Placement Year: Finances

Grants and Scholarships

Aston Scholarship 

If you are a UK or EU student, you may qualify for a placement scholarship if you meet one of the following criteria: 

• Your placement is overseas 
• Your placement is unpaid 
• You qualified for an Aspire Scholarship in the first year of your course

Please note: You can only receive one scholarship during your placement year, even if you meet more than one of the above criteria. 

In order to be assessed for a scholarship, all your placement documents must be uploaded and approved on MAP by the end of January in your placement year.

Scholarships can be awarded as a bank transfer or a tuition fee discount. You will have the option to select your preferred payment method via MAP in term 1.  

If you don’t make your selection before the deadline, your scholarship payment will default to the tuition fee discount. If this isn’t completed, you will forfeit the scholarship. 

For further information about undergraduate scholarships please click here.

The Turing Scheme

Having left the EU, the UK is no longer permitted to support outbound mobility through the Erasmus+ Programme. All eligible student mobility will now be funded through the Turing Scheme, the UK Government’s alternative, providing an excellent opportunity to expand participants’ academic and personal skill sets.  

To be eligible, participants must travel to a partner university or organisation outside the UK, meeting a minimum duration of 28 calendar days, excluding travel. Placements may be funded up to a maximum of 12 months. Unfortunately, virtual mobilities are not eligible for grant support under the Turing Scheme. 

To apply for a Turing grant, please complete page 2 on the form found here. All completed applications must be sent to Turing team. The team will then assess your application and, if possible, allocate Turing grant funding. Please return this form as soon as possible to give time to process your application. If you have any questions, please email the team.

Loans and Fees

Please be aware there is a fee for your placement year. The tuition fee for home students is £1,250 and for overseas students it is £2,500.  For any questions, please speak to The Student Funding and Advice Team 

Home students are eligible to apply for a reduced maintenance loan whilst on placement. If you’re doing a Turing placement, you should qualify for full funding (with a slightly higher maintenance loan).  Study placement will automatically qualify for the higher maintenance loan but work abroad placements will only qualify if they have Turing funding confirmed when they apply.  Please contact The Student Advice Team for more details 

If you’re taking an unpaid clinical placement within the NHS, prison service, probation service, in a role specifically related to the health and welfare of children and young persons within the voluntary sector or in a research role within HE you may be eligible to apply for full funding including grants.  Please contact the Student Funding and Advice team for further details 

For more information regarding all things finance, please contact The Student Funding and Advice Team 

Tax and National Insurance

If you’re doing a paid placement, you are not exempt from paying taxes. You can find out more about the latest UK Income Tax and Personal Allowances here. 

Please note: Part-time earnings will also be taken into account when calculating income tax. 

The UK tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March, which means the placement year usually spans two tax years. This sometimes results in an overpayment of tax whilst on placement. If you think you’ve overpaid, you can claim it back once the tax year has ended. For any advice with all things tax, please speak to the team In The Student Funding and Advice Team 

You’ll also need to start paying National Insurance once you start earning more than the minimum earnings threshold. Find out more about income tax and National Insurance on the government website. 

If you’ll be working voluntarily for an organisation and won’t receive payment in any form, then you won’t need to worry about paying income tax or National Insurance. 

For any questions to do with finance (whether it be your P45, tax, or scholarships), please speak to the team in The Student Funding and Advice Team.