Grants
In general, grants intended for living costs are taken into account and grants for other costs are disregarded. For details of how discretionary funds are treated, see here. If you are not eligible for a student loan, the disregards for books, travel and equipment are deducted from your grant (see here). The following further education (FE) grants are disregarded:
•education maintenance allowance;
•additional support needs for learning allowance for disability costs;
•study expenses allowance if paid for books and equipment;
•travel expenses allowance;
•lone parents’ childcare grant.
The following FE grants are taken into account:
•bursary maintenance allowance;
•care experienced bursary maintenance allowance;
•dependants’ allowance.
The following higher education (HE) grants are disregarded:
•young students’ bursary;
•independent students’ bursary;
•lone parents’ childcare grant;
•disabled students’ allowance;
•travel expenses;
•tuition fees;
•childcare allowance.
The following HE grants are taken into account:
•care experienced students’ bursary;
•care experienced accommodation grant (counts as capital if paid as a lump sum);
•dependants’ grant;
•lone parents’ grant;
•nursing and midwifery bursary, single parents’ allowance and dependants’ allowance.
If you are a postgraduate student, take into account any research council or other maintenance grant and dependants’ allowances. Grants for living costs are treated in the same way as those for undergraduates.
Example
Ramla is on a one-year FE course and gets a bursary of £4,247.97 for a 43-week course. Her income is her bursary minus the £693 disregard, divided by 43. This is £82.67 a week.