Leaving NTU?

If you are thinking about leaving NTU you need to get advice regarding your fees and funding. The information on this page outlines what will happen with your student finance and the NTU tuition fees.

The student finance information is for students covered under the Education (Student Support) Regulations and receiving support from Student Finance England. Arrangements may vary slightly for those applying to other authorities and those students should seek advice.

Both the amount of fees a student is liable to pay and the grant / loan funding available for fees and living costs will be determined by the precise date on which a student withdraws.

The official date of withdrawal will be determined by the academic school and this will be communicated directly to the relevant student finance service through the normal channels. The precise date is usually based on when a student confirms in writing their intention to withdraw but we would ask both students and academic schools to be mindful of the deadlines set out below.

2012 – new fee and funding arrangements

If a student withdraws and decides to return to Higher Education (either at NTU or at another institution) in the 2012 / 13 academic year or after, then they will be subject to the post-2012 tuition fee rates and new student finance arrangements.

Students who started their course before 1 September 2012 and are considering withdrawing may therefore wish to consider transferring courses or taking time out to consider their options to preserve their entitlement to pay fees and receive funding under the pre-2012 arrangements. Further advice on these options is available from the Student Financial Support Service.

Students who start their course after 1 September 2012 are already subject to the new fees and funding arrangements so if they leave their course early, they will remain on the same funding package.

Tuition fees

Tuition fee liability
The amount of tuition fees you will have to pay will be determined by the University's fee refund policy as set out in the fee payment conditions and will depend on your official last date of attendance. Find out about your fee liability if you leave during the 2012 / 13 academic year.

Tuition fee loan eligibility
If a student withdraws on or after the start of term one but before the start of the second term, they will be entitled to 25% of the maximum tuition fee loan.

If a student withdraws on or after the start of term two but before the start of the third term, they will be entitled to 50% of the maximum tuition fee loan.

If a student withdraws on or after the start of term three, they will be entitled to 100% of the tuition fee loan. If a student withdraws from their course after 21 days from the start of term one, any tuition fee payable will be calculated on a pro-rata weekly basis.

If a student withdraws and the pro-rata tuition fee charged is higher than the student’s tuition fee loan entitlement, the student will be liable to pay the difference directly to the University.

If a student has already paid more than the amount they are liable for, the fee loan will be reduced to match the fee liability (see above).

Grants and loans for living costs
Leaving University early can often result in overpayments of grants and loans. How this overpayment is calculated and recovered depends on the type of support. The Maintenance Grant, Special Support Grant, Adult Dependants Grant and Parents Learning Allowance are paid in respect of 365 days. Where a student withdraws from their course part-way through a payment period, a reassessment of these grants should normally be based on the number of days that the student was undertaking, or can be treated as undertaking, the course from the first day of the academic year to the date of withdrawal. This is likely to result in an overpayment of grant, repayment of which is likely to be requested immediately. Help is available during any negotiations with Student Finance England from the Student Financial Support Service at NTU if needed.

The Maintenance Loan is paid in respect of each term (a payment period). When a student withdraws from their course their entitlement to a loan will be reassessed, this will be calculated on the basis of 33% in the first term, 66% in the second term and 100% in the third term. If a student withdraws part way through a payment period then the student's entitlement to the loan amount paid in that period will normally be retained. Once you have left University you only start repaying your loan when your income is above a certain threshold. 

If you started your course before 1 September 2012, you pay back any loans plus interest once you complete your course and start earning more than £15,795 per year. The amount you can earn before you have to start repaying your loan will go up each year in line with inflation. You will have to start making repayments in the April after you have left your course.

Full-time and part-time students who start their course after 1 September 2012 begin paying back their student loan once they earn more than £21,000 year. Repayments for courses starting after 1 September 2012 won't begin until April 2016.

Returning to higher education in the future - previous study rules
If a student withdraws from NTU, then their student finance entitlement is terminated with immediate effect.

If they return to higher education at some point in the future, they can re-apply for support but any previous study will be taken into account when calculating the amount of support available.

Normally a student can receive full-time support to cover the normal course duration plus one extra year, less the number of years study already undertaken. (If a student starts a course of study in 2012 / 13 but withdraws part way through, then the year will still count as a full year on a course when calculating the number of years a student will be supported in the future).

As such, if a student withdraws during the first year of their first ever full-time HE course, then they can expect to receive support for the duration of their new course.

Actions needed

What do you need to do…?

• Contact Student Finance England and notify them of your change of circumstances.
• Speak to Credit Control regarding any outstanding fee liability that will not be covered by a Tuition Fee Loan.
• Contact the Subject Administrator within your academic school to agree your last date of attendance.

What should NTU do..?
Notify Student Finance England of the precise date of withdrawal (or confirm that a student has transferred, if applicable, to avoid any risk of overpayment).

Further advice
Advice on all aspects of funding is available from the Student Financial Support Service on +44 (0)115 848 2494 or via email.