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This page is about the eligibility criteria for Headstart ºÚÁÏÉç.

If you are still unsure if you are eligible after reading the criteria below, please contact us as headstart@hud.ac.uk 

To be eligible you must:

• Be living permanently in the UK and eligible to pay ‘Home’ fees.
• Be taking or already hold Level 3 qualifications or equivalent to enable progression to higher education.
• Be considering applying to a full-time undergraduate degree programme at the ºÚÁÏÉç.
• Not already hold a Higher Education Qualification.
• Not be studying or have passed the Progression Module.
• Be applying for the year of entry that the scheme is currently open for. Deferring applicants can still apply, as long as the application is made in the same UCAS entry cycle.
• Register for Headstart before submitting an assignment.
• Record Headstart on your UCAS application in order for the 8 points to be recognised. If you have already submitted your UCAS application contact us for further details of how to apply.

You must also meet at least ONE of the following criteria:

• You are a mature student over the age of 21, returning to full time study.
• You are the first generation in your immediate family to apply to go to university.
  • You are eligible if your parents have not previously completed a higher education course. This does not include HE courses undertaken whilst you were in secondary education or any work-based, Open University or part time HE study that your parents undertook.
• You are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background.
• You have a disability, learning difficulty (SEND), long-standing medical condition or mental health issue.
• You are in receipt of 16-19 Bursary Fund or Discretionary Learner Support. 
• You have ever been eligible to receive free school meals in the last 6 school years.
  • If you were entitled to free school meals, whether you claimed them or not, you are eligible under this criteria.
• You attend or have attended a school which achieved below the national average Attainment 8 score at GCSE.
  • The England average Attainment 8 score for 2023-24 is 45.9. To find out if you qualify under this criteria check your school’s Attainment 8 score here:
• You live in a geographical area with low progression to higher education.
  • Check your eligibility using the Only POLAR 4 young participation quintile 1-2 are eligible.
• You are a commuter student who is planning to live at home and travel to study at the ºÚÁÏÉç.
• You are a young person with care experience.
• You are estranged from your parents. 
  • You are estranged from your parents if you have not had verbal or written contact with both of your biological, adoptive parents or your only living parent for a significant period of time and your estrangement is irreconcilable. Further details are available here:
• You are a young person with caring responsibilities. 
  • A young person with caring responsibilities has sole or shared responsibility, unpaid, to care for a friend or family member (including siblings) who has an illness, disability, mental health illness or addiction who couldn’t manage without their support.
• You are an LGBTQ+ student.
  • LGBTQ+ student is someone who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning or other.
• You have been educated in alternative provision at any stage in the last six years (including a PRU or home school).
• You entered the UK as an asylum seeker and have been granted asylum.
• You are from a military service family, or you are a military veteran or service leaver.
• You are from a Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman or Boater (GTRSB) community.
• Your studies have been disrupted by circumstances in your personal life.
  • The adverse circumstances must be unforeseeable or unpreventable as far as the learner is concerned, and sufficiently disruptive to have a significant adverse effect on academic performance.