Plus One and Compelling Personal Reasons: The Extra Years of Funding Many Students Don't Know About

  

Need to repeat a year or start a new HE course? - will I be funded? 

Plus One Year....

The ‘Plus One’ year comes from the student finance regulations and is designed to provide some flexibility where a student needs an additional year of funding. It can be called upon to afford a student an extra year of funding if needed. For example where a student fails a year or part of a year of their course for academic reasons.

For simplicity, this post covers the rules for students funded by Student Finance England and there are some technical exclusions not covered here ~ always check with your funder or a money adviser for your specific course type.

Most eligible "New" undergraduate students have a Standard Entitlement to student finance Tuition Fee support (and via linked regulations to maintenance support) based on the following formula (simplified here)

Length of Course plus One Year

minus Years of Previous study at Higher Education level

It is more complex than this, so always seek advice if you have a history of previous study. However for the purpose of this post it is a useful rule of thumb. 

So, eligible new students get the "plus one" year to allow for an academic wobble, This means that a student could start a course elsewhere if their current course doesn't suit them, or repeat a year if they fail etc etc. and still get fee funding for the ordinary duration of that new course.

Compelling Personal Reasons

However, written into the regulations for undergraduates are some rules that allow for extra years of tuition fee support to be awarded in addition to the Standard Entitlement. Generally this is where the student 

• needs to repeat a year of their course for Compelling Personal Reasons  (CPR)  or
• failed to complete their most recent previous course for Compelling Personal Reasons

Compelling personal reasons can be quite diverse but common examples are illness, accident, bereavement, caring responsibilities....you get the picture. 

Great provision! wish it had existed in my day but that is another story..... 

Always request that CPR be taken into consideration at the time of applying for funding for any new course or for a repeat year even if you have the "plus one" year in your bag. This is because the "plus one" year may be needed later in the course when the reasons for a repeat may be academic failure rather than personal.

Also the legislation is written specifically for the repeat year (first year of a new course) in question and asking for a retrospective decision for the application of CPR rules can often be be tricky, especially with respect to providing supporting evidence to the funder.

With regard to the "failed to complete the most recent previous course" for CPR, it is worth noting here that the extra year of funding would be added to the first year of any new course. This can lead to circumstances (depending on the length of the previous study) where a student receives fee support for the first and the final year of a course but maybe not the second year.

Also CPR is not limited to one time only, so if you really have to repeat for CPR more than once in the same course then let the funder know when you apply and provide the evidence.

 

Be Mindful.....

1. It is not likely that the funder will automatically highlight CPR to an applicant. Most students have never heard of the provision for CPR so there is a risk that they may not tell the funder about why they failed their most recent previous course when they apply for funding for a new one, or why they may need to repeat a year now.

2. Evidence is key to the decision of the funders to award CPR. The further a student gets from the time where compelling personal reasons disrupted their studies, the harder it can be to have good quality evidence to support their case.

3. Pregnancy and Compelling Personal Reasons. Pregnancy can be a reason why a student needs to suspend or leave their course, and current Student Finance England guidance specifically includes pregnancy among examples of personal reasons that may qualify for an additional year of tuition fee support. However, pregnancy in itself should not automatically be assumed to be accepted as a Compelling Personal Reason.

In practice, the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy and its impact on the student's ability to continue studying are important. For example, medical complications or other circumstances that affected the student's ability to study may provide stronger evidence for a CPR request.

As CPR decisions are considered on an individual basis, students should explain what happened, how it affected their studies and provide appropriate supporting evidence.

Keep records of communications about why you are leaving a course or why you need to repeat. Keep records for example of visits to GP, hospital, caring responsibilities, supporting letters, exceptional events and the impact on you etc.

Ideally see a Student Money Adviser before you make any decisions if your course is ever disrupted, if you plan take time out or plan to withdraw

Beware! However do check the institutions Tuition Fee Policy too, especially if you wish to leave your course after just starting it. Waiting to see a money adviser could cost you extra fee charges, if you pass certain key dates in the Tuition Fee Policy.

This is all a matter of Rights and Responsibilities ~ students have a right to funding as outlined in the regulations and the funder a responsibility to apply the rules as written in the legislation.

Source: This post is based on the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended), which govern student finance in England. Regulations are reissued and amended annually, so for the current, definitive text, always check legislation.gov.uk directly rather than relying on a fixed-year copy. If your circumstances are complex, speak to your university's Student Support/Advice Service or a qualified money adviser before making decisions based on this post.