Fee Waiver Policy for Colleges 2024-25 - Scottish Funding Council

Introduction

This document describes the categories of students for which a college may apply a fee waiver from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in Academic Year (AY) 2024-25. The core teaching allocations set out in the College Final Funding Allocations for AY 2024-25 include an allowance for fee waivers.
The standard fee waiver policy should focus on the students rather than on the course of study (except courses classified as ‘Price Group 5’).

Policy changes for AY 2024-25

We have updated the eligibility criteria for young asylum seekers, including children of asylum seekers, to access a fee waiver. Further information is provided in paragraph 10 of this guidance. The provision was detailed in the FE Residency Guidance following the Scottish Government’s residency consultation which led to a simplification of the eligibility criteria for children of asylum seekers and young asylum seekers.

Tuition fee rates

The full-time Higher Education (HE) fee rate (for Higher National/sub-degree courses) is set by the Scottish Government and remains at £1,285. The Further Education (FE) full-time and part-time tuition fee rates remain at £1,008.

Eligible students

A college may apply a fee waiver in respect of activity for any of the following types of students:
1. FE students following full-time non-advanced programmes (other than those over the age of 18 who are studying at Orkney College or Shetland College) for whom credits can be claimed. However, students on courses which do not meet the current definition of full-time, but which would have been classified as full-time under the previous definition, are eligible for a non-means-tested part-time fee waiver based on the credits for the course.
2. Flexibilities have been introduced to the credit guidance on claiming credits for short re-skilling and upskilling programmes. If colleges have students on short-full time courses, they may allocate a fee waiver.
3. FE students where credits can be claimed, including those studying at Orkney College or Shetland College, with additional support needs or disabilities on courses in Price Group 5.
4. Students for whom credits can be claimed (see the Credit Guidance for Colleges 2024-25 for more details) and who satisfy the conditions in paragraph 6 below, including those studying at Orkney College or Shetland College, and who are studying either:
  1. A part-time FE programme. OR
  2. A part-time programme of study that is credit-bearing at HE level (equivalent to at least SCQF Level 7) up to and including a first degree.
5. State school pupils undertaking college activities that form part of their school-based curriculum. A fee waiver will similarly be available for other pupils whose education is funded by the state. Such students should not be means-tested.
6. Privately or home-educated school pupils will be eligible for a part-time fee waiver on a means-tested basis. However, in exceptional circumstances, the college may waive the fees and claim fee waiver for privately or home-educated pupils, even if the means testing would otherwise rule them out. For example, where a pupil has additional support needs or other unavoidable circumstances that make it impossible for the pupil to be educated in the state school system.
7. Only state school pupils undertaking college activities that form part of their school-based curriculum are eligible for an automatic non-means-tested fee waiver. Other students under the age of 16 are eligible under the fee waiver policy like any other student. This means that for part-time activity, these students, as with other students, should be means-tested.

Part-time students

Part-time students, referred to in paragraph 5iv above, should satisfy the criteria below. The benefits and tax credits referred to relate to the UK benefit and tax credit system only:

1. The student or the student’s family are in receipt of:
  - Income Support.
  - Working Tax Credit.
  - Pensions Credit.
  - Income-based Job Seekers Allowance.
  - Income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
  - Housing Benefit.
  - Universal Credit.
2. Or the student is in receipt of:
  - Carer’s Allowance
    This includes carers who have an ‘underlying entitlement’ to the Carer’s Allowance but gave up the allowance to, for example, claim their pension.
  - Carer’s Allowance Supplement.
  - Young Carer’s Grant.
  - Carer’s Support Payment.
  - Disability Living Allowance.
  - Attendance Allowance.
  - Incapacity Benefit.
  - Personal Independence Payment.
  - Adult Disability Payment.
  - Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (this also includes people whose contributory ESA has ended due to the time-limited nature of this benefit, but who remain entitled to NI credits for incapacity).
3. The taxable income of the student’s family in the previous financial tax year is equivalent to or lower than the threshold below:
  - Households with only one person: £8,282.
  - Households consisting of a couple without children: £12,395.
  - Households with dependent children: £18,977.
  - Where there has been a material reduction in income from the previous financial tax year, the taxable income of the student’s family in the current financial tax year can be assessed.
4. Or the student is a person (or the spouse or child of a person) who is an asylum seeker living in Scotland as defined in section 18 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
5. Or the student is Care-Experienced. This is defined as looked after and in the care of the Local Authority and can include situations where the student is living in a foster home, children’s home, residential home, in kinship care or in the care of the Local Authority in their own home or in informal kinship care with Local Authority involvement. This includes Scottish-domiciled students who have experienced care outside of the UK.

Students on short full-time courses

In June 2020, Scottish Ministers commissioned SFC to undertake a wide-ranging review of our policies and funding for colleges and universities, with a view to securing coherent provision and the financial sustainability of the sector. The Review report was published in June 2021 and recognises a greater requirement for shorter sharper courses; to keep pace with technological change, support career transitions, and in response to redundancy or sector-specific developments.
Under SFC’s current student support guidance, colleges can provide bursary and other student support for short full-time courses. Additional flexibilities have also been introduced to SFC’s Credit Guidance for Colleges 2024-25 on claiming credits for short re-skilling and upskilling programmes.
In AY 2021-22 we increased access to fee waivers for students on short full-time courses, where students had been assessed as eligible for student support. In AY 2022-23 we expanded the scope of this policy to allow students on all short full-time courses to access fee waivers, where they meet the other eligibility criteria described in this policy and the Credit Guidance for Colleges 2024-25. In the FES return, colleges should record students on short full-time courses using the code 56. Further details are set out in the FES Guidance.

Residency

A college will be able to apply a fee waiver in respect of the activity of a student, only if they meet the criteria set out in this document and they are eligible for support on the basis of residence:
1. That person falls with the definition of eligibility in Schedule 1 of The Education (Access Funds) (Scotland) Determination 2022. The current FE Residency Guide is on the SFC website. However, it should be noted that this guidance is likely to be updated before the start of AY 2024-25, as summarised in paragraph 12 below. OR
2. The student is ordinarily resident in Orkney or Shetland on the date of commencement of the course of study and has been ordinarily resident in the British Islands throughout the previous three years and is settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 on the relevant date. OR
3. The student is a young asylum seeker, or the child of an asylum seeker, who is studying a full-time or part-time Further Education course, and is living in Scotland on the relevant date. To be classed as a young asylum seeker, or the child of an asylum seeker, an application for asylum should be submitted to the Home Office before they are 18 years old. OR
4. The student is a person (or the spouse) who is an asylum seeker living in Scotland on either a part-time or full-time English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course; studying a part-time non-advanced; or studying a part-time advanced course. OR
5. The student is a non-asylum seeker living in Scotland on a part-time ESOL course and the student’s main purposes for being in the European Union (EU) is not to receive education.
In 2021 the Scottish Government updated its residency guidance for colleges to reflect the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU). In April 2022 further updates were added to the guidance on support for Ukrainian students. The Scottish Government wrote to college Principals in December 2022 to outline planned changes to legislation that will take effect from AY 2023-24. The Scottish Government will publish a fully updated FE Residency Guidance for AY 2024-25 in late Summer 2024.
This will apply to students starting a new course and students continuing on a course. These criteria ensure that we meet our obligations under The United Nations Conventions on the Right of the Child.

Other Conditions

The burden of proof is on the student to satisfy the college with evidence of the eligibility of their status. If the circumstances of the student change during the course so that the student becomes eligible for a part-time fee waiver when they were not previously, the college can (at their discretion) claim back the full fee from SFC and reimburse the student. The change must occur and be reported to the college by the student before the ‘required date’, which for AY 2024-25 is:

For courses of 20 weeks or less: the date where 25% of the length of course has elapsed.
For courses of more than 20 weeks: 5 weeks after the course start date.

Please refer to SFC’s Credit Guidance for Colleges 2024-25 for more information.
Changes to student circumstances occurring after this date cannot be claimed back from SFC. However, colleges are free to use their own discretion with college funds.
There is no upper or lower age limit on a student’s eligibility for a fee waiver.
The college will be able to apply a fee waiver in respect of students who satisfy the eligibility rules for the course (as defined in the Credit Guidance), where the college is claiming credits for their activity in the current AY.
With the exception of any fee waivers for state school pupils who are undertaking college activities that form part of their school-based curriculum, additional part-time activity over and above full-time study will not be eligible for a fee waiver, although it may be eligible for credits (to determine if additional part-time activity is eligible, please refer to the Credit Guidance).
Students taking two or more part-time courses will be eligible for a maximum of one
full-time fee waiver. The maximum amounts claimable for each student will be:

The FE fee (£1,008 in AY 2024-25) for students taking FE courses.
The FE fee (£1,008 in AY 2024-25) for students taking a mix of FE and part-time HE courses.
The HE fee (£1,285 in AY 2024-25) for students taking part-time HE courses – fee waivers should not be claimed for full-time HE courses, as these are funded through Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).

Full-time Advanced (HE) Fees

Fees for full-time advanced courses are assessed and paid, if eligible, by SAAS. Fees for full-time advanced courses are therefore not included in this fee waiver policy.

Programmes which span Academic Years

Colleges should record students eligible for fee waivers on programmes which span AYs, in the AY in which the course ends. This is consistent with how activity is claimed under the SFC’s Credit Guidance.

Veterans Scheme

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) programme to assist service veterans gain access to education is continuing. The MOD will meet the tuition fees for study up to Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level 6 for some service veterans who do not meet our fee waiver criteria.
The number of students falling into this category is expected to be very small. Colleges should note that a fee waiver cannot be applied for any students being supported through this scheme. More information is available on the Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service website.

Forces Personnel

Military personnel and their families should be assessed on a relevant connection to Scotland. If they meet the criteria to be assessed as having a relevant connection to Scotland, military personnel, and their families, will be eligible to receive a Fee Waiver. This is detailed in the Scottish Government’s Further Education Residency Guidance.

Richard Maconachie FCCA
Director of Finance