Students with Dependants

If you’re financially responsible for another adult, you can apply for the Adult Dependants’ Grant. Usually, the dependant needs to be your spouse, partner or civil partner. Other relationships can be considered but you need to provide more evidence to support your claim.

Am I eligible?

To be eligible, you need to meet the following criteria:

• you’re a home student for finance purposes
• you’re income assessed
• you care for your Husband or Wife, Civil Partner or Partner (if you’re over 25)
• your dependant’s household income is under £3,796 a year

Your adult dependant can’t be one of your children or receiving student finance themselves.

How do I apply?

There’s no separate application for the Adult Dependants’ Grant. You’ll be assessed when you apply for your tuition fee and maintenance loans.

Apply online as normal. The application will ask you whether you’re financially responsible for another adult. When you fill in your income assessment details, your adult dependant will declare their income. You’ll be assessed for the grant based on the information you’ve given in your household assessment.

How much can I get?

If your dependant’s income is under £3,796 and your household income is:

• under £8,746, you’ll receive the full £3,190
• between £8,746 and £15,125.98, you’ll receive a portion of the grant on a sliding scale
• above £15,125.98, you won’t be eligible for the grant

Examples:

• if your income is £9,000, you’ll get £3,063
• if your income is £12,000, you’ll get £1,563
• if your income is £14,500, you’ll get £313

Students starting in 2023/24 can receive up to £3,354.

How is it paid?

You’ll get paid Adult Dependants’ Grant at the same time as your Maintenance Loan:

• 33% of grant at the start of Term 1
• 33% of grant at the start of Term 2
• 34% of grant at the start of Term 3

Being a parent can be expensive, from additional food and clothes costs to school trips and toys. This can have an impact on the amount you can spend on study materials and books. You can apply to SFE to receive the Parents’ Learning Allowance to help with these costs.

How do I apply?

When you apply online for Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loans, you’ll be asked if you care for a child. The application form will automatically take you through the process to apply for the Parents’ Learning Allowance. You’ll be asked for birth certificates as evidence.

You’ll be assessed for the Childcare Grant and the Parents’ Learning Allowance at the same time. You’ll still get the Parents’ Learning Allowance if you decide you don’t need the Childcare Grant.

How much can I get?

In 2022/23, you can get up to £1,863 as a non-repayable grant. The amount you receive is based on your household income assessment:

• if your income is under £14,910, you get the full £1,821
• if your income is between £14,910 and £18,551.98, you’ll get a portion of the grant on a sliding scale
• if your income is over £18,635.98, you won’t get the Parents’ Learning Allowance

Examples:

• if your income is £15,000, you’ll get £1,776
• if your income is £17,999, you’ll get £276.50
• if your income is £18,636, you won’t receive anything as the minimum grant payment is £50

The maximum available for students starting in 2023/24 is £1,915.

How is it paid?

You’ll get paid Parents’ Learning Allowance at the same time as your Maintenance Loan:

• 33% of grant at the start of Term 1
• 33% of grant at the start of Term 2
• 34% of grant at the start of Term 3

Help is available if you have childcare costs while studying. SFE assess you based on your household income. You’ll be given an allowance for the year.

How do I apply?

When you apply online for Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loans, you’ll be asked if you care for a child. The application form will automatically take you through the process to apply for the Childcare Grant. You’ll be asked for birth certificates as evidence.

How much can I get?

SFE pay 85% of your weekly childcare costs directly to your nursery or childminder. The grant covers a weekly maximum of £183.75 for one child or £315.03 for 2 or more children. You have to cover the rest.

You can get up to:

• £9,555 per year for one child
• £16,381.56 per year for two or more children

For one child, the amount you get is based on your household income assessment:

• if your household income is £9,727 or less, you’ll get the maximum grant
• if your household income is between £9,727 and £19,281.99 you’ll get a portion of the grant on a sliding scale

You’re not eligible if your income is above £19,281.99.

Examples:

• if your income is £8,700, you’ll get the full grant
• if your income is £14,500, you’ll get £4,567.24 towards your childcare
• if your income is £18,100, you’ll get £967.24 towards your childcare

Students starting in 2023/24 can get up to £188.90 per week for one child or £323.85 per week for two or more children.

How is it paid?

You don’t get paid any money into your bank account.

You’ll be asked to set up an account with The Childcare Grant Payment Service via Gov.UK. You’ll register your childcare provider so they can be paid directly by the service. You need to pay the remaining 15% to your nursery or childminder.

Any allowance left over at the end of the year is passed back to SFE. Once you’ve spent your yearly allowance, you need to pay for childcare yourself.

If you’re a registered full-time UK undergraduate student you could be eligible to a Student Parent Bursary if you have dependent children under 18 and a household income of £35,000 of less.

Please read our detailed Student Parent Bursary Terms and Conditions document (PDF: 69KB) to find out more about this funding.

Who can apply?

The scheme can support UK undergraduate students only.

Applications will be assessed on the basis of your household income. There is no appeals process.

You can apply for a UK Undergraduate Student Parent Bursary

• if you’re a registered UK Undergraduate student and;
• you have dependent children under 18 living with you on a full-time basis and;
• you have a household income of £35,000 or less.

What support is available through the Student Parent Bursary Scheme?

Eligible students (see detailed terms and conditions above) can apply for:

• £1,000 bursary if they have a household income of £25,000 or less
• £500 bursary if they have a household income between £25,001 and £35,000
• No bursary is payable if your household income is over £35,000

Grants are non-repayable.

How to apply

The 2024-25 application form will be available from mid-September.

How are payments made?

Payments will be made by BACS credit transfer and will only be made to a bank account held by you. Before submitting your application form you must submit your bank details via the Student Portal: https://s3p.ncl.ac.uk/login/index.aspx

If you don’t hold a UK bank account you’ll not be able to upload your international bank account details to the Student Portal. Please contact the team immediately to advise if this is the case so we can make other arrangements for you.

Contact

If you have any enquiries about this funding email us.

If you're experiencing financial difficulties and are struggling to cover your living costs you may be eligible to for financial support from the:

If you have a three or four year old child, you may be entitled to free early education: some two-year-olds may also be eligible. A number of different types of early education providers offer the free entitlement such as:

• day nurseries
• private nursery schools
• preschools and playgroups
• accredited childminders

Although there's no guarantee of getting a place with a particular provider, your Local Authority should take your preference into account wherever possible. There’s no voucher or grant involved. You'll need to check with your local Family Information Service (FIS) that the provider is registered to offer the entitlement.

Newcastle City Council provides more information about registered and approved childcare in Newcastle.