Student and Free School Meals Awards

The bursary and free school meals application for the 2025/2026 academic year is now LIVE. Further details regarding our bursary application process can be found below.

Queen Alexandra College has a small annual allocation of bursary funding available to support learners experiencing financial hardship. The aim of this funding is to ensure that no learner is financially disadvantaged in accessing their education at QAC. Bursary support will be provided both as payments in kind—such as contributions towards transport costs, meals (via the ‘School Pay’ system), and learning materials specified in the application. These direct payments will be directly to the student on a termly basis, with three payments distributed over the academic year. The majority of the bursary allocation is used to help offset increasing transport and meal costs for students and their families.

As part of this support, eligible students can also apply for free school meals through the same application process. This additional provision helps ensure that all students have access to a nutritious meal each day, further reducing the financial pressure on families.

There is specific ‘government set’ criteria to meet in order to be eligible for a bursary award. Please consider the information below carefully before deciding whether to apply.

Even if you have applied previously for the bursary from QAC, you will need to apply again and provide the information requested in the eligibility criteria.

Bursary details

Enhanced bursary award – this is only available if a young person meets the following government set criteria:

To qualify for bursary support, a learner must be aged 16 or over and under the age of 19 on 31st August 2025 at the time they commence their learning. In addition, they must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Any 1 (or more) of the following:

Is in care
Is a care leaver
Receives Income Support (IS) or Universal Credit (UC) in place of Income Support in their own name
Receives Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in their own name

2. Discretionary Bursary award

A learner MUST be 16 or over and under the age of 24 on the 31st August 2025 that they commenced learning.
A learner who does not meet the ‘Enhanced Bursary Award’ criteria but who does come from a low household income bracket proven to be less than £30,000 per year (original evidence is required to be submitted as proof at time of application)

If you believe you might be eligible for one of these bursaries:

Please complete the online application form (QR code is attached to the letter or via the link in QAC website) as soon as possible. If you need assistance with the application, please email bursary@qac.ac.uk.
For the online application, you will need to scan and upload any supporting evidence. Please scan original documents.

If you have specific questions or concerns regarding the Bursary or completing the form, please contact bursary@qac.ac.uk.

All applications and supporting evidence must be submitted to QAC by midday on Friday 17th October 2025.

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