155. In regulation 3 (eligible students)—
(a)for paragraph (2) substitute—
“(2) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a person is an eligible student in connection with a designated course if in assessing that person’s application for a postgraduate doctoral degree loan under regulation 9 the Welsh Ministers determine that the person falls within one of the categories set out—
(a)in paragraph 2, 2A, 3, 4, 4A, 4B, 6, 7A, 8A, 9A, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 11A, 12A or 13A of Part 2 of Schedule 1, or
(b)in paragraph 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 where paragraph (2A) applies.
(2A) This paragraph applies where—
(a)in connection with a designated course beginning before 1 August 2021, the Welsh Ministers—
(i)in assessing an application for a postgraduate doctoral degree loan by a person (“A”) determined that A fell within one of the categories set out in paragraph 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 in relation to an academic year of the course beginning before 1 August 2021; or
(ii)would have so determined had A made an application for a postgraduate doctoral degree loan in accordance with these Regulations in relation to an academic year of the course beginning before that date; and
(b)A applies for a postgraduate doctoral degree loan in connection with—
(i)that course; or
(ii)a designated course to which A’s status as an eligible student is transferred in accordance with regulation 6.
(2B) A person is not an eligible student for the purposes of paragraph (2) in connection with a designated course beginning on or after 1 January 2028 if the only paragraph or paragraphs of Part 2 of Schedule 1 into which the student falls is one or more of paragraphs 9A, 10B or 10D.”;
(b)after paragraph (10) insert—
“(11) Where—
(a)the Welsh Ministers have determined that, by virtue of—
(i)falling within paragraph (a)(iii) or (iv) of the definition of “person with protected rights”; or
(ii)meeting the conditions in paragraph 3(1)(a)(iii) or (iv) of Part 2 of Schedule 1,
a person (“A”) is an eligible student in connection with an application for a postgraduate doctoral degree loan for a designated course; and
(b)as at the day before the first day of the first academic year of that designated course, A is not a person with protected rights,
A’s status as an eligible student terminates immediately before the first day of the first academic year of that designated course.”