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Resits and repeats – what happens to student funding?

Are you taking resits at the end of the summer? Resubmitting work at the end of the summer? Or perhaps repeating part or all of an academic year in 17/18? Read on to find out how this affects you financially.

Firstly, if you haven’t already applied for your funding for next academic year, you should – as a matter of urgency. It takes on average 6 weeks for SFE to process applications and you want to be in the system before A level on 17th August. The longer you leave it, the longer you’ll have to wait for your funding at the start of the academic year.

If you’re worried about taking resits or resubmitting work, as long as you have an application ‘live’ in the system, we can help you change any details like year of study nearer to the start of term.

What happens if you’re repeating the whole year?

First of all, don’t panic! Contact us and we’ll explain how exactly it will affect you. However, it’s worth knowing the following:

• You are still eligible for your maintenance loan if you have to repeat all or part of an academic year, even if you’ve repeated years of your course previously (although if you are only officially in attendance for part of the year – for example for one semester – then you will only receive a pro-rata amount of maintenance loan). This also applies to additional allowances – such as the Parents’ Learning Allowance, Childcare Grant and Disabled Students’ Allowances.
• You are automatically entitled to a tuition fee loan and maintenance grant (maintenance grant only applicable to students who started before 2016) for up to 1 year of repeat study, but you can only benefit from this once. This means that if you have already got a year of previous study – perhaps on another course or because you have already repeated a year of your current course – then you will not be automatically entitled to a tuition fee loan nor a maintenance grant.
• If you are not automatically entitled to a tuition fee loan nor a maintenance grant then it may still be possible to receive these if you can demonstrate to Student Finance England that you have ‘compelling personal reasons’ (in their jargon) why you have to repeat all or part of the year. ‘Compelling personal reasons’ are rather similar to the University’s ‘mitigating circumstances’ – so for example illness, disability or traumatic personal events. The Student Advice Service can help you apply for a tuition fee loan and/or maintenance grant on the grounds of ‘compelling personal reasons’.
• If you have to repeat all or part of a year and your mitigating circumstances have been accepted by the University then the usual policy is that the University will not charge you tuition fees for these repeat modules – so you may not actually need a tuition fee loan for this repeat study.
• If you are not repeating the whole year then it is likely that the University will record you as being a ‘part-time student’. This can be confusing, as you are still viewed as a full-time student for the purposes of Council Tax, student funding and welfare benefits, unless you have actually transferred to a properly part-time version of your full-time course. You should therefore still apply for student funding (if you haven’t done so already) as a full-time student.
• If you are repeating a year of your course then your graduation date will be delayed by a year. You will therefore need to ensure that your local authority’s Council Tax department are aware that your course end date has changed, so that you don’t start to get charged Council Tax before your course has ended. You can get a new Council Tax letter from any Student Information Desk or Student Centre.

However, everyone’s situation is different, so please contact us to find out more. Phone 01273 642888 or email: studentadvice@brighton.ac.uk, we’re here all summer long!

Student Advice Service