All of our 16-18 learners and around 60% of our students aged 19 and over are entitled to free learning and depending on your circumstances, you may be part of this group.

If you do have to pay course fees here’s where you can find out about the financial assistance options available to help you pay for things like travel or childcare.

Fees
Your course will be free if you are:

• Aged 16-18 years old at the time of enrolment
• Aged between 19-25 and studying your first full level 3 course
• Studying your first full level 2 course at any age
• In receipt of an income-based state benefit such as Income Support
• In receipt of Job Seekers Allowance
• In receipt of Working Tax Credit and have an assessed income of £15,050 (subject to change)
• In receipt of Income-related Employment and Support Allowance and have an assessed income of £15,050 (subject to change)
• An unwaged dependent (aged under 20) of someone in receipt of any of the benefits listed above
• Studying on a course classed as Basic Skills (excluding some ESOL courses).

Fee waivers do not apply to higher education, full cost courses and Adult Apprenticeships (19+) but you may be eligible for some financial support towards these courses.

If you are entitled to free learning you will need to bring evidence with you to enrolment.

Employer sponsored fees
If your employer is sponsoring your course fees, you will need to bring along written confirmation from them that they will pay for your course when you enrol.

Ways to pay
For those of you who will be paying your course fees, we can offer you flexible payment options.


Financial support packages

Click on the links below to read about the various financial support packages available to those eligible. They include maintenance grants, career development loans, childcare support and hardship funds.

Student travel

Students aged between 16 and 19 may be entitled to free travel via Northumberland County Council's post-16 travel scheme. View details here.

All our students, regardless of age, can use the free inter-campus college bus service 100 running from Ashington to Kirkley Hall and including stops in Morpeth, Bedlington, Newcastle Airport. For timetables on this and other services serving both campuses, with destinations from Alnwick to Newcastle, view our new bus service 'quick guide' here.

Weather forces college closures

Northumberland College was forced to close its centres this morning (Thursday) due to the ongoing snow.

All students are advised that there will be no lessons this afternoon or evening at any centres. The college expects to open as normal again tomorrow (Friday).

The college phone system is currently down, so we are unable to take any calls.

Engineers are working hard to fix the problem and hope to have the system back up and running soon. In the meantime, you can email advice.centre@northland.ac.uk or use the Live support service via the button on this home page to access our contact centre staff.

Apologies for any inconvenience.