Previous study for full-time undergraduate students

If you’re funded by Student Finance England or Student Finance Wales and have undertaken any previous higher education study, it’s important to understand how this might affect your funding at UWE Bristol.

Student Finance provides tuition fee loans for the standard length of your course plus one additional year, which is often called the gift year.

Usually, you remain entitled to your maintenance loan and any supplementary grants you receive until you complete your degree, regardless of how many years it takes.

For more information about the gift year works, see Repeating study.

If you’ve studied at university before, this can reduce the number of tuition fee loans available to you, even if:

• You only attended for a short time
• You didn’t complete the course
• You paid for it yourself
• You studied outside the UK.

This is known as the previous study calculation.

• Part-time study only counts if you gained a higher education qualification
• Full-time study always counts regardless of how long you attended or whether you received funding.

One year of previous study

Example: Jose studied for just one week at Barcelona University in 2013. He starts a three-year degree at UWE Bristol in 2021.

• Standard entitlement: three years plus one gift year = four years of tuition fee loan
• Previous study: one year (even though it was only a week)
• Remaining entitlement: four years minus one = three years of tuition fee loan

So, Jose is fully funded for all three years of his UWE Bristol course.

Two years of previous study

Example: Jose studied for a full year and one week of a second year at Barcelona University.

• Standard entitlement: three years plus one gift year = four years of tuition fee loan.
• Previous study: two years.
• Remaining entitlement: four years minus two years = two years of tuition fee loan.

Student Finance will usually allocate the tuition fee loans to the final year of the UWE Bristol course and then the second year, so Jose will need to self-fund the first year of his course.

Student Finance can disregard a year of previous study if you have evidence of compelling personal reasons (CPR). Even if your previous study was many years ago, you can still apply.

Two years of previous study and CPR

Example: Jose studied for one full year at Barcelona University. One week into his second year, he had a serious cycling accident and was unable to return.

He provides medical evidence of the accident to Student Finance. Student Finance accepts this as compelling personal reasons and agrees to ignore the second year of study in the funding calculation.

Jose has three years of remaining tuition fee entitlement so his three-year course at UWE Bristol is fully funded. 

For further information, including how to apply, see Compelling Personal Reasons. 

HE qualifications below honours degree (HNC, HND, Foundation degree)

If you already hold a qualification from a previous course, the years you studied will count in Student Finance’s calculation.

You can only receive funding to top up to an honours degree rather than start a new one. Contact a UWE Bristol Student Money Adviser to understand how this affects your entitlement.

Complex circumstances

If your previous qualification was earned part time or awarded as an exit qualification (not the one you originally aimed for), funding rules may differ.

Speak to a UWE Bristol Student Money Adviser to discuss your situation.

Honours degree or higher

If you already hold a qualification equivalent to a UK honours degree or above, you are normally not eligible for a Tuition fee loan for a new course.

You also cannot receive living-cost support unless studying social work or architecture. For more information, visit Equivalent or Lower Qualifications (ELQ) guidance.

If you're thinking about studying one of the following healthcare courses, read our guidance on Equivalent or Lower Qualifications (ELQ)

• Diagnostic Radiography
• Midwifery
• Nursing (Adult, Children’s, Learning Disabilities, Mental Health)
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Radiotherapy and Oncology

These courses are exempt from the ELQ/previous study rules if you are funded by Student Finance England.

If you are funded by Student Finance Wales, there is no exemption and the ELQ rules will apply. You will not be eligible to apply for any funding from Student Finance Wales apart from the Grants for Dependants and Disabled Students Allowances.