Eligibility

To be eligible for the Bristol Scholars Bursary, you must:

• have been nominated for the Bristol Scholars scheme by your headteacher or head of post-16 college;
• be a new student in 2020/21;
• be studying your first degree;
• be a Home/UK student who is resident in England;
• pay Home tuition fees;
• apply for and be eligible for means-tested support through Student Finance England;
• have been assessed by Student Finance England to have a household income of £25,000 or less.

You are not eligible for a bursary if you are a part-time student or on any year of your course where you are entitled to NHS funding.

Students receiving the Bristol Scholars Bursary cannot also be considered for the University of Bristol Bursary in the same academic year.

Award

In the first year of study, you will receive a full tuition fee waiver (£9,250) plus a living cost bursary of £3,855.

In each subsequent year, only a living cost bursary of £3,855 will be paid, subject to continuing to meet the eligibility criteria.

The University will review the value of the Bristol Scholars Bursary from time to time.

How to apply

All students who have been nominated for the Bristol Scholars scheme will have any application to the University of Bristol tracked. Eligible students must firmly accept their conditional or unconditional offer to go forward for consideration for the Bristol Scholars Bursary.

Any students confirming a place at the University will automatically be eligible for consideration for the Bristol Scholars Bursary.

You will need to have applied for means-tested support from Student Finance England, and have consented to share your household income details with the University.

Award process

1. You will receive confirmation of your place at university from UCAS, on or after A-level results day.
2. Once you know your place has been confirmed and you know that your household income is under £25,000 per year, you can cancel your tuition fee loan if you requested one in your application for Student Finance. If you are unsure whether your household income is below £25,000 or you want to cancel your tuition fee loan, call Student Finance England on 0300 100 0607.
3. Once you are fully registered at the University, we will be able to generate the tuition fee waiver and bursary payment.
4. We expect to contact recipients by mid-October.
5. The Bristol Scholars bursary element will be paid directly into your bank account in three termly instalments.
6. Students are required to provide the University with the correct bank details to ensure timely bursary payments. Follow these instructions to enter or update your bank details‌.
7. The University reserves the right to use the bursary to offset any debt owed to it by the student.

Changes in circumstance

Withdrawal from a course

• If you withdraw from your course before your next bursary payment date, you will not receive payments but the repayment of any previously paid instalments will not be sought. As long as you are in attendance on the date that bursary payments are made you will receive your bursary instalment.
• You will have your tuition fee waiver adjusted to meet your tuition fee liability for the year in which you withdraw.

Repeating studies

• If you repeat a year, you are entitled to the Bristol Scholars financial package of support during your repeat year provided you continue to meet the household income eligibility criteria.

Changing from studying full-time to part-time

• If your faculty allows you to temporarily change from full-time study to part-time study due to medical circumstances, you will normally continue to be eligible for financial support through the Bristol Scholars scheme.
• As long as you continue to have a household income of £25,000 or less, you will be entitled to a fee waiver equivalent to the full tuition fees being charged while studying part-time. Also, the Bristol Scholars bursary will be paid for those terms when you are in attendance on your course.
• Support will be limited to one full-time equivalent year. For example, if you study at 50% full-time equivalent for one academic year, and another 50% during the following academic year, you will be eligible for support in both years, subject to the above conditions.

Change of course or course length

• If you choose to undertake a year abroad after you have started your studies and it lengthens your degree programme, you will continue to be eligible for a bursary.
• If you intercalate on a medicine, dental or veterinary science course, you will not be eligible for the Bristol Scholars bursary in your intercalation year.
• After you have been notified of your bursary, if you transfer to a course that is longer than your original course (e.g. from a BSc to an MSci), you will continue to be eligible for the bursary.
• If you transfer to the first year of a new course from the first year of your original course, you’ll receive the bursary but not the fee waiver for the duration of the new course. However, if you repeat a year of study, you won’t normally receive the bursary in that repeat year. If you have extenuating circumstances for a repeat year, then you could still receive the bursary.
• If you transfer to the first year of a new course from the second or third year of your original course, you will only receive the bursary in some years of the new course, and you will not receive the fee waiver. Contact the Student Funding Office if this applies to you. If you repeat a year of study, you won’t normally receive the bursary in that repeat year. If you have extenuating circumstances for a repeat year, then you could still receive the bursary.
• After you have been notified of your bursary, if you transfer to a course with a higher tuition fee than your original course, you will be liable to pay the difference between the two tuition fee levels yourself.

Change in household income

• Students who are initially assessed as eligible to receive the Bristol Scholars support package, but whose household income increases above £25,000 during the academic year, will stop being entitled to the Bristol Scholars tuition fee waiver and Bristol Scholars bursary.
  • Affect on tuition fee waiver: In such cases, the student's entitlement to the tuition fee waiver will cease and an adjustment made to their entitlement on a pro-rata basis for the period they were eligible. The student will then be advised of the period not covered by their tuition fee waiver and the amount of tuition fees that they will be liable to pay. They would be eligible to apply to Student Finance England for a non means-tested tuition fee loan to cover any amount of tuition fees not covered by the tuition fee waiver.
  • Affect on bursary: The student would not be expected to repay any instalment of the bursary already paid prior to the household income increasing above £25,000, but any instalment of the Bristol Scholars bursary not already paid would be cancelled.
• Students who have been nominated for the Bristol Scholars scheme but who do not qualify for the Bristol Scholars support package on the basis of their household income, will have their entitlement reassessed if their household income falls below the qualifying threshold during the academic year.
• Entitlement to the Bristol Scholars package of support will be reassessed annually. Therefore, Bristol Scholars who may not have been eligible in one year due to their household income being too high, may be eligible in future academic years if they subsequently meet the qualifying household income threshold.