Website helps locate bursaries

Website helps locate bursaries

An online map to help prospective students find out which bursaries are being offered by universities and higher education colleges was launched today by the government.

The interactive Bursary Aware map will provide links to 219 higher education institutions in England. Students can click on the area in which they plan to study, select their chosen university and link through to an information page on finances.

The creation of the map follows a recent poll commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills that showed almost two-thirds (65%) of young people were unaware that universities and colleges were offering non-repayable bursaries as a condition of charging £3,000 a year fees.

Full-time students from families where the household income is less than £18,000 are eligible for a full government maintenance grant of £2,765 a year and at least £305 a year from their place of study.

Many universities, however, are offering more than the minimum amount, as well as bursaries to those receiving partial government grants. The DfES expects about half of all full-time students to be eligible for a full or partial grant.

Some universities are offering extra financial inducements to students who live in the local community or are studying specific subjects, regardless of parental income.

The higher education minister, Bill Rammell, said: "I hope that this new map will be a helpful tool for students to find.....continued below

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out about the bursaries on offer at higher education institutions across the country. Students should be confident that no matter what their background, there should be no financial barrier to them studying at whichever university or college they choose."

The government estimates that more than £115m of non-repayable funds were distributed through bursaries and scholarships to first-year students last year. The Student Loans Company predicts this amount could rise to more than £350m a year by 2010.

Explainer: What students pay

Last September saw the introduction of £3,000 a year fees for full-time students.

Students can take out loans to cover tuition fees and help with living costs, neither of which have to be paid back until students have graduated, are in work and earning more than £15,000 a year.

Students use one form to apply for both tuition and maintenance loans, and to apply for maintenance grants.

Repayments, which begin in the April following graduation, are linked to earnings, not how much is owed. Students pay back 9% of their earnings above £15,000 a year, so someone earning the average graduate wage of £18,000 would pay back slightly more than £5 a week. The repayment will be deducted from salaries like any other tax.

The interest rate for loans is linked to inflation.

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