Funding for Nurses
- Funding for your Course (Full time home)
- The Bursary
- Dependants Allowance
- Single Parents Allowance
- Childcare Allowance
- Disabled Students Allowance
- Expenses for Clinical Placement
- Travel Expenses
- Subsistence Allowance
- Funding for your Course (Part time home)
- Funding for your Course (Overseas nurses)
- Students' Association Emergency Fund
Funding for your Course
Full time (home) students
All the University's full time nursing students are funded by SAAS. To qualify for assistance for fees you must be eligible under the SAAS residence criteria. All UK and EU students ordinarily living in the UK or EU for the 3 years prior to studying at the 31st August of your chosen start year.
You must apply for your tuition fees and bursary annually with applications being available both online and in paper format from the school. SAAS will pay for the full normal duration of your course.
Bursary for Nurses
New students who are beginning a course on 1 August 2007 or later
If you begin your course of study on 1 August 2007 or later and you are taking the four-year honours degree course and you are eligible for the bursary, you will get the full bursary rate in years 1 to 3 and a 75% bursary for year 4. If you are taking the three year diploma course you will get the full bursary rate in years 1 to 3. The table below shows the amount of bursary SAAS can pay you.
|
Years 1 to 3 | Year 4 |
| Students who begin their course on 1 August 2007 or later | £6,255 | £4,691 |
| Graduates who have been accepted for a two year training course | £6,255 | n/a |
Dependants' Allowance
You can apply for an allowance for your husband, wife or civil partner and for any child you are legally responsible for. You should tell SAAS if the other parent is receiving student support as you can only claim one allowance for each child. You must send SAAS a copy of marriage or civil partnership agreement and birth certificates with your first application. Do not send the originals as SAAS cannot guarantee to return them safely.
The maximum amounts you can claim if you begin your course on 1 August 2007 or later are:
| £2,510 | for a husband, wife or civil partner, or, if you are single, one adult you have a legal responsibility for who has little or no income from any source; or for the first child, as long as you are not receiving an allowance for a dependent husband, wife or civil partner, or other adult dependant. |
| £530 | for all other children |
Any income your dependants have may reduce your support. If you are married or in a civil partnership, you must declare your husband's, wife's or civil partner's income, even if you are only claiming for your children. Gross income from all sources is taken into account (but not including income tax or National Insurance contributions).
Single Parents' Allowance
You may be entitled to an extra allowance if you are single, widowed, divorced or separated, and bringing up children on your own. You must send written evidence to prove you are a lone parent when you apply, such as:
- a copy of your tax credit award (please send all relevant pages);
- a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions to show you receive benefit as a lone parent;
If you cannot provide one of the above, a letter, on company header paper, from a professional person who knows your circumstances and can confirm that you are a lone parent, may suffice. A professional person can be, for example, a doctor, lawyer, teacher, police officer or minister of religion. The table below shows the amount you can claim:
| for students who begin their course on 1 August 2007 or later | £1,240 |
Childcare Allowance
You may be entitled to this grant if you pay for registered or formal childcare. When you fill in your form, you should inform SAAS if you think you may be entitled to this support. They will send you another form to ask you for details of the amounts you will pay and about your childcare provider. The table below shows the maximum amounts SAAS can pay depending on your childcare costs.
For new students (only) entering in 1 August 2007 or later, the childcare allowance will now be payable to any student who is a parent and want to claim formal childcare costs. Previously, this was restricted to lone parents.
| for students who begin their course on 1 August 2007or later | £1,155 |
Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA)
If you have a disability, you may be eligible to claim for certain extra expenses you have to pay because you are on the course. SAAS will consider paying the following amounts.
- Up to £1,640 for any qualifying cost during the academic year.
- Up to £12,420 for non-medical personal help for the academic year.
- Up to £4,905 for major items of specialist equipment (this is a total amount for the course, not for each year of the course).
Before this allowance can be paid, you will need to fill in a DSA application form to give us more information. SAAS may need to refer you to an assessment centre for advice (see our Special Needs department for checking) on the equipment you may need. This can take time so it is essential that you apply as early as possible.
Expenses for clinical placement
Clinical placement is the part of the course that consists of supervised practice in clinical areas. You can claim expenses for some extra travel and reasonable accommodation costs from SAAS. You cannot claim for normal daily travel to and from your institution or for your normal day to day living expenses.
Travel
SAAS pay travel costs on the basis of the cheapest fare. You should take advantage of season tickets, zone cards, and student railcards wherever possible. If you claim more than the cheapest fare available, your claim will be restricted to the cheapest fare. We will deduct the amount of your normal daily travelling costs to your institution, (but no more than £5 a day) from the costs of placement travel, and pay the difference.
SAAS do not normally pay for:
- air fares, unless your institution is prepared to certify that the use of air transport is justified;
- parking fees; taxi fares; tips; carriage of luggage; bicycles or pets; food and drink for the journey; or
- private transport unless there are exceptional circumstances (for example, if you live in a rural area where public transport is not available).
Subsistence
If you must live away from your term time address because of your placement you may reclaim extra board or lodgings charges from SAAS. You must pay the cost of all meals, food, and so on that are not included in the accommodation costs from your Bursary. This includes any extra costs while staying with relatives. You must send receipts along with your claim to SAAS.
Funding your course
Part time (home) students
Part time courses (undergraduate and postgraduate) are not funded by SAAS. Some undergraduate students may qualify for a full Government Fee Waiver; some postgraduate students may qualify for a 50% waiver.
Students studying no more than 3 modules in each semester and 1 during the summer, on a government benefit should normally qualify. Students in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance for the 6 weeks prior to enrolling should also qualify.
If you are in doubt of your eligibility for any of the aforementioned schemes please contact either a Student Support Adviser or SAAS (address can be found at - sources of help) with your details.
Alternatively go to the Finance Office web site for full details.
Funding your course
Overseas Students
The aim of this programme is to provide training for overseas nurses in order that they can become registered nurses with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
The programme has been developed by the University of the West of Scotland and has been validated by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the NMC.
The 6 month supervised practice and 20 day protected learning programme is £800 per nurse.
The 20 day protected learning only programme is £300 per nurse
Each place providing nurses with employment during the period of supervised study has to be audited (and this needs to be renewed annually). The cost of each audit is £250.
At the end of the course the NMC will give you your PIN number. This usually takes three to four weeks and the nurse has to pay £162 to register. This is charged by and paid to the NMC.
Students' Association Emergency Fund
This is a small fund which is available for Nursing and other students who are in extreme financial need. Contact the Students Association on your campus for further details. Dumfries Campus students can contact Student Services for access to the Crisis Fund.