The Education (Student Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

Availability of fee loans to current system students - general

20.—(1) A current system student does not qualify for a fee loan in respect of a designated course if—

(a) the designated course leads to an equivalent or lower qualification, the exemption in regulation 14(1) to (4) does not apply and the student begins the course on or after 1st September 2009;

(b) the student has an honours degree from an institution in the United Kingdom, the exemption in regulation 14(1), (2) or (5) does not apply and the student began the course before 1st September 2009; or

(c) he has an honours degree from an institution in the Republic of Ireland for which he received financial support under previous regulations and the exemption in regulation 14(1), (2) or (5) does not apply; or

(d) the designated course is an old flexible postgraduate course for the initial training of teachers.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(b) and (c), a current system student qualifies for fee support in respect of a course leading to a degree in social work at an educational institution in Northern Ireland.

(3) A current system student does not qualify for a fee loan in respect of—

(a) an academic year of a designated course that is a bursary year or an Erasmus year; or

(b) a year for which he is in receipt of funding from the Department to participate in a management development programme known as the Business Education Initiative.

(4) When assessing an application for support in respect of an academic year of a designated course, the Department must determine the “standard entitlement”.

(5) The standard entitlement is calculated in accordance with regulation 21, 22, 23 or 24.

(6) When assessing an application for support in respect of an academic year of a designated course, the Department must allocate a fee loan from the standard entitlement first to the final standard academic year of the course and then to each preceding standard academic year in turn until the standard entitlement is exhausted or a fee loan has been allocated to each standard academic year of the course.

(7) A current system student qualifies for a fee loan in respect of a standard academic year of the designated course if the Department allocates a fee loan to that year when assessing the application for support for that year.

(8) In addition to the standard entitlement, a current system student who falls within regulation 23 qualifies for a fee loan in respect of the first academic year that the student takes of the designated course that is not a bursary year or an Erasmus year if the student failed to complete the most recent previous course because of compelling personal reasons.

(9) Where a current system student qualifies for a fee loan under paragraph (8), the Department must not allocate a fee loan under paragraph (6) to the first academic year that the student takes of the designated course that is not a bursary year or an Erasmus year.

(10) In addition to the standard entitlement, if the Department determines that the student is repeating an academic year of the designated course because of compelling personal reasons, a current system student qualifies for a fee loan in respect of the year of repeat study provided that the academic year that the student is repeating was a qualifying year of study and the year of repeat study is not a bursary year.

(11) A current system student qualifies for a fee loan in respect of an academic year of a designated course that is a year of repeat study which the student is taking other than for compelling personal reasons if—

(a) the academic year which the student is repeating was a qualifying year of study;

(b) the academic year of repeat study is not a bursary year; and

(c) when the academic year of repeat study is added to the number of any other academic years of repeat study that the student has already taken on the current course other than for compelling personal reasons, it does not exceed the number of additional years of support.

(12) In this regulation, the “number of additional years of support” is the number of years which make up the standard entitlement less the number of standard academic years (plus one where the student qualifies for a fee loan under paragraph (8)).

(13) The amount of the fee loan in respect of an academic year is determined in accordance with regulation 25 and may be nil.