Guidance for Studentship Discounts
PGR/PGT
Unless a studentship is externally funded an approved discount scheme is required, which is known
as a Form 1 (see link from the Finance Office website for a copy):
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/finance/atoz/fees-discounts-waivers-scholarships-bursaries-andstudentships
The form should be completed and authorised by the Head of College, Director of Administration, or
College Accountant to Brendan Fawcett. Once the scheme has been approved, or if the funding is
external, an advert can be placed for the studentship(s). Studentships must be advertised
competitively otherwise this is a breach of the Finance Regulations. For GTA’s departments must
have also completed a Post Approval Form prior to the advert.
A check list prior to the advert should include:
Duration of the Studentship, ie 3 years, 3.5 years 4 years
Amount of Fee Discount
Amount of Stipend (if appropriate)
Funder ie Department/Research Council
RTSG Research Training Support Grant (if appropriate)
Grant Reference (if appropriate)
Case Partner (if appropriate, and any conditions)
Once a student has been offered a studentship, an offer letter should be produced by the
department and sent to the student with full details of the award. A sample offer letter to the
student has been drafted to give you some guidance on what needs to be included in such a letter
however; you will need to tailor the letter to suit your particular studentship award. (see appendix 1
and 2) The Department should then complete the Studentship Discount form to inform
Finance/Cashiers of the studentship, as without this information the student won’t be able to
register or receive any stipend payment. For GTA’s Human Resources will produce the contract
relating to the 0.2FTE element of the grade 5 position.
The discount form is required for the approval of fee discounts, and stipends. Existing students
experiencing financial difficulties should be referred to the University’s Student Welfare Service
(0116 223 1185 or welfare@le.ac.uk ).
If the studentship fee is funded internally funded, this must be accounted for as a full or part fee
waiver, and not charged to a DDF/MIF or Non Pay account.
Previously there were 2 different forms to complete; a form 2, and a form 3; now there is one
combined form for fees discounts, fees & stipends.
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How to fill in the Studentship Discount Form (SDF) previously known as
Form2 or 3
The Studentship form requires key information to enable Finance to process the Fee
Wavier/Stipend. It is advised that the form is completed electronically as certain boxes on the form
are drop down boxes to help staff complete the right information.
1. Please select from the drop down box, the Department and College
2. Please state the person requesting the studentship, as this will be the person who is
contacted with any queries concerning the studentship
3. Please clearly state the Students first and surname
4. Please quote the Student ID number, as this is important to ensure we are paying the correct
student.
5. Please state the supervisor as this is helpful when any queries arise especially if the person
making the request isn’t around to answer questions.
6. Please state the Student type, which is required for Finance to verify that a stipend can be
processed, as EU research council funded students are not entitled to a stipend.
7. Please state the mode of study, as there is a different Cashiers team for Campus and DL.
8. Please state which programme the student will enroll on.
9. Please use the drop down box to specify the type of studentship, ie Which Research Council,
Departmental, College, Central or other. If you select other, please specify.
10. For the Justification of the Fee Discount, please quote the scheme reference number, or title
of the scheme, or Research Council Studentship/DTG or Case Award, or CDA Award, so its
clear what the award it.
11. The fee discount should state either the amount of the fee, or 100%, so cashiers are clear
what the discount is. If this is an internal studentship no charge code is required, however if
it is a research council studentship Management Accounts will allocate the charge code. If
the fee relates to another source of funding or a project code, then you will need to liaise
with finance over this.
12. If the student is in receipt of a full fee waiver, then state £0 here, however if the discount is
a partial fee waiver, either state the balance the student has to pay or the %
13. There is a drop down box for the funding start and end date
14. Please enter the agreed fee discount % by the funding source, any appropriate charge code,
which is only required for external funding. If the charge code is for research council funding
Management Accounts will allocate this. All internal fee funded studentships are processed
as fee waiver and not charged to any DDF/recurrent account.
15. Please enter the agreed stipend annual amount, and the charge code. If the charge code is
for research council funding Management Accounts will allocate this.
16. If the studentship is funded from a research grant, then it is important the grant reference is
stated to ensure we can check we have had the paperwork and can verify that we are in
receipt of the income and it matches with the expenditure.
17. There is an area for you to add any further information that isn’t cover elsewhere that is key
to the studentship.
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18. The person completing the discount form should ensure that external funded studentships
are authorized by Department Manager. Internal funded Studentships must be authorized
by either, Head of the College (HoC), Head of the Department (HoD), Director of Admin
(DoA) or College Accountant. The Finance Regulations must have been adhered to, i.e.
studentship competitively advertised, please note that all hardship awards should be
referred to Welfare Services.
19. The Management Accountant will verify the information and ensure the forms are passed
onto the following personnel:
For Fee Only Discounts to:
 Campus Based Students: Margaret Palmer, (mp86@le.ac.uk ext. 2380), University Cashier,
Finance Office, FJB
 Distant Learning Students: Aimee Jones (AFJ2@.le.ac.uk ) ext. 5522, Cashiers, FJB
For Studentships to:
 Departmental Students/Research Council Funded Students - Ruth Daly (rsj10@le.ac.uk; ext.
5236), Management Accountant, Finance Office, 1st Floor FJB
 GTA – Jenny Finch (jlf18@le.ac.uk; ext. 7452), Finance Office Treasury, 1st Floor FJB
 CASE Studentships / Research Project Funded studentships - Claire Jones (cla8@le.ac.uk; ext.
5130) Research Office (i.e. codes starting with RM)
Other Related Information about Case/Project Studentships
For Case or Project Studentships a DDF or recurrent Department code will only be used as an
interim measure should there be any delays in setting up the studentship with EBDO or RBDO. With
Case studentships which are more complicated as a third party is involved, it is important that EBDO
are involved as soon as the award is received, as it takes a long time to get contracts in place, and
any delays with the contact can result in a student’s CASE top up not being paid until the contract is
in place.
For GTA’s it is helpful if the discount form is completed and sent to college accountant who will then
send the form onto Treasury to pay the stipend element and ensure the fees are waiver.
Periods of Studentship Absence
Only one form is required for the duration of the studentship, and does not need to be completed
annually. However, if during complicated periods of absence, it may be necessary for Department
Manager to confirm via email any changes to the funding end date. A new form is required if there
are any extensions to a studentship, ie a change from 3 years to 3.5 years.
Once the studentship is set up and we have received the student bank details we will continue to
automatically pay the student monthly in advance unless we are told otherwise. There is no
automatic system that informs the Finance Office if a student has left or is suspended. It is
important that a Department advises the appropriate Finance office, ie Management
Accounts/RBDO/Treasury if a student is absence or has left, so a stop can be put on the stipend
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payments. If Finance makes a payment in advance to a student who is on suspension or has left, we
will write to the student to obtain a refund from the student.
Research Council Studentships and Je-S
Once a Research Council student has commenced their study, Departments are required to input
the studentship details in the Je-S system within 6 weeks, otherwise the institution faces penalties
which can result in the loss of the current grant. Once a department submits a studentship in Je-S it
is routed to the submitter’s pool, which Management Accounts access and submits to council.
For any existing research council studentships departments are required to update Je-S with the
current fee and stipend amount, and record any absences.
Where Departments have a Doctoral Training Grant (DTG) they are also required to keep a spread
sheet of the training grants and which students are assigned to the grant. This spread sheet is
required to be sent to Management Accounts by September every year to assist with the Financial
Expenditure Statements which have to be reported to the research councils through the Je-S
system.
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Flow Chart
Studentship Scheme
Approved
Studentship Competitively
Advertised
Offer letter Produced by Department
detailing studentship Award
Studentship Discount Form
(SDF) Completed and sent to
Management Accounts.
Departments must create a JES record
for any research council funded
student within 6 weeks of the start
date.
The Finance office
must be advised of any
absences, changes to
funding, etc
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Appendix 1 – Suggested Studentship Offer letter
A.N. Other
Line 1 Address
Town
Postcode
Date
Dear
{Research Council] Doctoral Training Award (DTA)
Your University of Leicester Student Number is
I am delighted to inform you that the Department of xxxxxxxx, University of Leicester is offering you an
[Research Council] Doctoral Training Award (DTA).
The DTA award includes fees and maintenance (and a contribution to research expenses). Please see
attachment for the full details.
Please confirm, in writing – preferably by email or alternatively by post, your acceptance of the (Research
Council] DTA offer as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Postgraduate Admissions Tutor
Contact Details:
Email
Telephone
Fax
Copy to
Dr A. Other, PhD Supervisor
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Appendix 2 – Suggested Studentship Letter with the full details of the Award
Details of Studentship Award
Studentship Sponsor: [ie – 50%AHRC and 50% College funded]
Type of award: [iePhD or CDA Phd or PPM etc]
Awarded to [Name]
Student Number [
]
Studentship funding start date:
Studentship funding end date:
Financial Details:
Fees:Your academic fees will be met in [full or part] from the award for the duration of the studentship.
Stipend: An annual stipend will be paid to you monthly in advance. The current annual stipend is
£[
].
“RTSG”: In addition you also have access to an allowance which your department will manage to support the
costs of your research. This is £ [
] for the whole funding period and can be used for
The very first monthly payment will be by cheque which you will need to collect from the Cashiers Office,
Main Site. (Opening hours Monday to Friday (excluding University closure days) 9.00am to 4.00pm). This will
be ready for you to collect from [first day of term] and you must have registered and provide photo
identification (your Student Identification Card will suffice) for the cheque to be released to you.
Bank Details: If you have provided your bank details to us and have collected your first cheque then all future
monthly stipend payments will be by BACS to your bank account. (Bank form is enclosed).
[
].
Conditions:
The conditions governing this award and to which you have to adhere can be found in [web site
address Research Council handbook] and the University of Leicester Regulations for Research Students
Handbook – you should have received a copy of this and it can also be found at [web site address].
Absence:
You must notify the Management Accountant responsible for studentships separately [
contact details
] immediately of any absence. Please note that stipends are not normally paid
during periods of suspension.
If you have any questions concerning this studentship please contact [Name][Telephone:
Email:
]
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