The Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011

PART 3 APPLYING FOR SUPPORT, PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND LOAN CONTRACTS

Applications for support

8.—(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 Secretary of State an application in such form and accompanied by such documentation as the Secretary of State may require.

(2) The Secretary of State may take such steps and make such inquiries as the Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State 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.

Time limits

9.—(1) The general rule is that the application must reach the Secretary of State no later than the end of the ninth month 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 17 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 Secretary of State within a period of nine months 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 24(1) or (7), an additional amount of fee contribution loan under regulation 35(5), an additional amount of loan for living costs under regulation 89(3) or an additional amount of college fee loan under regulation 97 in which case the application must reach the Secretary of State 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 35(3), an additional amount of loan for living costs or an additional amount of long courses loan under regulation 89(1), in which case the application must reach the Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State as soon as is reasonably practicable; or

(e) the Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State not later than such date as the Secretary of State specifies.

Information

10.  Schedule 3 deals with the provision of information.

Requirement to enter into a contract for a loan

11.  To receive a loan a student must enter into a contract with the Secretary of State.