Course Costs and Financial Support

How much are the tuition fees for college level courses at Riseholme College?

If you are 18 or under when you start your course, you won’t have to pay any tuition fees.

If you are 19 or over, you may still be able to study for free, based upon your age, previous qualifications, employment status and income. Your personal circumstances will need to be assessed to confirm whether a fee applies but, even if it does, you will be able to apply for an Advanced Learner Loan, which you may never have to pay back.

What other costs do I need to consider?

Depending on your course, there may be equipment and clothing that are required. During our Open Events, our academic team will run you through everything that’s needed for the course you’re interested in.

A range of computers/laptops are available for you to use in our Learning Resource Centre. If you wish to purchase your own, we recommend the following minimum specifications:

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 or MacOS 13 (Ventura)
Processor: Intel Core i5 10^th Generation or better.
RAM: At least 8gb
Hard Drive: 250GB or more (SSD recommended, but not essential)

QGIS, SPSS and Office 365 are available free to students once they have enrolled.

*Please note we do not advise Chrome Books due to software support*

For Design students who wish to purchase a license to use Adobe Creative Suite on their own device, we also recommend 2GB VRAM dedicated DPU or Integrated Intel Iris graphics.

You'll also receive £4 printing credit when you join us. This can be topped up in our Learning Resource Centre.

How much will it cost me to get to college?

If you are on a full-time further education course, you can access our free transport network. You can also park on campus for free. Find out more about how to get to Riseholme College.

What financial support is available for college-level students?

Our Student Services team are always on hand to give information and advice on financial issues, including grants, fees, student loans, money management and bursaries.

If you're worried you can't afford to come to college, have a chat with our Student Services team. You can get in touch with them now or speak to them at an Open Event.

Financial support that might be available to you includes:

Residential Bursary Fund

The Residential Bursary Fund provides financial support for the residential accommodation costs, of students aged 16 and above who are completing a qualifying land based Further Education course, and who cannot reasonably travel on a daily basis. The Residential Bursary Fund is means-tested on household income, and to qualify, the household income must be below £40,000.

Applications are now closed for 2025-2026 academic year.

The Residential Bursary Fund will open to applications in April 2026 for the 2026-2027 academic year. Please note applications can only be accepted once accommodation has been booked.

Residential Bursaries are only available against standard rooms, therefore students in receipt of a Residential Bursary will not be allocated an ensuite room.

The Vulnerable Bursary

The Vulnerable Bursary of up to £1,200 is available for those in care, care leavers, those on income support and those students who receive both the disability allowance and the employment support allowance.

A student must be aged 16 or over but under 19 on 31 August 2025 to be eligible for the Vulnerable Bursary in the academic year 2025-26. Students aged 19 or over are not eligible for bursaries for vulnerable groups, but may still be able to get funding from the Discretionary Bursary.

If you're under 19, please complete the form and email it back to bursaries@bishopburton.ac.uk.

Discretionary Bursary

As you are a Riseholme College student, you may be eligible to apply for the Discretionary Bursary which is designed to support you with travel expenses, meals and course related equipment, clothing and books/resources, etc. In order to be eligible, you must:

• Be enrolled on a Riseholme Further Education course of study
• Have an annual taxable household income of £45,000 or less.

To make an application, you can download a paper copy of our application form which can be found below. This can be returned as a digital copy to bursaries@bishopburton.ac.uk OR as a paper copy to Student Services along with any required evidence. The successful completion of the application form will be followed by an advisory questionnaire to ascertain your requirements.

If you're under 19, please complete the form and email it back to bursaries@bishopburton.ac.uk.

If you're over 19, please complete the form and email it back to bursaries@bishopburton.ac.uk.

The Care to Learn Fund

The Care to Learn Fund is designed to support young people to meet the costs of childcare when facing financial barriers to continuing in and completing further education.

The student must fulfil the following criteria in order to apply:

• Is a parent aged under 20 at the start of the course
• Is the main carer for their child and in receipt of Child Benefit
• The childcare provider is Ofsted-registered and not related to the child

Please complete the form and email it back to bursaries@bishopburton.ac.uk