The Education (Student Support) Regulations 2008

Old system students who are gap year students who have not studied on a previous course

25.—(1) This regulation applies to an old system student who is a gap year student who has not studied on a previous course.

(2) A gap year student does not qualify for fee support in respect of a designated course if—

(a) he has an honours degree from an institution in the United Kingdom and the exemption in regulation 34(1) or (2) does not apply; or

(b) the designated course is an old flexible postgraduate course for the initial training of teachers.

(3) A gap year student does not qualify for a grant for fees in respect of an academic year of a designated course that is a bursary year or an Erasmus year.

(4) When assessing an application for support in respect of an academic year of a designated course, the Secretary of State must determine the “standard entitlement”.

(5) The standard entitlement is calculated as follows—

where

• OD is the number of academic years that make up the ordinary duration of the course.

(6) When assessing an application for support in respect of an academic year of a designated course, the Secretary of State must allocate a grant for fees from the standard entitlement first to the final standard academic year of the course and then to each preceding standard academic year in turn until the standard entitlement is exhausted or a grant for fees has been allocated to each standard academic year of the course.

(7) A gap year student qualifies for a grant for fees in respect of a standard academic year of the designated course if the Secretary of State allocates a grant for fees to that year when assessing the application for support for that year.

(8) The amount of the grant for fees in respect of an academic year is determined in accordance with regulation 28 or 29 and may be nil.