Qualifying conditions for loans for living costs
24.—(1) An eligible student shall qualify for a loan for living costs in connection with his attendance on a designated course if he satisfies the conditions in paragraph (2) and is not excluded by paragraph (3).
(2) The conditions referred to in paragraph (1) are that the eligible student is—
(a)under the age of 50 on the first day of the first academic year of the course; or
(b)aged 50 or over and under the age of 55 on that day, if the Secretary of State is satisfied that he intends—
(i)to enter employment after he has completed his course; or
(ii)to undertake another higher education course immediately after completing his present course, disregarding any intervening vacation.
(3) An eligible student shall not qualify for a loan for living costs if the only paragraph from 1 to 7 of Schedule 2 into which he falls is paragraph 7.
(4) Where a student becomes an eligible student during the course of an academic year as a result of one of the events listed in paragraph (5)—
(a)he may qualify for a loan for living costs in respect of such quarters of that academic year as are specified in regulation 25(9) provided that he meets the conditions in paragraph (1); and
(b)he shall not qualify for a loan for living costs in respect of any academic year beginning before the academic year in which the relevant event occurred.
(5) The events referred to in paragraph (4) are—
(a)the student’s course becomes a designated course; or
(b)the student, his spouse, his civil partner or his parent is recognised as a refugee or is granted leave to enter or remain as mentioned in paragraph 3 of Schedule 2.