UWL Aspire bursary
Intro
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What is the UWL Aspire bursary?
UWL undergraduate and pre-registration students doing a course of 60 credits or more with a £9,250 tuition fee are entitled to the bursary. Courses that are exempt from this bursary are Nutritional Therapy (International students) and MSc Paramedic Science.
Students studying a degree apprenticeship (Level 6 or below) are entitled to £100 of free books only.
UWL's Aspire bursary is not a loan and you do not have to pay it back. The books and funds are provided for you to help with the extra studying costs. It does not add to your student debt.
The bursary is split into free books that are given to undergraduate students in their first year of study, and funds which undergraduate students receive at different stages in their study (see schedule below).
The funds are added to your Aspire account, which you will be informed about at induction, and can be spent at the Aspire at UWL Engagement Portal. You need your normal UWL IT username and password to log into the portal.
Students studying at partner institutions are not entitled to the Aspire bursary, with the exception of Drama Studio London and Ruskin College.
Free books
Free books
Free books to the value of £100 for full time students and £50 for part time students are provided as part of the Aspire bursary to students in their first year of study. In the majority of cases these books are ebooks. Students will be given guidance in how to access and use these books.
In some cases, books are provided as printed books rather than ebooks or items are provided instead of books. These books/items will be provided during the induction process. All print books/items received are yours to keep. The books/items need to be collected by the end of Week 5 of the semester you started your course in. Any items/print books requested after Week 7 will incur postage charges.
Access is permanent for the majority of ebooks with the following exceptions:
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Macmillan Explorer ebooks are available for the length of your course and are your core books as well as additional ebooks on your subject areas
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OUP Law Trove, which only applies to Foundation year LLB students, are available for just one year
Alternative formats
The University is aware that as a consequence of a disability, medical condition, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty, some students may have difficulties using physical copies of books.
If you prefer to receive alternative formats and not receive physical books, please complete this form.
Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee that the book will be available in an alternative format.
If you have any trouble in completing the form, please contact the Alternative Format team on cla@uwl.ac.uk.
Further information
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Schedule
UWL's Aspire bursary is normally broken down into the following:
For part-time students
- Year 1 (Level 3 or 4) – Book bundle worth £50 in your first year of study only
- Year 2 and each subsequent year – £50 of Aspire funds up to a maximum amount of £250 across your full course
Foundation degree (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 2 (Level 5) – £100 of Aspire funds
Three year undergraduate course (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 2 (Level 5) – £100 of Aspire funds
- Year 3 (Level 6) – £100 of Aspire funds
Three year undergraduate course with a L7 fourth year (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 2 (Level 5) – £100 of Aspire funds
- Year 3 (Level 6) – £100 of Aspire funds
Four year undergraduate course with foundation (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 3) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 3 (Level 5) – £100 of Aspire funds
- Year 4 (Level 6) – £100 of Aspire funds
Please note: Students studying LLB (Hons) with Foundation receive books in both their foundation year and Level 4 to a total value of £200 per full time student. £100 per full time student is then received in Year 4 (Level 6).
Four year undergraduate course with placement (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 2 (Level 5) – £100 of Aspire funds
- Year 4 (Level 6) – £100 of Aspire funds
Top-Up courses (Level 6 only) (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – £100 of Aspire funds
Higher Apprenticeship course (Level 6 or below)
- L4 start for course – Book bundle of £100 only
- L5 or L6 start for course – £100 of Aspire funds only
CNMH specialist courses
Pre-Registration Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing (PG Dip) (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 2 (Level 5 and 7 modules) – £100 of Aspire funds
FdSc Nursing Associate (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 4) – Book bundle of £100
Nursing Associate Top-Up (NURSADSTRE3Z and NURSADSTRE3W) (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 5 and 6) – £100 of Aspire funds
Master of Midwifery (3 Year) (FT)
- Year 1 (Level 5,6 and 7 modules) – Book bundle of £100
- Year 2 (Level 6 and 7 modules) – £100 of Aspire funds
- Year 3 (Level 7 modules) – £100 of Aspire funds
Master of Midwifery (2 year shortened)
- Year 1 (Level 5,6 and 7 modules) – £100 of Aspire funds
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Terms and conditions
- For full-time students, the money received needs to be spent within 365 days of you being allocated it. You will receive a 30 days reminder notice before the deadline of when your funds need to be spent by.
- For part-time students, the money received needs to be spent by the end of your course. You will receive a 30 days reminder notice before the deadline of when your funds need to be spent by.
- Students who start their course at UWL in Levels 5 or 6 are entitled to receive funds for the years that they are studying to a maximum of:
- £200 for students studying entering the course in L5
- £100 for students studying entering the course in L6
- Students are not entitled to receive the Aspire Bursary funds when they are repeating a year. For example, if a student is on a 3 year full time degree, the maximum they can receive is £300 even if they have studied for 4 years due to repeating a year.
- The maximum amount the bursary can extend to is £400 per person. The only circumstance where the bursary can reach £400 is when a student has changed UWL courses during their study. Some examples are below to illustrate this:
- Student has received books at L3 for X course, completes the year, then starts a new course at L4, they are entitled to receive books for the new course and funds for the new course in the following years to a maximum of £400 (£200 worth of books and £200 worth of funds)
- Student has received books at L4 for X course and funds at L5, they then switch to a new course and start at L4 again, they will receive books at L4 and funds at L5 for the new course. They will not receive funds in L6 as they will already have hit the £400 maximum (£200 worth of books and £200 worth of funds)
- If students have changed course and receive the new books, they will be asked to return their original books if they are still available to them.
- Students who complete a course at UWL and graduate are entitled to receive the bursary again in full if they start another UG course in the future.
- Students who start their course and receive their books in L3 or L4 and then swap courses in the same year are entitled to return their books and receive the books for the new course they have started.
- Students who change academic levels during an academic year (for example, moved from L5 to L6 part way through a fee period) can choose whether to receive their new funds immediately or wait until the next fee period to receive them. This will be looked at on a case-by-case basis once the UWL Aspire Bursary team is alerted to the situation.
- For students who started a full time course with a foundation year in 2017/18, your Aspire Bursary is as follows:
- Level 3 – £100 worth of books
- Level 4 – £100 of Aspire funds
- Level 6 – £100 of Aspire funds
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Queries
For all queries about your Aspire bursary account or specific products, please email customer.service@uwlaspire.co.uk or telephone 07920168553.