National Policy for FE Student Support Bursaries AY 2025-26

Guidance

SFC/GD/05/2025

Issue Date

13 June 2025

Summary

Explanation of the conditions of use of SFC Further Education student support bursary funds allocated to colleges for Academic Year 2025-26.

FAO

Principals and Finance Directors of Scotland’s colleges.

Further Information

Student Support team
Finance & Funding
studentsupport@sfc.ac.uk

The following policy documents set out the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) national policy for Further Education (FE) student support bursaries for Academic Year (AY) 2025-26. They stipulate the conditions of use of FE bursary funds allocated to colleges by SFC and set out the rates for calculation for AY 2025-26. These policies continue to support the strategic priorities and outcomes of the SFC and the Scottish Government.

Student support funds are cash-limited. Students who are eligible for support from this funding are not automatically entitled to this support.
We adjusted the student support budget for AY 2024-25 to better reflect actual demand and recent trends in budget spend. In balancing our priorities, the student support budget for AY 2025-26 has been maintained at the same level as AY 2024-25 (£123.0 million) – this is detailed in the College Final Funding Allocation AY 2025-26 Colleges should continue to assess applications for student support in line with the FE Bursaries Policy guidance, with particular reference to the Award Assessment and Advisors’ Notes. We will, as in previous years, conduct an In Year Redistribution (IYR) exercise with colleges, providing the opportunity to relinquish funds that are not required or to request additional funds.

A summary of the updates to the relevant sections and paragraphs of the policy guidance are set out in the Annex to this announcement.
As part of the simplification of the funding body landscape reforms, FE student support will transfer from SFC to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). We will communicate further with the sector as plans are finalised.

These documents aim to provide a standard foundation on which college staff can assess student support funding awards and decisions. Where there is a need to provide additional or exceptional guidance, SFC will continue to circulate this information directly to our established student support sector contacts.

Tiffany Ritchie
Acting Director of Finance

Subject	Paragraph(s)	Summary
Part-time students	6iii	The guidance has been updated to reflect the increases to the income thresholds.
Full-time Advanced (HE) fees	21	The guidance has been updated to prohibit students from receiving more than one full-time fee waiver if studying at FE and HE level simultaneously, in a single Academic Year.