Funding Part-time Study

ILA Scotland Account
SAAS Part-time Fees Grant
Fee Waiver Policy
Eligibility for fee waiver
Evidence required for fee waiver

Part-time FE/HE study

If you are 16 or over and living in Scotland, you may be eligible for and ILA Scotland account to help pay your part-time course fees.  The money is not a loan so you don't have to pay any of it back. 

Learners must have their ILA Scotland account set up and approved before enrolling on a course of study in order to use their ILA Scotland account to pay part of the course fees. Please see our leaflet

T: 0808 100 1090                                             W: www.ilascotland.org.uk

Part-time HE study

If you are over 16 and living in Scotland you may be eligible to apply for up to £500 towards the fees for part-time college and university courses. 

• You must be studying for at least 40 SCQF credits a year.
  

• Higher Education courses at SCQF levels 7, 8, 9 and 10 are eligible. This includes Higher National Certificate (HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND) or undergraduate degree courses and some Professional Development Awards.

If you are studying fewer than 40 SCQF credits per year above SCQF level 7, you may be eligible for an ILA Scotland account (see above).  You cannot apply for both.

Contact the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) for more information and to apply.
Web:  www.saas.gov.uk
Facebook:   www.facebook.com/saasfb
Twitter:   www.twitter.com/saastweet

Part-time Tuition Fee Waiver Policy 2011/12

If you are in receipt of a relevant UK benefit, and studying less than 16 hours per week, the tuition fees for many part-time and evening classes may be waived.  Not all courses offer fee waiver, so please check before enrolling.  Commercial courses or exam fees for sign language courses do not qualify for fee waiver.

Appropriate documentary evidence of benefit MUST be produced before a fee waiver can be authorised. The burden of proof is on the student to satisfy the college with evidence of their eligibility status.

Eligibility

Students may apply to have class fees waived subject to the conditions set out below.

1 Where the student and/or PARTNER are in receipt of:

• Income Support
• Working Tax Credit (not Child Tax Credit)
• Pension Credit
• Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income Related Employed and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Housing Benefit

2 Where a dependent student's family are in receipt of:

• Income Support
• Working Tax Credit (not Child Tax Credit)
• Pension Credit
• Income-based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income Related Employed and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Housing Benefit

3 Where the student is in receipt of:

• Carer's Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Attendance Allowance
• Incapacity Benefit
• Contributory Employment & Support Allowance (ESA)

4 Where the taxable income of the student's family in the previous financial tax year (2010-11) is equal to, or lower than the threshold of:

£8,282 - Households with only one person

£12,395 - Households consisting of a couple without children

£18,977 - Households with dependent children

5 Where the student is:

• An asylum seeker living in Scotland
• The spouse of an asylum seeker living in Scotland
• The child of an asylum seeker living in Scotland

6 Where the student is:

In the care of a local authority and is living in a foster home or children's home, regardless of the students' age.


You will be required to fill out and sign a Part-Time Tuition Fee Waiver Application Form and produce evidence at the time of enrolment to substantiate their claim.

This evidence will be checked by a member of college staff and the type of evidence produced noted on the fee waiver application.

Types of acceptable documentary evidence

The following official documents will be accepted as valid proof of Fee Waiver evidence. This evidence must show your address, the type of benefit and be relevant to the category of fee waiver for which you are claiming.

• Letter from Department of Work & Pensions
• Letter from Job Centre Plus
• Letter from HM Revenue & Customs
• P60 2010/11
• SAAS Award letter
• Local Authority Letter
• Home Office Documentation

NB 
Fee Waiver applications or discounted fees cannot be used in conjunction with Individual Learning Account Scotland funding.