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6. Other support for students

Sponsorship and scholarships

Some companies and government departments sponsor students on their courses. Many universities have scholarship pages on their website.

Educational trusts and endowments

Some charitable trusts provide funds, usually small amounts, to students. Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) has a register of education endowments at saas.gov.uk/full-time/register-of-education-endowments, which lists Scottish trusts that may be able to help. Lead Scotland also has a list of trusts that provide educational grants at lead.org.uk/charitable-trusts-providing-educational-grants-for-individuals.

The Carnegie Education Fund can help with tuition fees in certain circumstances if these are not covered by SAAS. Read more at carnegie-trust.org/award-schemes/undergraduate-tuition-fee-grants.

1. Working out your income

If you have student income (a student loan for maintenance and grants paid to you for your course), it usually counts as income for universal credit (UC).1 This chapter explains how much monthly income counts in the assessment.

Note: you do not count as having student income if you are no longer receiving education (see here).2 So if you have left or finished your course and you get a payment of student income, it is disregarded. Note also that one-off lump-sum payments of student income count as capital (see here).

StepCalculation
Step 1Add together the annual income from grants and loans. Add the annual amount of any grants, ignoring those that are disregarded, to the annual amount of any loan (see below).
Step 2Work out the period over which your student income counts. Calculate this from the month in which you start your course until the month before the summer vacation or end of your course, as applicable (see here).
Step 3Divide income throughout the year. Divide the amount in Step 1 by the number of months over which your student income counts for that year (see here).
Step 4Deduct disregard. Deduct a set amount of £110 from the monthly amount of income from grants and loans.
Step 5Add other income to the monthly amount. Add any other income to be taken into account (eg, earnings) to the monthly grant and loan amount you arrived at after deducting the disregard at Step 4. This is the amount of income used in the UC assessment.

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 66(1)(e) UC Regs

  • 2

    Reg 68(1) UC Regs

2. Grants and loans

If you get a student loan for maintenance

If you are awarded a loan for maintenance, it counts as income when working out universal credit (UC). The maximum loan you could be entitled to is taken into account, as though there were no reduction for household income or another grant.1 The special support loan is ignored, because it is for course costs.

If you do not have a loan for maintenance, but you could get one by taking ‘reasonable steps’, you are treated as if you have one – it counts as ‘notional’ income. If you have a principled and conscientious objection to taking out a loan (eg, because of religious beliefs), this may mean there are no reasonable steps you can take to get a loan. If this applies, there should be no loan income taken into account.2

Any other grants you receive are disregarded, except for any amount for the maintenance of your partner and/or child(ren) and any specific amount for rent payments that are met by UC.3 A lone parents’ grant paid as well as your loan counts as income. Discretionary fund payments are ignored, provided they are not for the maintenance of your partner or child(ren) and not a specified amount for rent that is met by UC. Note: a one-off payment from discretionary funds counts as capital rather than income (see here).

Taken into account Ignored 
Postgraduate loan for living costsPostgraduate tuition fee loan
Undergraduate loan for maintenanceSpecial support loan
Lone parents’ grantEstranged students’ bursary
Young students’ bursary
Independent students’ bursary
Tuition fees
Disabled students’ allowance
Travel expenses
Lone parents’ childcare grant and childcare fund payments

Reference
References
  • 1

    Regs 68 and 69 UC Regs

  • 2

    IB v Gravesham BC and SSWP (HB) [2023] UKUT 193 (AAC), UA-2025-001061-USTA, UA-2025-001062-USTA

  • 3

    Reg 68(3) UC Regs

If you do not get a student loan for maintenance

If you do not get a loan for maintenance, but you receive a grant, the grant income is taken into account for UC (subject to the disregards below).1 A grant is an educational grant or award and does not include education maintenance allowance payments.2 It includes any other grants or awards – eg, stipends paid to PhD students (as long as these are not provided under a contract of employment).

Grant income is taken into account, excluding any payment for:3

  • tuition fees or exams;
  • your disability;
  • extra costs of residential study away from your usual place of study during term time;
  • the costs of your normal home (if you live elsewhere during your course), unless these are included in your UC;
  • the maintenance of someone not included in your UC claim;
  • books, equipment, course travel costs or childcare costs.

Further education students who are parents, and other students eligible for UC, may be awarded a lower (£28 a week) rate of the discretionary bursary maintenance allowance. Some students may not get any bursary maintenance allowance, which may mean they are not ‘receiving education’ and can get UC (see here). In either case, you should not be treated as having an award of bursary maintenance allowance, or a higher award, because the rules can only treat you as having access to such income if it ‘would be available to [you] upon the making of an application’.4 You should not be treated as having access to a discretionary bursary if you do not have one because, by its nature, there is no guarantee you would get it if you applied.

If you get a grant, but no loan for maintenance, and receive discretionary fund payments, they are disregarded if they are paid for any of the above bullet points but otherwise count as income. Note: a one-off payment from discretionary funds counts as capital rather than income (see here).

Taken into account Ignored 
All studentsHelp with tuition fees
Special support loan
Undergraduate students 
Care-experienced students’ bursaryDisabled students’ allowance
Lone parents’ grantLone parents’ childcare grant and childcare fund payments
Summer accommodation grant* 
Paramedic, nursing and midwifery students 
Paramedic, nursing and midwifery bursary**Childcare allowance
Dependants’ allowance for adult and childDisabled students’ allowance
Single parents’ allowanceTravel and placement expenses
Initial expenses allowance
Further education students 
Bursary maintenance allowanceEducation maintenance allowance
Dependants’ allowanceAdditional support needs for learning allowance
Care-experienced bursary maintenance allowanceStudy and travel expenses allowance
Lone parents’ childcare grant and childcare fund payments

*Note that the summer accommodation grant is paid as a lump sum, so it counts as capital rather than income (see here).

**Arguably £5 a day of the paramedic, nursing and midwifery bursary should be ignored as it is paid for travel expenses (see here).

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 68(2) and (4) UC Regs

  • 2

    Reg 68(7) UC Regs

  • 3

    Reg 70 UC Regs

  • 4

    Reg 74 UC Regs

3. Dividing income throughout the year

Universal credit (UC) is paid monthly, for an ‘assessment period’. Each assessment period runs from the day of the month you claimed UC, for one month – eg, if you claim on the second of the month, each assessment period runs from the second of the month to the first of the following month. The annual amount of your student income must be divided over the number of assessment periods in the course year to arrive at the monthly amount that is used to work out UC. If your UC award starts during the course, each period of a month before your award starts is treated as an assessment period when working out over how many assessment periods your student income counts – ie, some student income is ‘allocated’ to notional assessment periods before the UC award starts.

Student income counts for each assessment period during your course, excluding the one at the end of each academic year and those in the long vacation.1

Student income counts as income:

  • from the start of the assessment period in which the course/course year begins; and
  • for every subsequent assessment period during the course/course year.

Student income is ignored:2

  • in the assessment period in which the course ends or the long vacation starts; and
  • in any assessment period that falls completely within the long vacation; and
  • if you abandon or leave your course completely, in the assessment period in which you leave.3

Long vacation

The ’long vacation’ is the longest holiday in a course that lasts at least two years, and it must last for at least one month.4

Note that for courses with no long vacation (such as paramedic, nursing and midwifery courses), this may mean that student income is taken into account over 12 months of the year. Masters courses are also usually one full year.

Once you have calculated the number of assessment periods in the course year, divide the total annual amount of loans and/or grants by this number and apply the monthly disregard. £110 of student income is disregarded in each assessment period.5

Examples

Laura has a five-year-old daughter and is single. She starts a degree course. Year one of her course runs from 21 September 2026 to 7 May 2027. Her assessment periods run from the third of the month to the second of the following month.

Step 1: Laura gets a loan of £10,400 (£8,000 maintenance loan and £2,400 special support loan), independent students’ bursary of £1,000 and lone parents’ grant of £1,305.

Step 2: her independent students’ bursary and special support loan are disregarded. Her maintenance loan and lone parents’ grant (total £9,305) count as income over eight assessment periods in the first year of her course (from 3 September 2026 to 2 May 2027).

Step 3: £9,305 ÷ 8 = £1,163.12

Step 4: £1,163.12 – £110 = £1,053.12

Step 5: she has no other income. Laura’s UC is calculated on student income of £1,053.12 a month from 3 September 2026 to 2 May 2027. From 3 May 2027, income from her student funding is nil. Laura’s next UC payment in June 2027 will be based on £0 student funding.

Paula has a seven-year-old son and is single. Her course runs from 31 August 2026 to 28 May 2027. Her assessment periods run from the 14th of the month to the 13th of the following month.

Step 1: Paula gets a further education bursary maintenance allowance of £1,120 (40 weeks at £28).

Step 2: her bursary counts as income over nine assessment periods (from 14 August 2026 to 13 May 2027).

Step 3: £1,120 ÷ 9 = £124.44

Step 4: £124.44 – £110 = £14.44

Step 5: she has no other income. Paula’s UC is calculated on student income of £14.44 a month from 14 August 2026 to 13 May 2027.

Jack is a nursing student and is single with a six-year-old son. Year one of his course runs from 14 September 2026 to 10 September 2027. His assessment periods run from the 6th to the 5th of each month.

Step 1: Jack gets a nursing bursary of £10,000, a dependants’ allowance of £3,640 and a single parent’s allowance of £2,303.

Step 2: his student income of £15,943 counts as income over 12 assessment periods (from 6 September 2026 to 5 September 2027).

Step 3: £15,943 ÷ 12 = £1,328.58

Step 4: £1,328.58 - £110 = £1,218.58

Step 5: Jack has no other income. His UC is calculated on student income of £1,218.58 from 6 September 2026 to 5 September 2027.

Note: Jack could also argue that £1,300 of the £10,000 bursary should be disregarded, as it is for travel (£5 a day x 5 x 52).

Reference
References
  • 1

    Reg 68 UC Regs

  • 2

    Reg 13 UC Regs

  • 3

    para H6152 ADM

  • 4

    Reg 68(7) UC Regs

  • 5

    Reg 71 UC Regs

4. Earnings

Your earnings and your partner’s earnings are taken into account in the universal credit (UC) assessment. Your net monthly earnings are taken into account – ie, after deducting:

  • income tax; and
  • class 1 national insurance contributions; and
  • any contribution you make towards a personal or occupational pension.

Some of your earnings are disregarded if you have children or if you are ill or disabled. This is known as a ‘work allowance’. The lower work allowance if you get help with housing costs (rent or service charges) in your UC is £427 a month. You get a higher work allowance of £710 if you have no help with housing costs in your UC. Earnings above your work allowance are deducted at 55 pence for every pound above the allowance. If you do not get a work allowance, 55 pence for every pound of your earnings is deducted from your UC amount.

For full details of the way earnings are treated, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook.

6. Challenging a decision

If you think a decision about your jobseeker’s allowance is wrong, you can ask the DWP to look at it again. This process is known as a ‘mandatory reconsideration’. Provided you ask within the time limit (usually one month), the DWP notifies you of the decision in a ‘mandatory reconsideration notice’. If you are still not happy when you get this notice, you can appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. If it was not possible to ask the DWP to reconsider the decision within a month, you can ask for a late revision (within 13 months), explaining why it is late. You can also ask the DWP to look at a decision again at any time if certain grounds are met – eg, if there has been an official error.

7. Other benefits

If you get new-style jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), you can claim universal credit as well.

New-style JSA overlaps with certain other benefits, so you cannot, for example, get new-style JSA and maternity allowance at the same time. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details.

New-style JSA is taken into account when calculating whether the benefit cap applies (see here and here).