9.—(1) A person (the “applicant”) must apply for support in connection with each academic year of a designated course by completing and submitting to the Department an application in such form and accompanied by such documentation as the Department may require.
(2) The Department may take such steps and make such inquiries as the Department considers necessary to determine whether the applicant is an eligible student, whether the applicant qualifies for support and the amount of support payable, if any.
(3) The Department must notify the applicant of whether the applicant qualifies for support and, if so, the amount of support payable in respect of the academic year, if any.
10.—(1) The general rule is that the application must reach the Department no later than the end of the ninth month beginning with the first day of the academic year in respect of which it is submitted.
(2) The general rule does not apply where—
(a)one of the events listed in regulation 18 occurs after the first day of the academic year in respect of which the applicant is applying for support, in which case the application must reach the Department no later than the end of the ninth month beginning with the day on which the relevant event occurred;
(b)the applicant is making a separate application for a fee loan, a fee contribution loan, a loan for living costs or a college fee loan or is applying for an additional amount of fee loan under regulation 25(4) or (10), an additional amount of fee contribution loan under regulation 36(5), an additional amount of loan for living costs under regulation 78(3) or an additional amount of college fee loan under regulation 86(2) in which case the application must reach the Department not later than one month before the end of the academic year to which the application relates;
(c)the applicant is applying to borrow an additional amount of fee contribution loan under regulation 36(3), an additional amount of loan for living costs or an additional amount of additional amount of loan for living costs under regulation 78(1), in which case the application must reach the Department not later than one month before the end of the academic year to which the application relates or within a period of one month beginning with the day on which the applicant receives notice of the increased maximum amount, whichever is the later;
(d)the applicant is applying for the disabled students’ allowance, in which case the application must reach the Department as soon as is reasonably practicable; or
(e)the Department considers that having regard to the circumstances of the particular case the time limit should be relaxed, in which case the application must reach the Department not later than such date as it specifies.
11. Schedule 4 deals with the provision of information.
12. To receive a loan a student must enter into a contract with the Department.