Estranged Student Bursary 2025/2026

The Estranged Student Bursary is a cash award only available to all eligible students beginning a full-time Undergraduate course or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at Brunel University of London and the Brunel Pathway College (BPC) in September 2025.

Undergraduate: The bursary will only be paid once for each eligible level of study, for a maximum of three years for a full-time undergraduate degree, four years for a Foundation or Integrated Masters course and five years if taking a foundation and integrated Master’s course or MBBS programme, subject to meeting progression requirements (additional payments will not be made during a repeating year, regardless of the reason for repetition). The bursary is not payable in the Placement year.

PGCE: The bursary will only be paid once for one year (additional payments will not be made during a repeating year, regardless of the reason for repetition).

Value: £2,000 cash payment.

How many: A limited number of bursaries are available, however the number of awards will be monitored and adapted as appropriate. Funding for the bursary is not unlimited, priority in awarding will be given to students with a verified Estranged status. Students should note bursary awards are not guaranteed, and not all eligible students may receive a bursary, more information can be found in section 2 of these terms and conditions.

Application process: There is no separate application, all applicants with Estranged status need to make themselves known to the University by declaring Estranged Student status in their UCAS course application, the Brunel registration task or by their Student Loans Company (SLC) application. All applicants that are identified as ‘known’ to the University will be considered for the bursary automatically, based on the information supplied.

The Student Loans Company application and Higher Education Portal (HEP) database will be used to verify Estranged status. Applicants who do not make themselves known to the University in this way, will not be considered for the Bursary. Evidence of Estranged status will be verified before the awards can be confirmed.

Bursary awards will be made by the Scholarship Allocation Panel in October.

Bursary holders may be requested to represent Brunel at various promotional activities throughout their time at the University. Participation is not mandatory and bursary holders may be contacted with invitations to participate in activities such as surveys, focus groups, and interviews in order to evaluate the University’s financial support package. Bursary holders will be contacted as and when participation is required. If a student chooses not to participate, their bursary award will not be affected.

Data pertaining to bursary holders such as: progression rates, degree attainment, degree completion, and graduate outcomes may also be analysed in order to understand the effectiveness of bursaries and scholarships. This data may also be linked to other data already held by the University for the purpose of better understanding the impact of bursaries and scholarships on under-represented groups. To learn more about how the University uses data to support its commitment to delivering positive outcomes to students from under-represented groups please visit our webpage.

The bursary will be awarded to those applicants who meet all the following eligibility criteria:

• Must be a verified Estranged Student and have provided evidence of status
• Must be aged 25 or under
• Must hold an offer of a place on either:

- a full time Undergraduate course (including placement routes and undergraduate integrated Master’s programmes).

OR

- a full time Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course.

This includes offers made through UCAS Clearing.

• Offer must be for either the foundation year, FHEQ Level 4 (Year 1), FHEQ Level 5 (Year 2) or FHEQ Level 6 (year 3) of the course, or PGCE, starting in September.
• Offer must be ‘Unconditional Firm’ (UF) by the date the Scholarship Allocation Panel make their awards (i.e. applicant must have met all offer conditions and firmly accepted the place).
• Must commence the course in the upcoming academic year (applicants for deferred entry will be considered for a bursary in the year they start their course and not in the year of their course application).
• Must be classed as Home for fees purposes based on the UK government regulations, this includes those applicants that have EU settled status and are classed as Home fee payers. Applicants who are unsure of their fee status should note Brunel uses the information they have provided in their application form to assess fee status against regulations set by the UK government. For information on these regulations please visit the independent organisation UKCISA’s website.

Bursaries will be awarded to those who meet the eligibility criteria at the time of allocation.

Applicants should note bursary awards are not guaranteed. If there are more eligible applicants than awards available, the University Scholarship Allocation Panel will determine how many awards can be made and to whom. It may transpire that not all eligible applicants may receive a bursary.

(a) Those not eligible for this Bursary

• Applicants classed as Overseas or Channel Islands/Isle of Man for fee purposes (based on the UK government regulations), or with an unresolved fee status.
• Students undertaking any other kind of Postgraduate Taught or Postgraduate Research study. with the exception of a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).
• Applicants entering a course with the Brunel Language Centre (BLC).
• Applicants who will not commence their course in the upcoming academic year - applicants holding offers for deferred entry will be considered for a bursary in the year they start their course and not in the year of their course application.

(b) Eligibility Definitions

(c) Proof of Eligibility

All applicants are required to provide evidence of Estranged Student status via the SLC or directly to the University.

• Where the applicant has applied for a Tuition fee loan from the SLC and confirmed their Estranged Student status in their application, Brunel’s Student Support Team will access this information in order to verify Estranged Student status and eligibility for the Bursary.
• If an applicant has not provided evidence of status to the SLC, this will be requested by the Student Support Team. Applicants will be required to provide evidence by a given deadline.
• The Student Support Team will verify evidence of estranged status as Estranged Students become known to them.
• If an applicant does not want Brunel to access this information they should contact the SLC and opt out. This will mean that eligibility for the Bursary cannot be assessed, and the applicant will be required to provide evidence in order to be considered.
• The deadline to provide evidence to Brunel for verification is 13 October 2025. If evidence is not supplied, the applicant will not be considered for the bursary.
• Proof of Estranged status is required in the form of written documentation from the SLC verifying independent student status and will be required before the bursary can be awarded.
• For students who are awarded an Estranged Student Bursary based on estrangement in a previous academic year, the University will check the records received from the Student Loans Company in order to confirm the student continues to have no sponsors, before generating any future entitlement. If necessary, the University will contact the student prior to generating any award to clarify whether the estrangement is ongoing or if they have been reconciled with parents/sponsors.

3.1 Eligibility criteria are reviewed annually.

3.2 Applicants are considered for bursaries in mid-October of their first year of study using the information provided as detailed in section 1. Registered students will not be reconsidered should their circumstances change during the course of their studies or if they do not make themselves known to the University by the time the bursary was allocated. Registered students who did not make themselves known to the University in their first year and are now in subsequent years of study will not be considered for the bursary.

Students who did not make themselves known to the University but require support should contact the Student Support Team by emailing studentsupport@brunel.ac.uk or by visiting the Student Hub.

3.3 The University cannot make late awards after the Panel meet in mid-October. Once Bursary funding is depleted no further awards will be made irrespective of the eligibility criteria.

3.4 Bursaries are not backdated and awards are not guaranteed.

3.5 Students awarded the Estranged Student Bursary may be eligible for other scholarship/bursary awards. This means that if they are eligible they can be awarded more than one scholarship or bursary, however the Estranged Student Bursary cannot be combined with the University of London Scholars Programme or the Care Leaver Bursary.

3.6 Successful applicants will be informed by email shortly after allocation in late October. Evidence of Estranged status is required before allocation, see section 2c. of these terms and conditions.

3.7 Bursaries are awarded for the current academic year only and cannot be deferred. Applicants who choose to defer their studies will forfeit any awards they have been made but will be considered again in the year they will begin their studies.

3.8 The decision of the Scholarship Allocation Panel is final. The University will not accept any appeals in respect of the decisions made by the Panel.

4.1 The bursary will be paid in three instalments in each year of a full time course and will not be paid during the placement year of an FSK or FSN sandwich course.

4.2 Successfully awarded students will be asked to supply relevant UK bank account details to support receipt of the cash payments by no later than 5 December 2025

4.3 Payment dates

For cash bursary awards, payment will be made as follows:

Payment 1 12 December 2025

Payment 2 27 February 2026

Payment 3 16 May 2026

4.4 Conditions of Payment:

• Payments will only be made providing the student is enrolled at the University on an undergraduate degree or PGCE programme and has provided the University with evidence of Estranged student status by the deadline specified.
• Payment in subsequent years will only be made providing the student progresses to the next level of study [bursary payments will not be made during a repeating year until the student has satisfactorily progressed to the next level, excluding PGCE].

N.B. Payments will be made directly to a UK bank account in their own name and therefore students are required to supply accurate bank account details via their eVision account within the requested time. Failure to provide current valid UK Bank account details will result in delayed payment.

4.5 Where a bursary award spans more than one year, students will be written to in September to confirm ongoing eligibility to receive their bursary award.

5.1 Misleading information: The University reserves the right to withdraw a bursary from anyone who is found to have misled the University about any aspect of their eligibility and to seek repayment of any monies already paid by appropriate means.

5.2 Mode of Attendance Change: If a student changes to a different mode of study, their eligibility for a bursary will be reviewed.

5.3 Changing course and starting again at Foundation or FHEQ Level 4 (Year 1) – Undergraduate study only: Students who commence their studies and subsequently make an alteration that involves starting again at Foundation year or Level 4 will not be eligible for a new award against the new course. The existing bursary will be placed on hold and reinstated once the student commences Level 5 subject to meeting the annual bursary progression criteria outlined in Section 4. If a student changes course but remains at the same level of study, this will not have an impact on the award.

5.4 Changing course – PGCE: If a student transfers to a course of study outside of the PGCE in Education the bursary will be withdrawn.

5.5 Abeyance/Temporary Withdrawal: A student who takes a period of temporary withdrawal (abeyance) and who is in receipt of a bursary award would cease to receive bursary payments whilst temporarily withdrawn. Bursary payments made prior to temporarily withdrawing will not generally be requested to be repaid and remaining payments will generally be paid once the student returns to complete that level of study.

5.6 Suspension of Study: Should a student be suspended for any reason, bursary payments will be withdrawn and consideration of reinstatement will be dependent on the disciplinary outcome.

5.7 Repeat/Extended Study: Periods of temporary withdrawal that result in repeat or extended periods of study are not supported by additional bursary payments. Bursary entitlement is for the maximum duration of each award and entitlement is not extended if overall course duration alters.

5.8 Withdrawal from Study: A student who withdraws from their programme prior to completion and who is in receipt of a bursary award will not normally be requested to repay bursary payments made up to the point of withdrawal. However, entitlement to all future bursary payments cease immediately when a student withdraws from Brunel University of London.

Any queries relating to these terms and conditions should be addressed to the Admissions Office by emailing: scholarships@brunel.ac.uk

Updated 13 November 2025