The Fair Access Fund

What is the Fair Access Fund?

The Fair Access Fund (FAF) provides financial support to undergraduate students from a variety of underrepresented groups. The FAF is designed to aid their transition to university and to improve equality of opportunity for all students.

The fund provides financial support directly to students either as a bursary, which will be paid across all years of study, or as an Access Award, which is paid once in your first year of study. These are not loans, and they do not need to be paid back.

Who is eligible for FAF?

ALL applicants to the Fair Access Fund must meet the following baseline criteria:

You must have applied and accepted an offer to study at BIMM University in 2025
You must be enrolling on the first year of a BIMM University undergraduate degree course at our Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Essex, Leeds, London or Manchester campuses
You must be a UK resident paying the Home fee rate
You must have a full tuition fee loan in place

In addition, applicants must be eligible under at least one of the categories below.

Please note, you can be awarded either the Low-Income Household Bursary or the Care Leaver/Care Experienced/Estranged Student Bursary, but not both. Either Bursary can be combined with Access Award(s).

Eligibility Criteria

The Low-Income Household Bursary provides students with two payments per year and continues throughout your undergraduate degree programme. You do not need to reapply each year.

We will normally assess your household income using your Student Finance application. The income threshold for 2025/26 will be confirmed when the application period opens.

The Care Leavers/Care Experienced/Estranged Student Bursary provides three payments each year and continues throughout your undergraduate degree programme. You do not need to reapply each year.

To be eligible for the care leaver/care experienced bursary, the student will need to have spent at least 13 weeks of the last 5 years in local authority care prior to the start of their course.
To be eligible as estranged from their parents/guardians, the student should have had no contact with their parents/guardians for at least 12 months before the start of their course and be unlikely to have a relationship with them again.

Access Awards provide a one-time cash payment to students who meet any of the criteria below. You may be eligible for multiple Access Awards, and you can receive Access Awards and either the Low-Income Household Bursary or the Care Leavers/Care Experienced/Estranged Student Bursary.

The following students are eligible for Access Awards:

Global Majority students

Global Majority is a collective term coined by Rosemary Cambell-Stephens MBE, to refer to ‘people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, or have been racialised as “ethnic minorities”’ (Campbell-Stephens 2020). These groups make up more than 80% of the world’s population.

Disabled students

To be eligible to access the Disabled Students Access Fund, students must have a declared disability and have applied or be in the process of applying (where eligible) for Disabled Student Allowance (DSA).

Mature students

A mature student is 21 years old or older at the start of their undergraduate course.

How do I apply for FAF?

All applications will be processed through Blackbullion, a platform that offers free personal finance courses as well as access to university funding schemes.

You must be enrolled on your course before you apply. You can register to receive an update when the application opens on our website.

Fair Access Fund Terms and Conditions (PDF)

Register your interest

Complete our short web form to register your interest in the Fair Access Fund. We’ll let you know as soon as applications open.

Register Today

Contact us

For any questions regarding The Fair Access fund, please get in touch with fairaccessfund@bimm.ac.uk.