BURSARY POLICY - Greenhead College

BURSARYPOLICY 2013/14

Greenhead CollegeBursary PolicyBackgroundThe Bursary Scheme is intended to assist students from households with low incomes, afford costsassociated with attending college. In addition it is to help financially, students who are in care, or arecare leavers and to provide one off payments to students with financial hardship.Bursary IncomeFunding for the Bursary scheme is received from external sources with notification of the amount forthe following academic year being received in May. This income is based on areas of deprivationwhere Greenhead Students live.Application ProcessStudents joining the college in September will be notified about the Bursary scheme in the previousacademic year and asked to apply once they have enrolled at the college. Students will be giventhree weeks to complete an application form which are available from the student record office ortheir tutor.After the cut off date the college cannot guarantee that an application will be accepted although itwill be further considered at the start of the next academic term.The Bursary Fund is split into three sections:1. Category 1 – pays £1200 over the academic year to students who are in care or who are careleavers.2. Category 2 – pays a regular weekly amount throughout term time to students from familieswho earn under a predetermined income threshold.3. Category 3 – contributes towards one off costs e.g. essential trips and equipment.Students applying for category 1 payments must provide evidence that they are in care or are careleavers.Students applying for category 2 payments are asked to provide evidence of household benefitsreceived rather than of household income which can take the form of the working tax credit TCANform or evidence of receipt of Job Seekers Allowance or Disability payment. Address details on thebenefit form must match the home address of the student that the college has on record. In the2011-12 academic year the level of income shown on the benefit form must be below £16190. Thisthreshold will be reviewed on an annual basis.Students applying for category 3 payments must provide evidence of benefits as for category 2 andadvise what the one off payment is for. Category 3 payments will be funded at the discretion of theBusiness Manager but must be for essential trips and equipment. It is likely that a contributiontowards the full cost will be made rather than for the full cost itself.

All applications will be vetted and approved/rejected by the College Business Manager. Any formalappeals over rejected applications or the level of bursary will be heard in the first instance by anAssistant Principal who may send a further appeal to the Principal who shall have the final decision.AS Students approaching the end of their first year will be asked to provide evidence of householdincome in order for their bursary to be continued into their second year. New applications cansubmitted at this stage for the following September.Applications will be logged by the Student Registration Manager.PaymentThe fund will be divided as follows5% to be taken as an Administrative payment.£3,500 to be allowed for category 3 payments.£1,500 to be allowed for contingency payments.These amounts will be reviewed on an annual basis.The remaining funds will be divided between the students in categories one and two over thenumber of weeks in the academic year (excluding holidays).The amount of payments for category 2 payments may vary from year to year depending on thegrant received by the college.At the start of the Spring and Summer terms, the money remaining in the fund will be reviewed bythe College Business Manager who may increase category 2 payments if the fund allows.Payment entries will be made by the Student Registration Manager who will pass these on to aFinance Officer to be processed by the BACS payment system directly to the students’ accounts.Withholding of PaymentsThe College has the right to withhold payments from students who do not have 100% attendance,who show unacceptable behaviour in college or whose work level in class is not acceptable to theirteacher. Appeals for non payment will be heard by the College Business Manager.“This policy has been impact assessed to ensure it complies with all aspects of Equality andDiversity. Members are reassured that this policy is compliant with current equality legislation”.Author:J BlakeDate drafted: November 2011Date accepted bycommittee:November 2012Date accepted by theCorporation:December 2012Date of next review: - - 2013