safety equipment, books or trips. Where the essential course item is provided by Bedford College, for instance, a uniform or a trip, your bursary will be transferred to your department and you will be required to pay the difference. This is not available to students on the second year of a two year course unless essential course costs are specified for the second year. |
After you’ve answered the questions in our eligibility checker, if you qualify you will then be able to start your application. You will be required to upload evidence to prove your eligibility so please have this to hand. You will also be able to save your work and come back to complete your application at a later time.
List of Eligible Programme Types 2020/21
Your course must be either:
Students must provide evidence of how they meet the three strands of eligibility for financial support to include age, residency and household income, as well as be studying on a programme that is subject to inspection by a public body such as Ofsted and the course must be funded directly by the ESFA or by the European Social Fund (ESF) – we can establish this fact from our college database.
Bursary applications will be judged in line with AEB funding guidance for 2020/21.
For the Advanced Learner Loans Bursary, students must have already applied for the Advanced Learner Loan. The college will verify this on the Student Loans Company (SLC) portal; bursary applications will be put on hold where we are unable to view a student’s application status on the portal.
Bursary Eligibility 2020-21
All full time and part time students (including those in receipt of an Advanced Learner Loan) studying on an ESFA funded course, including traineeships, at The Bedford College Group and its incorporated sites (Bedford campus, Kempston campus, Shuttleworth College, Tresham campuses and The Bedford Sixth Form) are eligible to apply for support where they meet the following criteria:
In addition, the following will be considered for the Adult Support Fund, those who:
The following categories are not eligible for adult bursaries:
Exceptions