Financial Support

Applications for academic year 2025-26 open in July 2025. You can read more about the ways students can access financial support whilst at BHASVIC below.

16-19 Bursary Fund information for academic year 2024/25

The 16 – 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help students overcome specific barriers to participation and attendance, so they can remain in further education. BHASVIC provides two types of bursary; ‘Enhanced’ and ‘Discretionary’. The information below should help you to identify whether you are eligible to apply for one of these bursaries. If you are, you should read our 16-19 Bursary Fund Guidelines 2024-25 in full, and then submit an application via our online Financial Support portal. If you have any questions which are not answered by reading our guidelines, please email bursary@bhasvic.ac.uk and a member of staff will be happy to help.

Bursary applications are currently closed. This is due to the high volume of applications received and the likelihood that funds will be exhausted by the applications already submitted.

If you were intending to make an application, please use this form to register your interest. We will contact you if applications re-open.

Enhanced Bursary: Are you eligible?

The following students are eligible to apply for an enhanced bursary:

Students who are in local authority care or who have recently left local authority care (also known as ‘Children in Care’ and ‘Care Leavers’).
Students who receive Universal Credit in their own name (because they are financially supporting themselves, or financially supporting themselves and someone who is dependent on them and living with them, such as a child or partner)
Students receiving Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments in their own name as well as Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit in their own name
Students who live in a household where they, or a parent or carer, are in receipt of one or more of the following benefits*:

o Income Support, Income Based Job Seekers Allowance, or Income Related Employment and Support Allowance
o Child Tax Credits (whilst not receiving Working Tax Credits) with a gross annual household income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by HMRC
o Universal Credit (with net earnings not exceeding the equivalent of £7,400 per annum). You can find out more about how we assess Universal Credit income in Appendix Two on page 27o Working Tax Credit Run On (paid for the 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for WTC)
o Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit
o Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

Students who are Young Adult Carers and live in a household with a gross income of no more than £33,000 per annum*.

Discretionary Bursary: Are you eligible?

The Discretionary Bursary can help students who are not eligible for an Enhanced Bursary, but whose gross household income is no more than £33,000 per annum.

To be eligible to apply:

You, or your parent(s)/carer(s), are in receipt of one or more of the following benefits*:

o Universal Credit with a gross income of no more than £33,000 per annum: as per guidelines from the Education & Skills Funding Agency the college uses the take-home pay figure in addition to the amount of UC after all deductions to calculate the total monthly income. This amount across three monthly statements is used to work out the approximate annual household income. Further information on this calculation can be found in Appendix Two on page 27 of the Guidelines.
o Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit with a gross income of no more than £33,000 per annum
o Housing Benefit or Local Housing Allowance
o Council Tax Reduction Scheme
o Carer’s Allowance
o Pension Credit

• You, or your parent(s)/carer(s) are not in receipt of one of the benefits listed above, but are employed or self-employed with a gross income of no more than £33,000