Scotland: funding by circumstance
Use this page if Scotland is your home nation. SAAS decides young student, independent student, care-experienced and estranged status. This page does not copy an older rates table forward.
Last checked 6 November 2026. Figures can change. Tell us if a figure is wrong.
Young students
SAAS does not use the word dependent for this group. It uses young student. To be assessed as a young student, all of the following must apply on the first day of the course: you are under 25 on the relevant date; you are not married, in a civil partnership or living with a partner; you have not supported yourself through employment or benefits outside full-time education for any 3 years before the relevant date; and you do not have a child of any age who is dependent on you on the relevant date.
The relevant date is 1 August when the course starts between 1 August and 31 December, 1 January for starts between 1 January and 31 March, 1 April for starts between 1 April and 30 June, and 1 July for starts between 1 July and 31 July.
A living-cost loan requires you to be under 61 on the relevant date. Tuition-fee support, bursary and living-cost grants are not limited by that age rule on the page we read. SAAS says the pages are guidance and that it confirms funding only after a completed application.
Pound amounts for the 2026 to 2027 Young Students’ Bursary and loan are not stated on official pages we checked. The Scottish Government policy page points to SAAS and does not print the rates. The SAAS “who can apply” page we read, last updated 30 June 2025, defines the category and does not print 2026 to 2027 rates. A SAAS news story publishes a table for the 2024/25 academic year. That table is not this year’s entitlement, so it is not copied here.
Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: SAAS: who can apply for full-time undergraduate funding; Scottish Government: financial support for students; SAAS news: support from 2024/25 (not used as a 2026/27 rate).
Independent students
SAAS says that if you do not meet the young-student criteria, you are classed as an independent student. If you have been assessed as independent, you cannot be reassessed as a young student. Care Experienced and Estranged are named as further routes on the same page. The page does not print their 2026 to 2027 bursary or loan amounts.
Pound amounts for the 2026 to 2027 Independent Students’ Bursary and loan are not stated on official pages we checked. The same pages were checked as for young students. We have not used a university or college page as the source, and we have not treated the 2024/25 news table as still current.
Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: SAAS: who can apply for full-time undergraduate funding; Scottish Government: financial support for students; SAAS news: support from 2024/25 (not used as a 2026/27 rate).
Postgraduate study
A 2026 to 2027 postgraduate tuition-fee or living-cost amount is not stated on official pages we checked. The SAAS full-time postgraduate eligibility page we opened did not state a current loan amount. The Scottish Government policy page does not print one either. The 2024/25 SAAS news story mentions a postgraduate package for that year and is not repeated here as a 2026 to 2027 figure.
SAAS says a full-time PGDE is funded in the same way as a full-time undergraduate course. It does not, on the pages we read, state the 2026 to 2027 undergraduate rates that would then apply.
Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: SAAS: full-time postgraduate funding; SAAS: who can apply for full-time undergraduate funding; Scottish Government: financial support for students.
Corrections and what this is not
This is general information from the official pages linked in each section. It is not a personal entitlement and not personal financial advice. The funding body assesses your application. If a figure here is wrong, tell us.
Sources
Every figure above is tied to one of these. Accessed 6 November 2026.