opportunity

2013/14 Opportunity Scholarship – 2013 Entrants

UK undergraduate students paying £9,000 fees whose household income is at or below £35,000 are eligible to be considered for Opportunity Scholarships.

Students on placement years will receive £8,000 tuition fee discounts and cannot be considered for Opportunity Scholarships in that academic year. MEng (Chemical Engineering), MComp (Computer Science) and MChem (Chemistry) courses are the exception to this rule and will be considered for pro rata Opportunity Scholarships based on their tuition fee liability – see leaflet below for more details.

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) states that students already holding the equivalent of an honours degree or higher level qualification cannot be considered for bursaries or scholarships through our Access Agreement.

Due to Government guidelines, NHS funded students receiving tuition fee grants cannot be considered for bursaries or scholarships through our Access Agreement in the academic year they receive NHS funding.

2013 entry students awarded Promise Scholarships cannot be considered for Opportunity Scholarships or Access Scholarships.  However, students eligible for Opportunity Scholarships can receive Access Scholarships as addition awards.

Award details

For detailed information (including tuition fee discount/accommodation discount entitlement) click here

Applications

Students do not need a separate application form to apply for Opportunity Scholarships.  If students want to be considered they must complete and return an application for income assessed student finance to the relevant assessment authority as shown below:

Students can only be awarded Opportunity Scholarships if they have applied for income assessed funding. There are no exceptions. Assessment authorities will carry out income assessments and pass on information to the Student Loans Company (SLC) to match against the University’s Opportunity Scholarship rules.  To be considered automatically for Opportunity Scholarships students and their parent(s)/sponsor(s) must consent to share household income information with the University on their student finance application form.  The University cannot assess eligibility for Opportunity Scholarships until ‘consent to share’ has been given.

Students awarded Opportunity Scholarships will be sent entitlement letters from September onwards via the SLC using SLC correspondence addresses (usually home addresses); the letters will also appear in online student finance accounts in the ‘correspondence’ section.  These accounts are held by the relevant assessing authority (SFE, SFW, SAAS, SFNI).

Students should contact the University if they meet all the eligibility criteria and have not received an award letter by November 2013.

Appeals

Students who think the decision not to award them an Opportunity Scholarship is incorrect can ask that we review our original decision and have the right to appeal. However, students should only consider submitting an appeal once they have considered carefully the information in the attached guide (PDF: 77KB).

Contact

Telephone: 0191 222 3180 / 7247
Web form: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/enquiries/

For terms and conditions including additional information please see our detailed guide 2013/14 Opportunity Scholarships - 2013 Entrants (PDF:171KB)