Care Leavers Bursary

Care Leavers Bursary at the University of Derby

You get a cash payment of about 1,150 EUR per year (£1,000) if you pay the full home tuition fee for a full-time undergraduate degree. If your course includes a classroom-based foundation year at the lower fee, you get about 690 EUR per year (£600). A foundation year is an extra starter year that gets you ready for degree-level study. The university pays the money straight to you in three instalments during the year. You can receive it again in later years as long as you still qualify. The University of Derby introduced this support in September 2025 for students who grew up in the care system.

Who can apply

• Care leaver: Your UK student finance service recognises you as a care leaver, meaning you spent time in the care of a local authority as a child.
• Degree level: You study a full-time undergraduate degree.
• Where you study: You are enrolled at the University of Derby.
• Fee status: You are a home (UK) student paying home tuition fees. Overseas and EU students do not qualify.
• Age: You are under 25 in the year you are assessed.
• Not eligible: Postgraduate, part-time, online, PGCE and professional-course students cannot get this bursary.

How to apply

You do not apply. The university checks your eligibility automatically using the data your student finance service (such as Student Finance England) sends after you enrol. If you qualify, you get an email confirming the award. September starters hear by the end of October, March starters by the end of April.

How realistic are your chances?

This bursary is cut narrowly: you must be an under-25 care leaver, a home student, and enrolled full-time at this one university. If you meet those conditions there is no competition and no application to lose out on, since payment is automatic once student finance confirms your care-leaver status. The one thing worth checking early is that this status is registered correctly.