Student Services runs face-to-face drop-ins on all four of our campuses. You can speak to a Student Advisor about your eligibility for funding and other financial support you may be entitled to. Information you share with us will be treated with respect and discretion.

You can contact the Guidance team to ask questions or make an appointment at guidance@edinburghcollege.ac.uk.

Asylum Seekers

Tuition fees

In line with the Scottish Council’s Fee Waiver Policy, the college may be able to apply a fee waiver to enable you to study for free if you fall into one of these categories;

1. You are an asylum seeker or the spouse of an asylum seeker, studying either a part-time ESOL/full-time ESOL course or a part-time non-advanced/part-time advanced course. You must be an ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date.
2. You are a young asylum seeker or the child of an asylum seeker and are studying a full-time or part-time non-advanced course. To be considered as a Young Asylum Seeker or the child of an asylum seeker, you must be ordinarily resident living in Scotland on the relevant, and you should have applied for asylum before you turned 18 years old.

Please note that you must complete a Fee Status Questionnaire and provide relevant evidence of your Asylum Seeker’s status when you apply for your course to be assessed.

Travel and course expenses

Students with asylum seeker status can apply for funding to cover their travel and course expenses to assist the students with attending and engaging with their studies. This funding is called Student Discretionary Funding. You must fall into one of the categories and provide evidence of it to be eligible to apply:

1. You are an asylum-seeking student, or the spouse of an asylum seeker on a full-time or part-time ESOL course, or a part-time advanced/non-advanced course. You must be living in Scotland on the relevant date.
2. You are a young asylum seeker, or the child of an asylum seeker, who is studying a full-time or part-time FE course, and is living in Scotland on the relevant date. To be classed as a young asylum seeker, or the child of an asylum seeker, an asylum application should be submitted to the Home Office before you turn 18 years old.
3. If you are an asylum seeker under 25 but applied for asylum before you turned 18, you might be considered for Student discretionary funding for full-time, non-advanced courses.

If you have not opened a bank account yet, but qualify for travel funding from Student Discretionary Funding, we might be able to provide you with bus tickets to assist with travel costs. Eligible students can choose to have their course expenses paid directly to their department on their behalf.

Asylum seekers studying in college are not eligible for funding towards living costs.

Childcare Funding

Students with asylum seeker status who have children and need assistance with childcare costs might be eligible for childcare funding. We can only consider you if you book a registered childcare provider for scheduled classes and mandatory placements.

You can find more information on our Childcare Section of the website.

Students on HNC/HND courses

If you plan to study a full-time HNC/HND course, you might be eligible to apply for help with tuition fees to SAAS. You can find out more about your eligibility on the SAAS website.

Refugees

If you have been granted refugee status by the Home Office, you may be eligible for a college fee waiver and be exempt from paying tuition fees for non-advanced courses.

If you are studying a full-time non-advanced course, you might also be eligible for bursary funding to assist with living costs, travel and course expenses. To be eligible to apply, you must;

• Have been living in the UK since you were granted refugee status (or for the last three years if you became a refugee more than three years before the start of the academic year), and you must be ordinarily resident living in Scotland on the relevant.
• Be the spouse, civil partner or child of a refugee as described above and is resident in Scotland on the relevant date.

The bursary, travel, and course expenses are means-tested, and you will be required to complete an online application and provide additional evidence to be considered, e.g. proof of status, residency, household income, etc.

Students with a refugee status studying part-time courses are eligible to apply for books and travel expenses to Student Discretionary Funding. When you apply, you will be asked to complete a short form and provide the required evidence, e.g. proof of status, residency, etc. We must ensure both you and your course are eligible for this funding before we can assess you.

Childcare funding

If you have children, you might be eligible for funding towards the childcare costs for the days and times when you attend scheduled classes and mandatory placements. Your childcare provider must be registered with the Care Inspectorate.

If you are on a non-advanced course (part-time/full-time) or a full-time advanced course, you can apply for childcare funding on the college’s website after being accepted on the course. If you are on a part-time advanced course, please speak to our Student Advisors in Student Services or e-mail us at guidance@edinburghcollege.ac.uk, as you might be eligible to apply for Student Discretionary Funding to get help with childcare costs.

Childcare funding depends on the household income. During the process of applying, you will be asked to provide various documents to allow us to assess you for funding.

Childcare funding is discretionary and cash-limited. You can find more information on our Childcare Section of the website.

Students with refugee status on advanced courses

Refugees who study part-time advanced courses might be eligible either for the college fee waiver or a Part-time Fee Grant from SAAS.

If you are on a full-time advanced course, you can apply for help with tuition fees to SAAS. Additionally, you might be eligible to apply for SAAS funding for living costs, e.g. bursary, student loan, loan or parent grant. You can find more information on the SAAS website. You might also qualify for the Disabled Student Allowance if you meet other criteria