The Education (Student Support) (No.2) (Amendment) and Education (Student Loan) (Repayment) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017

“Overpayment of grants and allowances”.

27.  In regulation 126 (Assistance for part-time courses)—

(a) in paragraph (1)—

(i) in sub-paragraph (a)(ii), omit the “and”;

(ii) after sub-paragraph (a), insert the following sub-paragraph—

“(aa) a part-time fee loan, where—

(i) the fees charged by the academic authority in respect of an academic year of the designated part-time course exceed the grant mentioned in sub-paragraph (a), the amount of which has been determined in accordance with regulation 127; or

(ii) it has been determined in accordance with regulation 127 that no grant is payable under sub-paragraph (a); or

(iii) the eligible part-time student does not apply for the grant mentioned in sub-paragraph (a); and”;

(b) after paragraph (1), insert—

“(1A) A part-time fee loan is administered in accordance with regulation 127A.”.

(c) after paragraph (2), insert—

“(2A) An eligible part-time student does not qualify for assistance under paragraph (1)(a) or (b) unless it is ordinarily possible to complete the designated part-time course in no more than twice the period ordinarily required to complete the full-time equivalent.”;

(d) for paragraph (3), substitute—

“(3) An eligible part-time student qualifies for assistance under paragraph (1) in respect of a course (other than a distance learning course) if the Department considers that the student is undertaking the designated part-time course in the United Kingdom.”.

(e) in paragraph (4), for “under this regulation”, substitute “under paragraphs (1)(a) or (b)”;

(f) after paragraph (5), insert—

“(5A) An eligible part-time student does not qualify for a part-time fee loan under paragraph (1)(aa) if—

(a) the student has undertaken one or more part-time courses for sixteen years in aggregate; and

(b) the student received in respect of each of those academic years a loan or a grant of the kind described in paragraph (5).

(5B) An eligible part-time student does not qualify for a part-time fee loan if the intensity of study during the academic year for which support is claimed is less than 25% of a full-time equivalent course.”; and

(g) after paragraph (8), add—

“(9) For the purposes of this regulation “full-time equivalent” and “period ordinarily required to complete the full time equivalent” is to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 124(6).”.