Are you Eligible for Student Finance?

Are you Eligible for Student Finance?

‘I don’t know if you’ll ever have the free time to read this, but I would like to personally thank you for the amazing videos you made on your YouTube channel. I was granted a Private life leave to remain. I just feel overwhelmingly happy, and I thought it would be nice to express my gratitude. My BRP has not arrived yet, but could you give us a brief summary of access to education and student finance for private life visa holders?’

Thank You

This short email, which I received from one of my subscribers, stopped my busy day and made me smile. In fact, this email made my day. I thought to myself that I’ve created my UKVisaSuccess.com channel and started practising immigration law 20 years ago because of guys like you. So, thank you for taking the time to drop me a line and telling me about your success. It means so much to me. I was a visa national myself for many years, so I know how you feel. I also know that this private life in the UK visa will open a lot of doors for you. It will also end your chapter of uncertainty, vulnerability and fear of the future.

I do not know your immigration circumstances, and because of the Law Society rules, I cannot give you any legal advice regarding your particular situation. However, what I can do here, with the help of this article, is explain general rules about student finance.

For those readers, who explore the option of applying for a student visa, you are welcome to explore further resources HERE.

Are you Subject to Immigration Control?

Any person without a right of abode in the UK is subject to immigration control. All British citizens have a right of abode. However, you should not confuse British citizenship with British nationality. As these are two completely different notions. British nationals rarely have a right of abode in the UK whereas British citizens always do.

Indefinite Leave to Remain

If you have indefinite leave to remain in the UK or are an Irish citizen, technically speaking, you are still subject to immigration control. The Home Office can take your indefinite leave to remain if you were outside the UK for more than 2 years. Alternatively, if you have indefinite leave to remain under the EU settlement scheme, the UKVI can take it away if you were away from the UK for more than 5 years. However, undeniably, indefinite leave to remain holders have significantly more rights and privileges than those with limited leave to remain.

Limited Leave to Remain

If you have limited leave to remain (visa), this means that the UKVI consented to you remaining in the UK for a certain period of time. In other words, you can only remain in the UK for as long as your visa is valid. Before your visa expires, you’ll either need to leave the UK or apply for a visa extension.

Limited leave to remain holders will need to remember that when remaining in the UK, they’ll need to comply with specific conditions, which the Home Office imposed on their stay. These conditions will depend on your type of visa. However, with some tiny exceptions, there is one universal condition, which is imposed in all cases. This is a ‘no recourse to public funds condition’. It stands for NRPF.

The ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ Condition

The NRPF condition means you cannot claim any benefits while living in the UK. To see if you have one imposed on your stay just check your passport and Biometric Residence Permit.

So, if such a condition is attached to your stay but you chose to claim benefits anyway – the Home Office can curtail (cancel) your visa. Also, your breach of such a condition will most definitely negatively affect the outcome of all your visa applications in future.

So, don’t claim benefits if you have the NRPF condition imposed on your stay.

What are Public Funds?

Now, let us definite what the Home Office actually means by ‘public funds’.

You can check the full definition of public funds at paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-introduction#intro6

To make it easier, I’ll provide a simplified summary of this definition below.

For those who reside in England, ‘public funds’ means:

housing
attendance allowance, severe disablement allowance, carer’s allowance and disability living allowance; income support, council tax benefit and housing benefit; a social fund payment; child benefit; income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related allowance (employment and support allowance), state pension credit; child tax credit and working tax credit
Universal Credit
a council tax reduction
local authority discretionary payments

Can You Apply for Student Finance with NRPF Condition?

The answer is ‘it depends’. It depends if you meet the eligibility requirements, which I explain below.

Have you noticed from my summary above that when defining ‘public funds’, the Home Office gave a specific welfare benefits list? However, this list did not include words ‘education’ or ‘education funding’. Therefore, it is safe to assume that, for example, being charged a ‘home’ tuition fee or full educational support does not mean you receive public funds.

Your eligibility for student finance will depend on two main factors:

Your study plan
Your residency status

Let’s have a closer look at both factors.

Your Study Plan

Your study plan includes:

Where you intend to study
Which course
How long (full-time or part-time)

You’ll need to ensure that an institution where you intend to study is officially recognised and offers a qualifying course.

It is very simple to check at two places:

Your institutions will need to be on THIS LIST; or
The degree which you’ll be getting will be on THIS LIST.

If You Are Studying Full-Time

There is a good chance of you qualifying for student finance if your course is one of the following:

a first degree, for example, BA, BSc or BEd
a Foundation Degree
a Certificate of Higher Education
a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
a Higher National Certificate (HNC)
a Higher National Diploma (HND)
an Initial Teacher Training course
an integrated master’s degree
a pre-registration postgraduate healthcare course

If You are Studying Part-Time

Your course needs a ‘course intensity’ of 25%+ to get student finance when studying part-time.

‘Course intensity’ means how much of your part-time course you’ll complete each year in comparison to an equivalent full-time course. To qualify, it has to be at least 25%.

You can work this out by comparing your module credits with the number of module credits a full-time student will study.

You can apply for two types of loans:

a Tuition Fee Loan (help with study costs)
a Maintenance Loan (help with living costs)

Tuition Fee Loans

You can get a Tuition Fee Loan if your course is in the UK and one of the following:

a first degree, for example, BA, BSc or BEd
a Foundation Degree
a Certificate of Higher Education
a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
a Higher National Certificate (HNC)
a Higher National Diploma (HND)
an Initial Teacher Training course
an integrated master’s degree

You’ll be eligible for a Maintenance Loan if your course is in the UK and one of the following:

a first degree, for example, BA, BSc or BEd
an Initial Teacher Training course (if it’s degree level or above)
an integrated master’s degree
a Foundation Degree in dental hygiene and dental therapy
a DipHE in dental hygiene and dental therapy or operating department practice

You can read the terms and conditions of these loan repayments HERE.

Are you Eligible for Student Finance if You Studied Before?

Even if you paid for your first education yourself, unfortunately, it is unlikely that you will get student finance for your second degree.

Your Residency Status

The second defining factor of your student finance application will depend on your nationality and residency status.

There are two types of support that the UK government can provide, depending on your residency status:

Full support (your tuition fees and living costs)
Partial support (tuition fees only)

Can You Get Full Support?

Yes, you can if you belong to any of the following three categories.

Category 1

You can get full support if you are:

a British/Irish citizen or if you have indefinite leave to remain
you live in England
have been doing so for the past three years before the 1^st day of your course.

Category 2

It is also very like that you’ll succeed in your full support student finance application if you are:

refugee (including family members)
humanitarian protection (including family members)
a migrant worker from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein (including family members) with settled or pre-settled status
child of a Swiss national, and you and your parent have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
child of a Turkish worker who has permission to stay in the UK – you and your Turkish worker parent must have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020
a stateless person (including family members)
an unaccompanied child granted ‘Section 67 leave’ under the Dubs Amendment
a child who is under the protection of someone granted ‘Section 67 leave’, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as the person responsible for them (known as ‘leave in line’)
granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain
a child of someone granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as their parent (known as ‘leave in line’)
you’ve been given settled status (‘indefinite leave to remain’) because you’ve been the victim of domestic violence
you’ve been granted indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner

Category 3

You may still get full support, even if you are not a British citizen, and category 2 does not apply to you.

This category may be relevant for those, who have limited leave to remain in the UK under the Private life in the UK route.

You will be eligible if you are:

under 18 and have lived in the UK for at least 7 years; or
18 or over and have lived in the UK for at least 20 years (or at least half of your life)

You must have been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 continuous years before the first day of your course.

Partial Support

You can apply for tuition fee funding if you’ve been living in the UK, the EU, Gibraltar, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland for the past 3 years, and you have one of the following:

pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, and you’re an EU national or the family member of an EU national
pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you’re an Irish citizen or the family member of an Irish citizen or person of Northern Ireland
Gibraltarian status as an EU national
been living in Gibraltar as a UK national

If You are Ready to Apply

If you are ready to apply, you can get started by CLICKING THIS LINK.

You can contact Student Finance England by CLICKING THIS LINK.

If you need more help and further links, you are welcome to explore further resources HERE.