Important Update: 16–18 Bursary Fund
Because so many students have applied this year, the bursary fund for 16–18 year olds is now fully used.
This means we can’t accept or assess any more applications.
If you need financial support, please speak to our Student Services team – they can advise you on other options that might be available.
We offer a bursary scheme to support students during the 2025/26 academic year. If you’re enrolled with us, you may be able to get help with:
This support is here to help you focus on your learning without worrying about the cost.
If you want to apply for a bursary, you will need to apply for each academic year you are in college.
*Please note the threshold has increased from £28,000 to £33,000 since this video was filmed.
Good news — the College has raised the household income threshold to £33,000, meaning more students can now apply for financial support.
To be eligible, you’ll need to apply within 8 weeks of starting your course.
However, if your situation changes later on, don’t worry — you can reapply at any time.
If you have been approved a bursary and are entitled to meals then this will be added as a credit onto your Student ID card if you are going to the Ipswich Campus, Suffolk Rural Campus or the Halesworth Campus of On The Coast
There are currently no canteen facilities at Leiston so students going here to study will have meal money paid into their bank account on a monthly basis to help them buy food from the college.
The bursaries cannot normally be used to pay tuition fees.
For more information about tuition fees please click here.
If you are a young parent, aged under 20 (as of 31 August in the year in which the course starts), you can apply for a Government ‘Care to Learn’ grant.
The grant pays childcare of up to £180 per child per week, plus travel-related costs whilst you are learning.
If you think that you are eligible, please contact Student Support for more advice, on 01473 382738, or via e-mail to support@suffolk.ac.uk
Advanced Learner Loans are funded by the government and give individuals aged 19 or over a way to gain a level 3 to 6 qualification without paying a lump sum or any initial upfront costs.
If you have applied for a bursary, and uploaded all the required documents, then please be patient. Your bursary can take up to 21 days to process and you will be contacted at the email address that you provided when you filled in your bursary application.
You must apply for a bursary within 8 weeks of starting your course, otherwise your application will be rejected.
This is as in the previous year and allows the College to make best use of the available funding.
You will need to head to www.suffolk.ac.uk/bursary and click on the link to the bursary portal.
You will need to register on the left-hand side of the screen first, and then once you have registered and checked the email link that will be sent to you, you can then log in to the right-hand side of the screen.
Please contact student support at support@suffolk.ac.uk or call them on 01473 382738.
When applying for financial support, the information you need to give depends on your age and living situation:
If you cannot upload the required evidence to your bursary application, please email this to us along with your student’s name and student number so we can upload this for you as a last resort. You can email this to bursary@suffolk.ac.uk (please make sure you upload all pages)
Please be aware if you email these into us, there may be a short delay before these are uploaded to your application, this is due to the number of emails we receive at the beginning of the academic year.
Bursary applications should normally be processed in a few days (if all of the evidence required has been received). Please allow up to 21 days after submission of your bursary before you contact us as we are processing them in date order.
You will receive an e-mail notifying you of the outcome of your bursary application, the email we will use will be the same one you provided when you applied for your bursary. If you wish to change this, please contact student support on support@suffolk.ac.uk or call them on 01473 382738.
This is nothing unusual, as each student is assessed on their individual needs and circumstances and payments will reflect this.
Yes. The threshold for household earnings has been raised to £33,000 – up from £28,000 for last year
The payment runs will be processed so that you will receive your first payment as soon as possible after application. You will then receive payments monthly on the following dates:
| 22nd September 2025 | 27th October 2025 |
| 24th November 2025 | 22nd December 2025 |
| 26th January 2026 | 23rd February 2026 |
| 7th April 2026 | 27th April 2026 |
| 25th May 2026 |
These dates will allow you to purchase train or bus tickets in advance of the coming month, if applicable.
If you see this message, it means that the password that you have entered is incorrect. If you need to reset your password, click on the “forgotten password” link which is found at the bottom of the of the right-hand side of the screen.
Finish the application to include ticking the end box to say that all the information you have supplied is correct.
✅ Included in household income:
❌ Not included in household income:
Please note if you are uploading a Universal Credit statement from your online account then we will need to see the whole statement for the relevant month (any month within the last 3 months) showing all of the deductions, breakdown and final total. Please send all this information from the very top of the statement to the very bottom. Doing so will avoid any delays in assessing your bursary and letting you know an outcome.
We try to process all payments on a weekly basis. If you have just received notification that you have been given a bursary, we will aim to pay you within the next 7 to 10 days after it has been approved. You will then receive monthly payments to cover your travel to college (if applicable).
Unfortunately, the rules that we must follow for bursaries have changed and we cannot now give you hardship payments.
We are however giving you a payment that will cover the cost of getting into College which will be paid to you monthly to allow you to purchase a monthly travel pass directly from your bus or train operator.
If you’re a student aged 16–18 (as of 1 August before your course starts), or up to 24 with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), you may be able to get Free College Meals.
This support is aimed at students from lower-income households. You could be eligible if you or your parent/guardian receive any of the following:
✅ New! If you were eligible for Free School Meals while at school, you may also qualify — just provide proof when you apply.
