Funding for part-time students
Part-time students may have to pay tuition fees. Part-time students can only apply to the Discretionary Fund for help towards study costs, travel to GCU/placement and registered childcare while attending classes or placement. You may also have associated costs such as course books, internet and printing, travel to and from the University and possibly childcare costs while you attend classes.
If you are thinking of changing to full time study, please contact your Programme Leader to discuss this and the Funding team to speak to one of our advisers.
Discretionary Fund
If you are looking for additional help towards study costs, travel to GCU/placement and registered childcare while attending classes or placement, you may be eligible to apply to this fund.
Trusts or charities
In addition to the Discretionary fund there are many trusts, charities and scholarships which can provide financial help with tuition fees and study costs such as books and travel expenses. In some cases, you may get help with living costs.
Part-time Fee Grant (PTFG)
The Part-time Fee Grant (PTFG) from SAAS can help with the cost of your tuition fees.
- You must apply for PTFG each year.
- You must apply to SAAS within six months of the start of your course.
- Course providers: GCU is approved and validated by SAAS.
- Residence: You must meet the normal SAAS residence conditions to be eligible for the PTFG.
To qualify for support, you will need to meet the SAAS eligibility criteria on:
- Income: you must have an individual income of £25,000 a year or less, including bonuses and overtime.
You can now apply for a PTFG online through the SAAS website. We will no longer be taking form applications via email.
We will confirm details directly with SAAS once they have processed your application. If you are unsure of the number of credits you will be taking at the time of your application this will be updated when we confirm your details.
Please ensure that you have completed your registration in advance of applying so that we can confirm your details when asked by SAAS to do so.
- You must be studying an eligible course of higher education or continuing professional development at levels 7-10 of Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF)
- You must be doing between 30-119 SCQF credits each year of your course. There are some courses where you can still apply for PTFG even if your total credits for the year is 120. You’ll find details of these courses in the FAQs.
- Your course must be at least four months long in each academic year.
- Only Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Fundamental level papers are eligible for PTFG funding. ACCA Professional level papers are not eligible for this funding.
- If you are eligible to apply for the PTFG, SAAS will take into account any help you are getting from an employer towards the cost of fees before deciding how much they can pay.
- SAAS cannot give you any PTFG funding if you already receive support from another government training scheme, including Individual Learning Account (ILA), the Employability Fund and the Modern Apprenticeship scheme.
- If you are on a course that’s eligible for full-time support from SAAS then you will not be eligible to apply for the PTFG. This also includes those who are registered on a full-time course but attend on a part-time basis.
