Note from UniTasterDays - this content was kindly provided by Rowan Hoper, Student Recruitment Officer at the University of Salford for the UniTasterDays Students' Guide to University brochure.

I know that the financial aspects of higher education can be daunting. It is therefore key that you are aware of any available funding that will support you with your studies. One example of this is the NHS Learning Support Fund (NHS LSF) - I will tell you more about that here.

The NHS LSF is additional funding you may be eligible for if you study a Health course. The payments are grants, so they don’t need to be paid back. As it is an additional pot of free money, it also has no impact on your eligibility for student finance. The below financial support is available:

Training grant
A non-means tested grant of £5,000 each academic year, with an additional £1,000 also up for grabs in certain subjects.

Parental support
A £2,000 grant per year if you have parental responsibility for a child who is either aged under 15, or under 17 and registered with special educational needs. If you study part- time, you will receive a pro-rata amount. This does not impact your access to child support or other funding.

Travel and dual accommodation expenses
Reimbursement of additional travel and accommodation costs you might have whilst on placement (above your regular commute). One of the Podiatry students at the University of Salford shared that this allowed them to ‘apply for the exact placement opportunities needed, without worry about the extra commuting costs.’ However, it is important for you to budget and keep a log of your expenses to claim them back.

Exceptional support fund
An income-assessed grant of up to £3,000 per academic year if you experience unforeseen financial hardship.

At a basic level, to be eligible for the NHS LSF you need to be...
• Actively studying an eligible course at an English university
• Eligible for maintenance and tuition fee support from the Student Loans Company

• dental therapy or dental hygiene (level 5 and 6 courses)
• dietetics
• midwifery
• nursing (adult, child, mental health*, learning disability*, joint nursing/social work)
• occupational therapy
• operating department practitioner (level 5 and 6 courses)
• orthoptics*
• orthotics and prosthetics*
• paramedicine
• physiotherapy
• podiatry* or chiropody
• radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)*
• speech and language therapy

* If you study on these courses, you can get an extra £1,000 per academic year

Just one more note: Social work has different funding, find out more here.

Applications open in spring, and you will need to create an account and apply online . Like with student finance, you will also need to re-apply each academic year.