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Money, money, money… how will I fund my studies?

A top priorities for those of us considering coming back to education, is how will I afford to pay for the course, and live during my studies?
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It’s really important to think through how you’re going to pay for university before you start your course - this may include the cost of moving to a new area as well as day to day expenses such as travel. There are some sample budgets on our website that may help you plan your expenditure. Advisers, like myself, can help you with that and help you work out how much funding you can get. If you haven’t studied at degree level before, it’s likely you can get funding to study. In terms of government funding, there
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are 2 main elements to student funding: tuition fee loan, maintenance loan. In addition to the tuition fee and maintenance loans, if you have children or a partner who depends on you financially, you may be able get some grants towards your living costs. Also, if your children are in registered childcare, you could be eligible for Childcare Grant to cover up to 85% of your childcare costs; which is paid directly to your childcare provider. If you are living in the UK, you can apply for this support on gov.uk/studentfinance.
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If you’ve studied at degree level before, for more than one year, your entitlement to support may be reduced or restricted (but that’s not necessarily the case) so please do get in touch with us at the Student Hub, or contact your local university to find out what you are entitled to. At the University of York we also offer a bursary for students with household incomes of £35,000 or below. There’s no need to make a separate application for that bursary, we’ll use the information you provide when you apply for your student finance. Other universities will offer similar schemes that you can gain access to.
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If you have children, or if you or your partner receive a disability or sickness benefit, you may be eligible to receive some state benefits alongside your student funding, as well as a higher amount of maintenance loan. It’s worth making an appointment with a finance advisor within your local college or university to discuss that in more detail. Sorting out your money first means you’ll be able to focus on your studies when you get here.

The world of financing any studies can be really confusing, but there is a lot of help out there to guide us in the right direction. All education institutes will have dedicated finance and funding advisers who have all the most up to date information to help you at whatever stage you are at or, have been at in the past.

Stephen is an academic support adviser who works in a team that deals with finance and funding every day.

As Stephen outlines, a student’s personal circumstances will lead to different financial eligibility and once we know what we are entitled to and the cost of our studies, we can then focus on our learning.

Once you have watched the video, do check out the associated links as well as sharing with others, any tips, or information sites that you have found particularly useful to help in your learning search.

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Returning to Education as a Mature Student

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