Childcare fund

Funds are available for Home (Scotland) students to help towards registered childcare costs during term time. These costs may include a nursery, childminder or after-school care. You can only apply for help towards days for which you are timetabled to attend classes at GCU campus, an unpaid placement or classes online.

Students who wish to apply to both the Discretionary Fund and Childcare Fund will need to complete a separate application for each fund.

Since funds are limited, any award made may not cover your full costs.

All childcare providers are contacted by the Student Funding team to check attendance and payments.

You will need the Carer form to be completed by your childcare provider and you must complete the relevant student section. This must then be uploaded to your childcare application via Student Portal.

Students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales studying in Scotland may be able to receive support towards childcare costs through their own local education authority.

To be eligible you must be a home student in receipt of all SAAS funding available to you. Funds are limited so how much you are awarded towards childcare will take into account your household income and any other sources of childcare funding you are already entitled to, for example, Lone Parents Childcare Grant/Working Tax or Universal Credit Childcare element/local authority contribution.

International and EU (fee-only funded) students cannot apply to this fund.

These funds are only available for childcare provision for children up to the age of 14 (unless for a child over 14 with disability needs).

  1. Please make sure you fully read the instructions for applying to Discretionary and/or Childcare Funds before starting your application
  2. You can also find information on what documents you may need to have ready before applying
  3. You will need the Carer form to be completed by your childcare provider and you must complete the relevant student section. This must then be uploaded to your childcare application via Student Portal.
  4. You must ensure your bank details are updated on the ‘My Finance’ section of your Student Portal. If this has not been updated, you will not receive any award made to your bank account. You will then get a verification email from Finance. This may be time limited, so please verify this as soon as you get the email, or your bank details will not be updated.
  5. Download our Carer Form 25 - 26

You can apply to the Childcare Fund through your student portal on the My Finance page of MyPortal.

You will need the Carer form to be completed by your childcare provider and you must complete the relevant student section. This must then be uploaded to your childcare application via Student Portal.

Download our Carer form 25-26

Applications usually take three to four weeks to fully process. Please note that applications that are not fully completed, or are missing relevant documentation, will be moved to the end of the queue and this could result in a significant delay in processing your application.

Additional support

Finding childcare providers

An important consideration for students with children is who will look after them while you are at university. Glasgow Caledonian University has its own nursery on campus.

Childcare costs are very expensive and can range between approximately £200 - £600 per week for each child.

We have a range of resources if you are looking for childcare. Here are some suggestions below. You can also look outwith our website for finding childcare.