Financial Support

16-19 Bursary Fund information for academic year 2026/27

The 16 – 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help students overcome specific barriers to participation and attendance, so they can remain in further education. BHASVIC provides three types of bursary; ‘Enhanced’, ‘Discretionary’ and 'Free College Meals'. The information below should help you to identify whether you are eligible to apply for one of these bursaries. If you are, you should read our 16-19 Bursary and Free College Meals Guidelines 2026-27 in full, and then submit an application via our online Financial Support portal.

Applications are now open.

If you have any questions which are not answered by reading our guidelines, please email bursary@bhasvic.ac.uk and a member of staff will be happy to help. The Deadline to apply for the Financial Support is Friday 18 September.

Enhanced Bursary: Are you eligible?

The following students are eligible to apply for an enhanced bursary:

Students in local authority care or who have recently left local authority care (also known as ‘Children in Care’ and ‘Care Leavers’ or ‘Care Experienced’). You can find out how we define Care Experienced young people in Appendix III on page 19.
Students who receive Income Support or Universal Credit in their own name
Students receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in their own name as well as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit (UC) in their own name.

Discretionary Bursary: Are you eligible?

You can apply for a Discretionary Bursary if:

you are not eligible for an Enhanced Bursary
your gross household income is £30,000 per year or below

Free College Meals: Are you eligible?

You can apply for Free College Meals if:

You, or your parent(s)/carer(s), are in receipt of Universal Credit.

You, or your parent(s)/carer(s), are in receipt of support under part V1 of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999