Common use of Student Financial Support Clause in Contracts

Student Financial Support. As part of our strategy for widening participation, we have made a clear commitment to ensuring that, as fees increase, students with genuine financial need are in receipt of good advice and appropriate financial assistance. Our aim is to ensure that no student has legitimate reason to be deterred from applying to Bristol because of their inability to meet the costs of living and studying here. To underpin this aim, the University’s core Financial Support Package from 2012 will deliver: A reduced tuition fee of £3,500 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £15k or below. These students will pay no more for their education than they would under the current financial arrangements. A reduced tuition fee of £4,500 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £20k or below. A reduced tuition fee of £6,000 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £25k or below. In addition, we will offer an enhanced financial support package to students who have participated in our Access to Bristol scheme. This will deliver: A full tuition fee waiver and an annual maintenance bursary valued at £3750 for those Access to Bristol ‘graduates’ who have a residual household income of £25k or below. These students should be able to complete their studies at Bristol without incurring any debt in respect of either tuition or maintenance costs. All the above amounts are valid for 2012/13 and will increase annually in line with inflation (assuming that tuition fees also rise to reflect inflation). Eligibility will be determined in accordance with the SLC assessment of household income for state support purposes. Embedded within this package are awards to be made through the National Scholarship Programme. Our assumption from the available information is that our £420k allocation will rise to £840k in 2013/14 and to £1.26m in 2014/15. These awards will be offered as fee waivers, as an integral part of the student finance programme described above. Awards made through the National Scholarship Programme will be made where a student’s residual household income is £5,000 or below. Our student funding office’s analysis of the costs of living and studying in Bristol suggests that, for those students in lower income groups, our core student finance package, combined with state support (in the form of both tuition fee loans and maintenance grants/loans) and some part-time working should comfortably ensure that eligible students have sufficient funding at their disposal to cover normal tuition and maintenance costs while at the University. While developing the package, we also discussed proposals with our Students’ Union President and Vice-President (Education) and undertook some small-scale focus group work in local schools to clarify the levels of support which would be most attractive to widening participation applicants. While we are confident that, for most students, this package should provide an appropriate level of support, we are, in addition to the core package, increasing our investment in hardship funds to provide an additional safety net for those UK undergraduate students who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in financial difficulty during their studies. From 2012/13, a total of £350k will be set aside for this purpose (an increase of £130k on current provision). Priority for these funds will be given to students with the greatest financial need, taking into account the other financial support which they receive as well as their ability to undertake part-time work (we recognise, for example, that students with dependents and those on particularly intensive courses may not be able to work part-time during their studies). On the basis of past experience, it is estimated that approximately 70% of these funds (i.e. £245k) will be allocated to students from groups countable by OFFA. In parallel with the arrangements for 2012/13 described in this document, we will continue to honour our financial commitments to students admitted to the University on financial support packages described in previous Access Agreement. A more detailed breakdown of our proposed levels of investment in student financial support is provided in the separate OFFA Annex B.

Student Financial Support. As part of our strategy for widening participation, we have made a clear commitment to ensuring that, as fees increase, students with genuine financial need are in receipt of good advice and appropriate financial assistance. Our aim is to ensure that no student has legitimate reason to be deterred from applying to Bristol because of their inability to meet the costs of living and studying here. To underpin this aim, the University’s core Financial Support Package from 2012 will deliver:  A reduced tuition fee of £3,500 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £15k or below. These students will pay no more for their education than they would under the current financial arrangements.  A reduced tuition fee of £4,500 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £20k or below.  A reduced tuition fee of £6,000 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £25k or below. In addition, we will offer an enhanced financial support package to students who have participated in our Access to Bristol scheme. This will deliver:  A full tuition fee waiver and an annual maintenance bursary valued at £3750 for those Access to Bristol ‘graduates’ who have a residual household income of £25k or below. These students should be able to complete their studies at Bristol without incurring any debt in respect of either tuition or maintenance costs. Students eligible for our financial support package will be given the option to convert £2,000 p.a. of their fee waiver entitlement into a cash bursary. All the above amounts are valid for 2012/13 and will increase annually in line with inflation (assuming that tuition fees also rise to reflect inflation). Eligibility will be determined in accordance with the SLC assessment of household income for state support purposes. Embedded within this package are awards to be made through the National Scholarship Programme. Our assumption from the available information is that our £420k allocation will rise to £840k in 2013/14 and to £1.26m in 2014/15. These awards will be offered as fee waivers, as an integral part of the student finance programme described above. . Students will have the same option to convert part of their fee waiver entitlement to a cash bursary but the proportion of this bursary funded through the NSP will not exceed £1,000.. Awards made through the National Scholarship Programme will be made where a student’s residual household income is £5,000 or below. Our student funding office’s analysis of the costs of living and studying in Bristol suggests that, for those students in lower income groups, our core student finance package, combined with state support (in the form of both tuition fee loans and maintenance grants/loans) and some part-time working should comfortably ensure that eligible students have sufficient funding at their disposal to cover normal tuition and maintenance costs while at the University. While developing the package, we also discussed proposals with our Our Students’ Union President and Vice-President (Education) have played an active role in helping us to develop this package and undertook some small-scale worked with us to ensure that proposals were informed by focus group work with both current students and in local schools to clarify the levels of support which would be most attractive to widening participation applicantsstudents both during the application process and after arrival at the University. While we are confident that, for most students, this package should provide an appropriate level of support, we are, in addition to the core package, increasing our investment in hardship funds to provide an additional safety net for those UK undergraduate students who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in financial difficulty during their studies. From 2012/13, a total of £350k will be set aside for this purpose (an increase of £130k on current provision). Priority for these funds will be given to students with the greatest financial need, taking into account the other financial support which they receive as well as their ability to undertake part-time work (we recognise, for example, that students with dependents and those on particularly intensive courses may not be able to work part-time during their studies). On the basis of past experience, it is estimated that approximately 70% of these funds (i.e. £245k) will be allocated to students from groups countable by OFFA. In parallel with the arrangements for 2012/13 described in this document, we will continue to honour our financial commitments to students admitted to the University on financial support packages described in previous Access Agreement. A more detailed breakdown of our proposed levels of investment in student financial support is provided in the separate OFFA Annex B.

Student Financial Support. As part of our strategy for widening participation, we have made a clear commitment to ensuring that, as fees increase, students with genuine financial need are in receipt of good advice and appropriate financial assistance. Our aim is to ensure that no student has legitimate reason to be deterred from applying to Bristol because of their inability to meet the costs of living and studying here. To underpin this aim, the University’s core Financial Support Package from 2012 will deliver: • A reduced tuition fee of £3,500 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £15k or below. These students will pay no more for their education than they would under the current financial arrangements. • A reduced tuition fee of £4,500 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £20k or below. • A reduced tuition fee of £6,000 p.a. for all students whose residual household income is £25k or below. In addition, we will offer an enhanced financial support package to students who have participated in our Access to Bristol scheme. This will deliver: • A full tuition fee waiver and an annual maintenance bursary valued at £3750 for those Access to Bristol ‘graduates’ who have a residual household income of £25k or below. These students should be able to complete their studies at Bristol without incurring any debt in respect of either tuition or maintenance costs. Students eligible for our financial support package will be given the option to convert £2,000 p.a. of their fee waiver entitlement into a cash bursary. All the above amounts are valid for 2012/13 and will increase annually in line with inflation (assuming that tuition fees also rise to reflect inflation). Eligibility will be determined in accordance with the SLC assessment of household income for state support purposes. Embedded within this package are awards to be made through the National Scholarship Programme. Our assumption from the available information is that our £420k allocation will rise to £840k in 2013/14 and to £1.26m in 2014/15. These awards will be offered as fee waivers, as an integral part of the student finance programme described above. . Students will have the same option to convert part of their fee waiver entitlement to a cash bursary but the proportion of this bursary funded through the NSP will not exceed £1,000.. Awards made through the National Scholarship Programme will be made where a student’s residual household income is £5,000 or below. Our student funding office’s analysis of the costs of living and studying in Bristol suggests that, for those students in lower income groups, our core student finance package, combined with state support (in the form of both tuition fee loans and maintenance grants/loans) and some part-time working should comfortably ensure that eligible students have sufficient funding at their disposal to cover normal tuition and maintenance costs while at the University. While developing the package, we also discussed proposals with our Our Students’ Union President and Vice-President (Education) have played an active role in helping us to develop this package and undertook some small-scale worked with us to ensure that proposals were informed by focus group work with both current students and in local schools to clarify the levels of support which would be most attractive to widening participation applicantsstudents both during the application process and after arrival at the University. While we are confident that, for most students, this package should provide an appropriate level of support, we are, in addition to the core package, increasing our investment in hardship funds to provide an additional safety net for those UK undergraduate students who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in financial difficulty during their studies. From 2012/13, a total of £350k will be set aside for this purpose (an increase of £130k on current provision). Priority for these funds will be given to students with the greatest financial need, taking into account the other financial support which they receive as well as their ability to undertake part-time work (we recognise, for example, that students with dependents and those on particularly intensive courses may not be able to work part-time during their studies). On the basis of past experience, it is estimated that approximately 70% of these funds (i.e. £245k) will be allocated to students from groups countable by OFFA. In parallel with the arrangements for 2012/13 described in this document, we will continue to honour our financial commitments to students admitted to the University on financial support packages described in previous Access Agreement. A more detailed breakdown of our proposed levels of investment in student financial support is provided in the separate OFFA Annex B.