National Scholarship Programme (NSP)

For the 2013/14 academic year, the University of Bristol has been allocated a National Scholarship Programme (NSP) fund totaling £1,104,000. This means that 368 full-time Bristol students will receive NSP awards, valued at £3,000.

Eligible part-time students will receive an NSP award of £1,500, payable as a tuition fee waiver.

Government criteria

The Government set very-broad-based national eligibility criteria for the programme based on household income, with the announcement that students whose household income is £25,000 or less would be considered for an award.

However, having an income of £25,000 or less does not equate to an entitlement to a scholarship. Universities and colleges decide who to give financial help to from this group.

Specific groups of students are not eligible for the NSP, irrespective of their income levels. These are:

• NHS-funded students
• students funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools
• students directly continuing from one course to another (for example from foundation degree or HND on to the final year of an honours degree)
• students transferring in from another institution
• students undertaking a postgraduate qualification
• part-time students studying at less than 25 per cent intensity of the full-time equivalent
• any other students whose fees are paid or part-paid through a sponsorship arrangement.
• NSP awards will not be available to individuals who are ordinarily resident in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Students from Scotland and Northern Ireland may still be eligible for a tuition fee waiver/bursary from the University of Bristol, but not paid under the NSP. Students from Wales are not eligible for the NSP and are also not eligible for a tuition fee waiver/bursary from the University of Bristol as highlighted above).

Source: National Scholarship Programme 2012-13: Guidance for institutions (PDF, 80kb)

Please see below for additional University eligibility criteria.

Institutional criteria

The NSP awards will be allocated to those students who meet the University of Bristol’s eligibility criteria outlined below:

Full-time courses

• Full-time undergraduate students
• Home UK students
• EU students (please note: EU students would only be eligible for a tuition fee waiver, and cannot opt to have part of the NSP award paid as a bursary)
• Undertaking first degree
• Household income is £5,000 or below. For 2013/14 this has been revised to £12,000 or below.

Part-time courses

• Part-time undergraduate students
• Undertaking first degree
• Liable to pay a tuition fee of £4,500 (50% of the full-time fee)
• Home UK students
• EU students
• Household income is £5,000 or below. For 2013/14 this has been revised to £12,000 or below.

Please note, meeting the criteria detailed above does not guarantee being awarded funding through the NSP, as awards are limited and the number of available awards may be exceeded by the number of potentially eligible students.

Students who meet the eligibility criteria but who are not awarded funding through NSP, will still receive the same level of financial assistance, but this money will be from the University of Bristol, rather than from the Government’s NSP.

Full-time students

The NSP award is £3,000.

Students who are selected to receive the NSP are entitled to receive fee waiver from the University of Bristol of £5,500. The first £3,000 of the fee waiver would be allocated under the NSP.

Please note, the University of Bristol has recently announced that students can opt to take £2,000 of their fee waiver entitlement as a non-repayable bursary. The balance of their award would be a fee waiver valued at £3,500, of which £3,000 would be allocated under the NSP.

Part-time students

The NSP award is £1,500, payable as a tuition fee waiver.

The NSP will be awarded for one year, but in future years, the University of Bristol will provide match funding, which will enable similar levels of support for eligible students to be maintained, provided they continue to meet the household income criteria and eligibility for a maintenance grant.

There is no application form that you need to complete.

If you think you may meet the University of Bristol’s eligibility criteria, you need only to ensure that you have applied for means-tested financial support from Student Finance England, and have consented to share your household income details.

This will enable the University of Bristol to confirm that your household income details and other details meet the eligibility criteria for an NSP award.

You will be contacted during the academic year to confirm your financial support from the University of Bristol and whether any proportion of that support has been funded through the NSP.

The NSP is one part of the University of Bristol’s financial support provision for entrants. Other bursaries or scholarships you may have been awarded have their own eligibility criteria. Please check the terms and conditions of any other funding you may be entitled to receive.