Whether you can get student finance depends on:
- your nationality and residency
- your course
- your university or college
- your age
- your previous study
Your nationality and residency
You can apply if all of the following apply:
- you're a UK national, Irish Citizen or have settled status
- you’ll be living in Wales on the first day of the first academic year of your course
- you’ve been living in the UK and Islands for 3 years before starting your course
You might also be able to apply if you:
- are an EU national or a family member of an EU national and you have settled status or pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme
- are a family member of a UK national
- are a refugee
- are under humanitarian protection
- are an EEA or Swiss migrant worker or family member of an EEA or Swiss migrant worker and you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, Irish Citizens don’t need a status under the scheme
- are the child of a Swiss national and you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
- are the child of a Turkish worker
- are a stateless person or a family member of a stateless person
- are granted leave to remain on the grounds of family or private life, or a family member of someone granted leave to remain on the grounds of family or private life
- have been granted leave under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizen’s Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) or are the family member of someone who has
- have been granted ‘Calais leave’ in the UK, or a dependent child of someone who has
- have been granted ‘leave to remain’ in the UK as a victim of domestic violence or abuse or a dependent child of someone who has
- have been granted ‘leave to remain’ in the UK as a bereaved partner, or a dependent child of someone who has
- have been granted leave to remain under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016
- have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Extension Scheme
You must also be living in Wales on the first day of the first academic year of your course.
EU students generally cannot get help with living costs or any extra help unless they’ve lived in the UK for 3 years before starting their course and have pre-settled status. You should check the nationality and residency information for EU students to find out what funding you could get.
Your course
Your course must be in the UK and be:
- a first degree, for example BA, BSc or Bed
- a Foundation Degree
- a Certificate of Higher Education
- a Diploma or Higher Education
- a Higher National Certificate
- a Higher National Diploma
- a Postgraduate Certificate in Education
- an Initial Teacher Education course
Your university or college
Your university or college must be either:
- paid for by the government
- privately funded but running individual courses that are approved for funding by the Welsh Government
Check with your university or college if you’re not sure whether it qualifies.
Your age
There’s no age limit to qualify for grants or a Tuition Fee Loan.
You must be under 60 to get a Maintenance Loan.
Your previous study
You can usually only get student finance for your first higher education course, even if you funded your previous course yourself.
If you changed course or are repeating a year
You can work out how much you’ll get by taking the number of years of the course you’re applying for and adding one year, then taking away the number of years you studied for.
For example, if you’re applying for a 4 year course but have studied 2 years previously, you’ll get 3 years of funding.
If you do not have enough years of funding to cover your course, you’ll need to pay for the extra years yourself before you can get any student finance.
You might be able to get an extra year of funding if you had to leave your previous course because of compelling personal reasons, like illness or bereavement. You’ll need to send us evidence of this.
If you already have a degree
You cannot usually get student finance for another degree. There are some exceptions, for example if you want to study:
- medicine
- dentistry
- architechture
- social work
