Educational Awards and Benefits

Clothing Grants

School Benevolent Fund

Higher Education Student Finance

2008/2009 Application Forms

The following forms are available from the Student Support Service (tel: 0191 3833222) or downloadable from the Student Finance Direct website.

• PN1 (Full-time for new students)
• PR1 (Full-time continuing students)
• PTG1 (Part-time study)
• DSA1 (Disabled Student Allowance for Part-time / Full-time and Post Graduate courses)
• Higher Education Student Finance 2009 - 2010

Supplies of application forms, notes and information booklets are distributed to all schools and colleges in Durham.

PN1 Applications

Paper application forms for student finance (for maintainance and fee loans and grants) will be available, for full-time study (PN1 Form), from March 2008.

There is a single initial eligibility and financial assessment form to complete (Form PN1). As in earlier years, students who do not wish to be considered for income assessed support, but wish to receive the loan support that is available irrespective of family income, will not have to provide any financial details. The government requires that applicants submit either their original passport or an original birth certificate or adoption certificate with their application. Applicants choosing to submit their birth certificate or adoption certificate must also submit a Applicant’s Declaration of Identity form which is downloadable from www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk and must be completed by a professional person or other person of similar standing in the community.

To make application for income-assessed support the application needs to be completed in full by both the applicant and parents/spouse/partner/guardian where applicable, providing the required documentation to confirm household income for the financial year 2007/2008. Alternatively the on-line application process is available from 12 March 2008 accessed via the above website. Identity confirmation will be required as previously stated and further financial information may also be submitted via on-line or paper application (PFF1), however documentary evidence of this will be required.

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PN1 Form.pdf (28 pages, 2038kb)

PN1 Notes.pdf (20 pages, 575kb)

PFF1 Form.pdf (9 pages, 339kb)

PR1 Applications

Continuing students will be required to complete a (PR1) application form. You may not need to submit with this form any evidence in support of the financial information to which you have provided. However it is important that you keep all documentary evidence relating to the financial year 2007/2008, as a number of applications will be checked at a later date and you may be asked to provide us with this evidence. Applications may also be made via the on-line application process.

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PR1 Form.pdf (24 pages, 1221kb)

PR1 Notes.pdf (16 pages, 386kb)

Part-time Applications

If you are a part-time Higher Education student and studying a course that lasts at least one academic year and is 50% or more of an equivalent full-time course, you may be entitled to a grant towards your fees and a grant towards your course costs. There is a single initial eligibility and financial assessment form to complete (PTG1). Your college will be able to tell you if your course qualifies and entitlement to the grants will depend on your income and that of your spouse/partner and there is no age limit for this support.

Once again the government requires that applicants submit either their original passport or an original birth certificate or adoption certificate with their application. Applicants choosing to submit their birth certificate or adoption certificate must also submit a Applicant’s Declaration of Identity form which is downloadable from www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk and must be completed by a professional person or other person of similar standing in the community.

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this information.

PTG1 Form.pdf (16 pages, 1239kb)

PTG1 Notes.pdf (12 pages, 317kb)

Disabled Student Allowance

The Disabled Student Allowance (DSA1) is available to students undertaking designated full-time, part-time, full-time distance learning and postgraduate courses. Documentary evidence must be submitted with (DSA1) application to confirm disability, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty which affects the student’s ability to study. The Allowance is available to help cover any additional costs, which a student may have to pay to attend their course of study and arise as a direct result of their disability. These allowances can help with the cost of a non-medical helper, major items of specialist equipment, general expenditure, travel and other costs.

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DSA1 Form.pdf (16 pages, 1142kb)

DSA1 Notes.pdf (8 pages, 393kb)

What funding is available?

Academic Year 2008/2009	Full Time	Part Time
Specialist equipment for the whole course up to	£5,030	£5,030
Non-medical personal helper - per year up to	£20,000	£15,000
General expenditure - per year up to	£1,680	£1,260
Travel	contact your LA for further details	contact your LA for further details
Postgraduate courses up to	£10,000 per year to cover all expenditure areas	£10,000 per year to cover all expenditure areas

What happens next?

Upon receipt of a completed DSA1 application and supporting evidence, consideration will be given to providing an Assessment of Needs which may be carried out by an Access Centre. Further details in respect of accredited Assessment Centres may be found at www.nnac.org.

After an Assessment of Needs has been undertaken the student will receive a report, detailing any equipment and services they may require. A copy of this report will also be sent to the Student Support Manager who will inform the student accordingly of the level of support they may be eligible to.

Students are required to sign a declaration to confirm the suitability of the specialist equipment and must liaise with suppliers to arrange a suitable date for supply and delivery, after which payments are made directly to the supplier.

Deadlines

25/04/2008: Applications for new and continuing students applying for non-income assessed support only. (No confirmation of household income required.)

23/05/2008: Applications for continuing students only applying for income assessed support. (Confirmation of household income required.)
27/06/2008: Applications for new students only applying for income assessed support. (Confirmation of household income required.)

Applications received after the above deadlines will be processed as soon as possible but payments to eligible students cannot be guaranteed for the start of the academic year.

Online applications that do not include sufficient information to allow a decision to be taken may also be subject to processing delays.

All applications must be forwarded to:
Student Support
Children & Young People's Services
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UJ

For further information, please contact the Student Support Team on 0191 3833222 or e-mail your enquiries to Student Support.