First-Generation Scholars Scheme (2017)

What you get

Foundation Year and Year 1: £3,000 cash. Subsequent years: £1,000 cash.

Type of award

Undergraduate and Foundation Year

Eligibility

To be eligible for financial support through the First-Generation Scholars Scheme (2017), you must:

• be a UK applicant
• qualify for home fee status
• qualify to receive a maintenance loan through the Student Loans Company
• be studying an undergraduate full-time course
• have started your course in or after the 2012/13 academic year and before the 2018/19 academic year
• have a household income of less than £42,875 a year
• have given permission to Student Finance to share household income with the University

Your household income is based on your own income, plus your parents' income if you are under 25, or your partner's income if you are married or in a civil partnership or over 25.

Your household income must be validated by:

• Student Finance England - or
• Student Finance Wales - or
• Students Awards Agency for Scotland - or
• Student Finance ni.

Find out more about your household income and Student Finance England's validation process

Care leavers

If you are a care leaver, you are eligible for our Care Leavers Award instead of this award. You cannot receive both this award and our Care Leavers Award unless you are studying for a year abroad, in which case you will receive the additional £3,000 from the First-Generation Scholars Scheme.

Social work and National Health Service (NHS) bursary holders

If you receive a Social Work or National Health Service (NHS) bursary, you are not eligible for this award.

Year abroad

If you choose to study abroad for a year as part of your course, you receive £3,000 during your year abroad - paid to you in two instalments of £1,500 in September and March.

Placement year

If you choose to do a year-long paid professional placement as part of your course, you will not receive any scholarship funding for that year, because you pay a reduced fee during this period.

If you choose to undertake an unpaid service placement (for example, in the NHS) as part of your course, you will receive £1,000 cash paid to you in two instalments of £500 in November and March.

Repeating a year of study

You are eligible to receive £1,000 for one repeat year. This includes if you transfer to a different course. You will not receive funding for any subsequent repeat years throughout your degree.

First-Generation Scholars Scheme Travel Award

The Travel Award is a payment of £400 made to Home students in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th year whose household income is verified by the Student Loans Company as being less than £25,000 in their assessment for the current academic year. This payment is intended to help students with the costs of travel to and from University.

This payment will be made at the beginning of the first term (or later if household income is assessed later in the year).

Sussex Excellence Scholarship

You can be eligible for, and receive, both this award and the Sussex Excellence Scholarship in your first year of study.

How to apply

Your eligibility for the First-Generation Scholars scheme financial support will be assessed by the Student Loans Company (SLC) when you make your application for funding.

When you're applying for funding, make sure that you give authorisation for your income information to be shared with the SLC when prompted, so that they can make this assessment.

Find out how to apply for funding from the SLC

If you are holding the University of Sussex as your first choice and if you are eligible for the First-Generation Scholars scheme financial support, the SLC will send you a letter to confirm your entitlement.

Sponsors

Career and study support

You also benefit from specialist programmes through the First-Generation Scholars Scheme if you're the first person in your family to go to university. You can access these even if your household income is more than £42,875 per year.

Our programmes include:

• study skills events and workshops
• funded internships in the UK and overseas
• research placements
• opportunities to study in the UK and overseas.

Contact internships@sussex.ac.uk with any questions about the careers and study support available as part of the First-Generation Scholars Scheme.

Contact us

E: studentfunding@sussex.ac.uk
T: 01273 872994

Timetable

Foundation Year and Year 1

• £3,000 paid to you in two instalments of £1,500 in November and March. It is anticipated that you will use £2,000 of this award towards paying for accommodation of your choice on or off campus.

Subsequent years

• £1,000 cash paid to you in two instalments of £500 in November and March.