16-19 Bursary fund
16-19 Bursary Criteria 2024/25
The 16-19 Bursary Fund is available to provide financial support to learners who are from low income households with costs incurred by attending college.
To be eligible to receive support from this bursary in 2024-25 a learner must be:
- 16, 17 or 18 years old on 31 August 2024
- or aged 19 to 25 with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessed by the local authority, satisfy residency criteria and be enrolled on an ESFA, European Social Fund (ESF) or publicly funded programme. you may be eligible for financial support whilst on your college course.Â
Financial support from the bursary helps eligible learners with costs such as travel to and from college or to buy essential books, equipment or specialist clothing that are required for their course.
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There are two different bursaries.
The Standard Bursary:
This is for learners being supported by parents/carers whose household meets one of the criteria below:
In receipt of one of the following benefits:Â
- Income Support, Income-based Jobseekers Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support. Allowance, the guarantee credit element of Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit (providing you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190), Universal Credit with income below £7400, Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
- A household income of below £35,000 (evidenced by a Tax Credit/Universal Credit Award notice).
The Enhanced Bursary:
This is for learners who are:
- Young people in care, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people.
- Care leavers.
- Young people in receipt of income support or Universal Credit because they are financially supporting themselves and anyone who is dependent on them or living with them, such as a child or partner.
- Disabled young people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit who are also in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DSA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP)(must have both).
Parent/Carer income is not counted for the Enhanced Bursary.
See below for more information about the different bursaries available to learners aged 16-18 and how to apply.
Help available for a Standard Bursary:
For eligible learners, a meal up to the value of £3.50 can be obtained from the college food outlets for each day they attend college. Learners will use their student ID card to access this.
Free college meals are only available for students being supported by a parent/guardian in receipt of one of the following:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guarantee element of State Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC))
- Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after someone stops qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- Universal Credit with net earnings not exceeding the equivalent of £7,400 pa (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
A free breakfast may also be provided to learners eligible for the 16-19 Bursary, dependent upon need. This will be accessed with the learner's college ID.
Learners who live more than three miles from the college are able to apply to the fund for assistance with funding a bus pass. Learners must apply via ‘myPetroc’ for a travel pass in the first instance and then we are able to match this with your Bursary application. Find out more about travel to college.
Where learners are required to have equipment/clothing/books related to their course, i.e. chef’s whites, steel toe cap boots, the fund will contribute 80% towards the full cost of the kit (in some cases the full cost may be capped).
The fund will contribute 80% towards the costs.
50% of the cost of trips (excluding overseas) essential to a student’s programme can be covered. The learner is required to provide evidence of the trip to the Advice & Guidance Centre once they have paid their deposit.
If a learner is facing a particular challenge or hardship, please contact the Wellbeing and Support Team on 01271 447196 or at wellbeing@petroc.ac.uk
Help available for an Enhanced Bursary:
Where learners are required to have equipment/clothing or pay for trips and fees essential to their course, this will be identified and dependent upon need, financial support may be given.
Learners who live more than 3 miles from the college are able to apply to the fund for assistance with funding a bus pass. Learners must apply via ‘myPetroc’ for a travel pass in the first instance and then we are able to match this with your Bursary application. Find out more about travelling to college.
A college mentor will be available to help learners eligible for the Enhanced Bursary to access the support they need.Â
Where the Enhanced Learner is required to have equipment related to their course, e.g. chef’s whites, steel toe cap boots, they may request funds to cover these expenses by supplying detailed breakdowns.Â
Application process:
You can apply for a Standard and Enhanced Bursary by logging onto your myPetroc student account, using your student login details. Only the learner can do this application - parents and guardians cannot do this through the parent portal.
Once you have logged in, you will need to scroll down to the blue 'Services' heading where you will be able to click on ‘Bursary Application’.
It will then ask you a series of questions. You will need to check whether you (or your parents/guardians if you are 18 and under, or under 25 with an EHCP living with your parents/guardians) receive any benefits or are on a low income.Â
If you are 19 and over in the September you start your course, you will be given the opportunity to select what you would like assistance with. Please ensure at least one of these boxes is selected, there is no limit to how many boxes you can check.Â
Once you have submitted your application, you will have an alert to upload bursary evidence.Â
Evidence required:
(Please check the evidence criteria for the appropriate Bursary)
Means Tested Benefits
If you receive any of the benefits listed below, you will need to supply an official letter from the awarding organisation (e.g. Benefits Agency, The Pension Service). This needs to be dated within the last three months.
- Income Support
- Income based Job Seekers Allowance
- Employment Support Allowance (ESA - Income related)
- Pension Credits (Guarantee Credit Element
- Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Universal Credit
If you receive Universal Credit, you need to log on to your online Universal Credit account and take a screenshot of the page that has your name on it. Please then click on your most recent payment date. Then scroll down to the section ‘What we take off (deductions)’ and screenshot this section and send the two pieces of evidence to us.
Tax Credits
If you are receiving Tax Credits, please submit your most recent Tax Credit Award Notice. We will need to see the whole of the front page that shows your name and address and the page that shows your income for the financial year. (This is normally on page 2 or 3). Please send screenshots or pictures of these two pieces of evidence. Â
Employed
If you are Employed, we will need to see one of the following:
- Three of your most recent payslips.
- Your P60.
- Tax Credit Award Notice (see above for evidence required).
Self-employed
If you are self-employed, please send evidence of your most recent tax return.
Enhanced Bursary evidence
If you qualify for the Enhanced bursary (please see criteria for details), you will be contacted by Petroc who will assist you with the evidence required and funding allocations.Â
Once you have completed the online application, you must upload evidence via your MyPetroc account, email the evidence of your entitlement eg. benefit/low income/care status etc to bursaryevidence@petroc.ac.uk or take it to either the Advice & Guidance Centre at North Devon or Mid Devon, where your application can be approved.Â
Benefit and care evidence needs to be dated within three months; tax credit evidence needs to be the current tax year’s award, clearly showing the income for the previous tax year. Without this evidence, your application will not be processed.
When your income evidence is shown to the Advice & Guidance Centre, a member of the team will assess your financial eligibility. In most cases, this can be done within 14 days and will be confirmed by email, a message on your MyPetroc or verbally depending on how you presented your evidence.
With the exception of help with transport and free college meals, payments may be made as early as October half term, as we’ll need to check your attendance. Payments will normally only be made if 100% attendance is maintained. Payments are based on individual need and relative to the cost of the essential equipment or kit required, as provided by our academic staff
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Learners payments are conditional on complying with the attendance criteria as laid out in the Attendance and Punctuality Policy. Learners’ attendance will be checked 3 weeks after their start date and payment will be processed if attendance is at 100%. If a learner falls below 100% attendance in the first 3 weeks, they will need to demonstrate improvement which will be considered on an individual basis.
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Payment can be made once bank details have been submitted. Unfortunately, payments cannot be made if the learner has not supplied their bank details. Learners can supply their bank details by their myPetroc account once payments have been allocated. It may take up to 10 working days to be credited to the designated account.
Please note that the Bursary is intended to reimburse the learner a percentage of the costs. It is the learner’s responsibility to ensure they purchase what they need for their course and we will reimburse them once we have checked attendance.
Need further assistance?
Please get in touch with the Advice & Guidance Centre:
