Support for students

Discretionary and assistance funds

The university has a suite of hardship funds that you can apply to for assistance with your monthly living costs and your annual rent (if living in university accommodation).

Eligibility to each fund will depend on your funding body, course, and level of study. You will be assessed for every fund you are eligible for under one application to the Discretionary & Assistance Funds. We assess each fund based on your annual household income and expenditure, and an award will be made if a deficit is found.

You can see the full list of funds, their eligibility criteria, and the online link to the application form on our money support webpage. Please read the application process and evidence list thoroughly before starting your application.

Care Experienced Bursary

Students with care experience are guaranteed to receive a £500 bursary from the relevant fund for every year of their course, even if no deficit is found. To be eligible for this bursary, students must be enrolled in a course that is studied over an academic year. This bursary is not available to students on short courses. We will also prioritise your Discretionary & Assistance Fund application assessment.
 
The Scottish Government provide the monies for each fund and due to this we are heavily audited each year. If you wish to apply for the Care Experience Bursary, please ensure that you have told us that you are care experienced by completing the Point of Contact Registration Form and providing the supporting document to confirm your experience of care.

Graduation Bursary

Students with care experience are guaranteed to receive a £150 graduation bursary in their final year of studies to cover graduation costs. To receive this you must have completed the Point of Contact Registration Form and provided the supporting document to confirm your experience of care.

Care experienced undergraduate students can apply for a funding package from SAAS which includes a non-income assessed Care Experienced Students’ Bursary.

Tuition Fee Funding and Care Experienced Bursary

New and continuing care-experienced students undertaking a degree course may be eligible to apply for a non-repayable funding package of tuition fees and a non-income assessed Care Experienced Student Bursary of £9000.

You may be eligible to claim the Care-experienced Student Bursary if:

• You have ever been looked after by a Local Authority in the UK; and
• You are under 26 on the first day of the first academic year of your course

Care Experienced Accommodation Grant (Summer Holidays Only)

If you are care experienced and need help with your accommodation costs during the summer holiday that falls between each year of your course, you may be able to claim the Care-experienced Accommodation Grant. This currently awards a maximum of £105 per week towards your accommodation costs during the summer holidays falling between each year of your course.

You may be eligible to apply for the Care-experienced Accommodation Grant if:

• You have ever been looked after by a Local Authority in the UK; and
• You are under 26 on the first day of the first academic year of your course.

If you get Housing Benefit or any other benefit, you need to tell SAAS which benefit(s) you get, and how much. You must also tell them if your Social Services Department gives you any help with accommodation costs.

Download the guide to all SAAS support available (PDF)

If you are or will be funded by Student Finance England, Wales, Northern Ireland or another funding body outside of Scotland, you should talk to your finance provider, in the first instance, to find out all of the funding available to you.

Alternatively, you could contact our own money support team who would be happy to help: email ask@stir.ac.uk.