Aged 16-18
You may be eligible for Full Funding & Free Course fees if you’re aged 16 to 18 years on 31 August in the calendar year your course starts.
Those who are unemployed
If you are currently unemployed and in receipt of a benefit listed below, the Government will fund you to complete any of our funded courses up to and including Level 2.
Aged 19 & over
If you’re aged 19 or over, there may be ways to reduce your fees or get rid of them altogether. You may be eligible for funding if you:
- Want to study adult literacy and numeracy, or functional skills in literacy and numeracy are aged between 19 and 23 and this is your first eligible* full level 2 qualification (ie equivalent to five GCSEs at grades A to C, BTEC First Certificate or an NVQ Level 2)
- Are aged between 19 and 23 and this is your first eligible* full level 3 qualification (ie equivalent to two A-Levels at grades A to C, BTEC National Certificate/Diploma or an NVQ Level 3)
- Want to gain a level 2 qualification, but first need to get an entry/level 1 qualification.
- Low waged earners; Are employed and earning less than £20,319 annual gross salary. For our level 2 and below courses, these will be funded for anyone with a low-income wage. This threshold is calculated before and is based on how much one person would earn working 37.5 hours a week on the National Minimum wage. This funding can really help learners take the first steps on retraining for a new career
Level 3 Qualifications
If you are aged 19+ and want to take a course at level 3 or above (and have previously achieved a course at the same level), you may be able to get help from the Advanced Learner Loan Scheme.
Discretionary Learner Support Fund
The fund provides financial or ‘in-kind’ help to eligible students aged 19+ as of 31 August 2020 (20+ for childcare), with a number of course-related costs. More information.
If you have any questions or are unsure what funding you may be eligible for, please call 01752 202269. We will be happy to help and advise you on all funding matters!
* The courses eligible for students to use their free entitlements against are specific and published by the Government on a regular basis. Please note that these lists are subject to change.
** You will need to provide evidence of any benefits, which should be dated within six weeks of the date on which you enrol. Please note that these rules are subject to change.
Bursary Fund
You may also be eligible for money from the Loan Bursary Fund if you need help with some costs while studying, e.g childcare, travel or trips related to your course. You apply to your training provider directly for the Bursary Fund. You can apply as soon as you’ve received a letter confirming your Advanced Learner Loan has been approved.
For more information visit: Advanced-learner-loan
Or call on 01752 301407
When you have selected the course you would like to enrol on, the course tutor will help you to apply for the loan through the finance department at ATL. It is very straight forward, you will need to know the start date of the course, the title and the cost, but we will help you every step of the way.
Download information Advanced-Learner-Loan 2020 sfe_terms_and_conditions_guide_2021_o
Those wanting to study a government loan funded course (Advanced Learner Loan)
Loan eligibility doesn’t depend on your income and there are no credit checks. You don’t pay anything upfront for your course fees and will not be required to start repaying the loan unless you earn more than £27,295 per year. You can apply for up to 4 loans in total and can get more than one loan at a time providing it is for a course at the same level as your existing loan. If your loan is for an Access to HE programme and you progress and complete HE study, you will not have to pay back your FE loan. You may be eligible for money from the Loan Bursary Fund if you need help with some costs while studying – example: childcare, materials, travel or emergency accommodation related to your course.
Repayments
You’ll be due to start repaying your loan in the April after you complete or leave your course.
You’ll only start making repayments when your income is over £27,295 a year. If your income falls below this threshold, repayments will stop and only re-start when your income is over this threshold.
You can make voluntary repayments at any time to pay off your loans more quickly.
Your monthly repayments could be:
£5.00 a month – if you earned £28,000 a year
£20.00 a month – if you earned £30,000 a year
If you are employed the payments will automatically be deducted from your salary at source. If you stop working, your payments will stop. Loans over 30 years old are written off.