How to apply for scholarships and grants in London?

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I'm an e-mentor for a student in East London. My mentee is a student who is looking to apply to colleges in 2018 once she finishes her A levels. How would she go about applying for scholarships and grants? I'm not sure how it works as I don't live in London but I do travel there from time to time to visit friends. The other thing is, she mentioned that she does not receive EMA. What kind of financial help can she receive at the moment whilst studying for her A levels? TIA.

What do you mean by college next year? University? FE college? Sixth form? If you're mentoring someone you really need to be very very clear and get the terminology right....

EMA was scrapped as far as I know years ago in England - Google that one.

And again scholarships? Grants? For what? They'd get a loan for university same as everyone else.

I appreciate you want to help, but you need to be much clearer in what you're asking.

If it is scholarships for university study, here are a few links to get her started.

www.thescholarshiphub.org.uk

www.scholarship-search.org.uk

www.studentcashpoint.co.uk

Sorry, I guess I meant university. So pretty much want to know how one would go for applying for a university scholarship? I've been told that the fees have gone up. My mentee mentioned that she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to university and so she was looking into apprenticeships as she didn't want to go into debt and and so I had suggested looking into scholarships. But I don't know how one goes about applying for scholarships in London and neither does she. Does she contact university and ask if they offer scholarships or is there something else that she will need to do? And is it very competitive?

Generally speaking it's administered by each individual university. It will normally be a bursary rather than a scholarship, ie awarded on grounds of income not academic achievement. How poor are her family?

When it comes to actual tuition fees, it's worth talking to her about what she wants to do with her life. Generally speaking student tuition fee debt only has to be paid back if it proves to be worth it. If you don't end up in a well paying job then only a very small amount of it will be repaid. However the terms are getting harsher. The MSE guide is good.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes

Here's an example of the funding available for Kings College London
It does look very complicated.
www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/student-funding/scholarships-and-bursaries/bursaries/index.aspx
The Kings Living Bursary is an automatic sum of up to 1,600 a year depending solely on parental income but the rest looks like it'll take a lot of form filling.

The big change recently affecting poorer students is that their living expenses grant has been replaced by an increased loan like the students from richer families.

Would she live at home and go to university? Is that why you're asking about finance in London? Otherwise I don't think it's much different there to anywhere else.

She could have a look at www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator for an estimate of how much maintenance loan she can get.

If she has an idea of grades/which unis she might be looking at, she can look at their websites for details of their financial assistance.

The bulk of funding to go to uni comes from Student Finance England

Tuition fee loan = covers the full cost of tuition fees so the student / family doesn't have to pay anything upfront. Not means tested.

Maintenance loan = money towards living costs. Part universal, part means tested, based on income of parent(s) she lives with and any new live in partner / step parent. Also depends on whether you live at home or away, and if away whether you're studying in London or elsewhere.

All of the above is the same for almost every university (barring a few private sector HE institutions). Calculator here: www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator

Repayments don't start until she earns >£21k per year, and then it's 9% of anything she earns over that threshold. So, if she earned £22k per year she'd pay back £90 that year. Repayments are administered via PAYE so you can't get into arrears. Anything still owed after 30 years is wiped off.

Scholarships and bursaries are administered individually by each university and so can vary from uni to uni, e.g. www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/student-finance/2018/
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/fees-funding/uk-eu/grants-bursaries

Bottom line is, she shouldn't let student finance and the thought of debt put her off going to uni