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 6 months of the start of your course.

Eligibility

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.

Courses and qualifications:

  1. 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)
  2. You must be doing between 30-119 SCQF credits in 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 FAQ’s.
  3. Your course must be at least 4 months long in each academic year.
  4. Only ACCA Fundamental level papers are eligible for PTFG funding. ACCA Professional level papers are not eligible for this funding.

Other funding:

  1. 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.
  2. SAAS cannot give you any PTFG funding if you are already receiving support from another government training scheme, including Individual Learning Account (ILA), the Employability Fund and the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme.
  3. 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.

Course providers: GCU is approved and validated by SAAS.

Residence: You must meet the normal SAAS residence conditions to be eligible for the PTFG.

How to apply for PTFG

You can now apply for a PTFG online through the SAAS website.  We will no longer be taking form applications via email.  If you have already applied for 2021-22 we will have already processed and sent your details to SAAS.

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.

Are all ACCA papers eligible for PTFG?

Only ACCA Fundamental level papers are eligible for this funding. ACCA Professional level papers are not eligible for this funding.

I am a student doing ACCA papers, can I apply for PTFG?

If the total SCQF credits of all the ACCA papers, at both Fundamental level and Professional level, that you will be doing in each academic session is between 30-119 and you earn under £25,000, you could be eligible to get some help with your fees for papers at SCQF level 7-10, through a Part-time Fee Grant (PTFG) from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). For more information and to apply, please see the general information and details on how to apply on this page of the university web-site: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/student/money/part-time/part-timefeegrant/

You can only apply for the funding once in each academic session, therefore you should ensure that your application is for all the papers you think you may take over the full academic year, from 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2021. If you are starting in Trimester A, you need to include details of the papers that you will take in both Trimester A and Trimester B. Students starting in Trimester B can apply for the SAAS part-time fee grant in Trimester B.

How do I complete the fees section of registration if I am applying for a Part-time Fee Grant(PTFG)?

You should complete the fees section of the registration as follows:

  • Select that you have a sponsor who will pay your fees, from the drop-down list then select “add a payer”.
  • Next, select again that you have a sponsor who will pay your fees, from the drop-down list.
  • You will need to know the total number of credits for the modules that you will be doing during the academic year. You can get details about credits from your programme administrator. Then using the PTFG Calculator on this web-page: http://www.saas.gov.uk/part_time/ug/funding_available.htm enter the total number of credits you will be doing to work out the amount of your fees that SAAS will pay.
  • Add this as the amount that your sponsor will pay.
  • Ignore the details about the purchase reference number
  • In the box for your sponsor’s name type “PT” and details about the Part-time Fee Grant should then appear on the screen Select OK.
  • Select Next & save.
Can I work out how much how much I will get from SAAS for PTFG?

Use the PTFG Calculator: http://www.saas.gov.uk/part_time/ug/funding_available.htm you can work out how much you should get if your application is successful.

You will need to know the total number of credits for the modules that you will be doing during the academic year. You can get details about credits from your programme administrator. 

You need to choose the type of your course from the drop-down list.

Choose the “degree” option if you are studying for a degree at GCU.

Choose the “HN and other non-degree” option if you are studying for a qualification below degree, an ACCA course or a CPD course, for example HNC, HND, COSCA, CISCO.

Enter the total number of credits you will be doing to work out the amount of your fees that SAAS will pay.

My course is part-time but I will complete 120 credits. Can I still apply for PTFG?

There are some courses where you can still apply for PTFG even if your total credits for the year is 120. These courses are:

BSc/BSc (Hons) Property Management and Valuation P/T – year 5

BSc/BSc (Hons) Building Services Engineering P/T – year 4

BSc/BSc (Hons) Construction Management P/T – year 5

BSc/BSc (Hons) Building Surveying P/T – year 5

BSc/BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying P/T – year 5

BEng/BEng (Hons) Mechanical Electronic Systems Engineering P/T – year 6

BEng/BEng (Hons) Electrical Power Engineering P/T – year 6

BEng/BEng (Hons) Mechanical and Power Plant Systems P/T – year 6

BSc/BSc (Hons) Fire Risk Engineering P/T – year 5

BA Occupational Health and Safety P/T – years 1,2 & 3

BSc Health and Safety Management P/T - years 1,2 & 3

BSC/BSC (HONS) CLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY P/T - years 1,2,3 & 4

BSc/BSc (Hons) Computing (PT - Accelerated) - years 1,2,3 & 4

BSc/BSc (Hons) Software Development for Business (PT - Accelerated) - years 1,2,3 & 4

BSc/BSc (Hons) Information Technology Management for Business(PT - Accelerated) - years 1,2,3 & 4