New range of scholarships from Southampton Solent will benefit students from the city
Friday 3 December 2011
Southampton Solent University will offer an enhanced financial support package to eligible students starting their studies next year, following the announcement that the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has approved revisions to the University’s access agreement 2012/13.
The approval of Southampton Solent University’s revised access agreement will also bring it within the criteria to bid for additional student numbers.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Mike Wilkinson said: “This is excellent news for the University, future students and the region. We are strongly committed to social justice and our enhanced financial support packages and activities will help us sustain this.
“We have set our fees for 2012 at £7,800, rather than at the maximum level, to achieve a fair balance between the commitment to offering places based on student potential - irrespective of family income - and the need to continue to improve the student experience.
“We will continue to do all that we can to ensure that anyone wishing to embark on a higher education course is not deterred by financial constraints. Solent University will continue to offer distinctiveness, excellence and real value for students.”
As part of the enhanced agreement, the University will invest a matched contribution to the National Scholarship Programme, which will total an estimated £1.5 million by 2015-16. It will also offer a new fee waiver scheme for eligible Foundation students with a value of approximately £1million for the same period.
Solent will work with the University of Southampton and Southampton City Council on a city-wide initiative to raise the aspirations and attainment of the region’s young people.
This new collaborative framework will focus on targeted initiatives to promote progression to both further and higher education. This will include:
The introduction of a new scheme of fee waivers for eligible home and EU Foundation Year students, which will total an estimated £1million by 2015-16. Solent will be working with the City Council in promoting financial support for an estimated 50 disadvantaged local students each year.
As a key member of the Southampton 14-19 consortium, Solent will continue to work closely with educational institutions across the city to develop effective access programmes, such as the new Junior University.
The University’s access team will work closely with schools and colleges to focus activity on students from under-represented groups, ensuring that talented and gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds are able to access progression routes to higher education.
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Under new government legislation, universities in England can charge up to £9000 a year for their undergraduate degrees.
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Under the new fees system, no full-time UK and EU student will be expected to pay tuition fees at the beginning or during their study period.
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Tuition fee loans are available to all full-time UK and EU students and are then repaid as a fixed proportion of earnings after they leave university.
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Repayments start only when earnings are over £21,000 per year (rather than over £15,000 as is the case now). If they are not earning, or the salary is lower than £21,000, they would not pay anything at all.
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The sector average graduate salary after six months (for those in full time employment six months after leaving university) is £19,500
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As for level of repayment once eligible, based on a starting salary of £22,000, repayments would initially be only £7.50 per month.
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Repayment is made over many years, up to a maximum of thirty, after which any outstanding debt is cancelled.
Southampton Solent University offers more than 19,000 students over 200 qualifications ranging from HNC to PhD, in subjects such as maritime education and training, fashion and design, media and television, music, sport and leisure, business, IT and technology.