Individual Learning Accounts

ILA Scotland is a Scottish Government scheme that helps you pay for learning on many of our part-time courses. You must be 16 or over, live in Scotland and have an income of £22,000 a year or less, or be on benefits.

There are two types of account available:

£200 accounts (ILA 200) – Certain part-time courses are eligible for this funding. You must follow the process explained further down this page to successfully use a £200 ILA at GCU. Please contact Academic Registry for further information.

£500 accounts (ILA 500) – If you are studying on a part-time higher education course at SCQF level 7-10, i.e. a Higher National Certificate (HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND), an undergraduate Degree programme, a Professional Development Award (PDA) or a Continuing Professsional Development (CPD) course, you may be eligible for this funding. You will also need to achieve 40 Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) credits or more an academic year. Additionally, in academic session 2010-2011 you may be able to use ILA500 towards eligible part-time taught postgraduate programmes, Professional Development Awards (PDA), and Continuing Professsional Development (CPD) courses at SCQF level 11.

Further details about how to use ILA 500 at GCU can be found further down this page. How to use your ILA 500 at GCU. Please contact Academic Registry for further information.

ILA500 – Operational Changes

From 1 April 2011 the scheme formerly known as ‘ILA500’ will be delivered solely by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) as a ‘part-time fee grant’. There will be very little impact on eligibility rules other than students will now have to comply with the existing residency criteria SAAS administers for full-time support. This will be reflected in the application form from the start of April.

Up to 31 March 2011, students should continue to apply for an application pack at www.ilascotland.org.uk. From the 1 April 2011, students should download an application form from the SAAS website (www.saas.gov.uk). The part-time section of the SAAS website has been revised to reflect the changes.

Please note that this change does not affect the ILA200 scheme which will continue to be jointly delivered by SAAS and Skills Development Scotland..

For session 2010-2011, please note the deadlines by which applications for ILA500 must be received:

1) For courses which started in September 2010 ILA500 applications must be received by the ILA team at SAAS by 31st March 2011.

2) For courses starting from January 2011 ILA500 applications must be received by the ILA team at SAAS by 31st July 2011.

You can only have one type of account open at any time so it’s important that you choose carefully. Also, to successfully use a ILA 200, you must open the account with ILA Scotland before starting your course. Please contact the ILA Scotland helpline on 0808 100 1090 or visit their web-site www.ilascotland.org.uk for information on how to apply for your ILA.

How to use ILA 200 at GCU

You can use part or all of your ILA 200 for tuition fees on certain part-time programmes. To use your ILA 200 you must follow these steps order:

1. Register with ILA Scotland and get your ILA card.
2. Contact Academic Registry to check that your programme is eligible for ILA funding and tell us that you want to use ILA funding for your study.
3. Provide Academic Registry with your ILA number and the date on which your Learner Year started (this date must be before the official start date of your programme).

   You must complete steps 1-3 as soon as possible and before the start of your programme, or you will not be able to use your ILA funding.

4. Academic Registry will make a booking for you with ILA Scotland.
5. Register on your programme at GCU.
6. ILA will send you your ILA Learning Token.
7. Give your ILA Learning Token to Academic Registry.
8. We will complete your booking with ILA Scotland.

Important points to remember for ILA 200:

• You can be booked on the ILA system 180 days before the start of your programme.
• Your ILA account has to be opened before the official start date of your programme.
• Your ILA contribution cannot be used after you have registered and started attending your programme.
• Processing of ILA funding must be completed within 60 days of the official start date of your programme.
• ILA funding can only be used for part-time programmes.

How to use your ILA500 at GCU

With an ILA500, you can get up to £500 towards tuition fees on certain part-time programmes. To use ILA500 you need to proceed as follows:

1. Before applying for ILA500 you should consider our fee waiver scheme as an alternative to ILA500. The fee waiver scheme is for individuals on benefits or on a very low income. You can only apply for a fee waiver for a first degree. You should contact our Funding Team on 0141 273 1376 for more details.
2. You cannot receive a Fee Waiver and an ILA500.
3. If you are not eligible for the Fee Waiver Scheme, you should forward your ILA500 application to ILA administrator for it to be endorsed.
4. When your ILA500 application has been endorsed, it will be returned to you so that you can forward it to SAAS as instructed by ILA Scotland.
5. Your application to SAAS for ILA500 must be received by SAAS within one month of the official start date of your programme of study.
6. SAAS will send an award or rejection letter to you confirming the amount of the award that you will receive.
7. You must then present the SAAS award letter our ILA administrator as proof of the funding awarded.

For session 2010-2011, please note the deadlines by which applications for ILA500 must be received:

1) For courses which started in September 2010 ILA500 applications must be received by the ILA team at SAAS by 31st March 2011.

2) For courses starting from January 2011 ILA500 applications must be received by the ILA team at SAAS by 31st July 2011.

For ILA enquiries, please contact Academic Registry by telephone on 0141 331 3338, email loans.grants@gcu.ac.uk or drop by the Academic Registry desk, Floor 0 of the Saltire Centre.

Updated: 26 January 2010 | Registry Services | Legal