Guidance

Residential Bursary Fund guide

Information for institutions with 16 to 18 Residential Bursary Fund allocations.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

Students, parents and carers should read get funding for college accommodation for information about eligibility and claiming funding.

This guide is for institutions with Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) allocations.

The guide sets out the funding rules for RBF and forms part of institutions’ Department for Education funding agreements. Institutions must comply with the rules, within the context of the RBF policies they set, to manage the funds. They must be able to show they comply with this guide at any audit.

If you received RBF funding for the 2025 to 2026 academic year, read the guidance for completing the digital form before completing your return.

The deadline for submission is 23 October 2026 at 5pm.

Updates to this page

Published 2 April 2025
Last updated 301 MarchOctober 2026 href="#full-history">+— show Show all updates
  1. Added 'Residential Bursary Fund data return, 2025 to 2026: guidance for completing the digital form'.

  2. Added 'Residential Bursary Fund: 2026 to 2027'.

  3. First published.

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