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16-19 Bursary Fund

16-19 Bursary Fund and Guidelines

The 16-19 Bursary Fund is made available to Coloma through the government’s funding body, the Education and Skills Funding Agency. It is designed to help and support any students who face financial barriers to full participation in sixth form education. Students may be eligible for financial support with extra books, equipment, educational visits, transport costs, field trips, university visits, exam re-sit fees etc.

There are two types of 16-19 bursaries:

Discretionary bursaries that are awarded by the Bursary Panel to meet individual needs.
A Vulnerable Student Bursary of up to £1200 a year for young people in one of the defined vulnerable groups ( *see below for further details )

Eligibilty Criteria for Discretionary Bursary Award

Coloma will provide discretionary bursary awards according to the following criteria:

Students who qualify for free school meals
Students whose families receive income-related benefits
Students with an annual household income of less than £25,000 per year
Students who are young carers
Students whose parents have experienced a redundancy in the last twelve months
Cases of hardship or difficulty (at the discretion of the Coloma Bursary Panel)

Vulnerable Student Bursaries

Students in one or more of the groups below are deemed to need more support and can apply for a vulnerable student bursary of up to £1,200. The eligible groups are students who are:

In care or care leavers.
Receiving Income Support (IS) or Universal Credit (UC) in place of Income Support in their own right
Receiving Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments in their own right

Applications

The Bursary Application Form for the current academic year is distributed to students in their first week of Coloma Via Applicaa. This gives further information about the eligibility criteria and the evidence needed by the Panel. Applications should be submitted by 27^th September annually. However, students are encouraged to apply for a bursary if there is a change in family circumstances during the academic year which is likely to affect a family’s ability to cover financial costs in the sixth form. All requests for financial support in Years 12 and 13 are now dealt with through the bursary scheme. Applications under category 6 may be submitted at any time during the academic year. Please note that the Bursary Fund is limited and will close when the funds allocated have been spent. Please also note that the amount student's may receieve will fluctuate yearly.

Bursary Guidelines Bursary Policy 2025-26

All applications will be dealt with in confidence and a member of staff will be available at the beginning of the Autumn term to answer questions and/or provide support with applications.