Assistance with travel expenses

At Pearson College London, we’re committed to admitting the best students regardless of their background. We know that for some people, the cost of attending our admissions workshops might be a worry - so if you need help attending, we’ll be there.

If you are a UK-based student for fee purposes, there are several ways you might be eligible for us to cover the cost of your attendance. Take a look at the table below. If you meet any of these criteria, we’ll cover your travel expenses to your undergraduate admissions workshop.

We are only able to reimburse travel costs of UK-based students attending undergraduate admissions workshops or undergraduate post-offer applicant days.

Are you eligible?

 

Situation Information we need
Currently in care, or has experience of being in care since 16th birthday Letter from social worker confirming your care status.
Entitled to free school meals* Letter from school confirming free school meals eligibility, or a letter confirming you or your parent/carer receives certain benefits.
Household income less than £25,000 (pre-tax) Most recent P60 or most recent three-months of wage slips of both parents or carers, or confirmation of receipt of income-related benefits. If you’re aged 25+, evidence should relate to your own earnings.
POLAR4 Q1** Post code of home address checked using online tool, using latest POLAR definition (POLAR 4)

*It doesn’t matter if you don’t use your free school meals - we just need to know you’re entitled to them. You might be entitled to free school meals if your household receives certain benefits, which you can check here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.

**POLAR4 is a system which tells us how many people from your area attend higher education. If you live in an area which is in quintile 1 (where the least people attend higher education) you’ll be able to claim travel support. You can check this by visiting this link and entering your postcode: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/postcode-search/. The first number on the left is your quintile.

Some important questions...

“I don’t want people to see me differently at the workshop. Who will know I’m claiming travel expenses?” 
Only Pearson College management staff will see the information you provide. The academic staff who assess you, our student ambassadors, and the other applicants on the day, won’t be given any of this information.

"How much can I claim?" 
We’ll reimburse you the cost of standard-class public transport from your home address. This includes any mode of transport you need to take - for example, if you need to take a bus or a ferry to the local train station, this will be covered. All claims will be assessed on a case by case basis, and we’ll check the route from your home postcode to Pearson College London.

If you or someone else drives you, we will reimburse you 45p per mile driven from your home address to Pearson College London, or the cost of the same journey by public transport, whichever is lower. You should use the AA’s mileage calculator to work out your mileage: http://www.theaa.com/driving/mileage-calculator.jsp. We will also reimburse the cost of congestion charges, road tolls and reasonable parking, but not general wear and tear. 

We can’t reimburse first-class tickets, or replacement tickets if you lose your original ones.

"I'm not a UK-based student for fee purposes. Am I eligible to claim?" 
Unfortunately we are only able to reimburse travel from applicants classified as home students.

“How do I claim my expenses back?” 
Complete the form below and email it back to us at access@pearsoncollegelondon.ac.uk with your evidence or your travel receipts (photos are acceptable if you don’t have the originals). If you’re eligible because you live in a POLAR1 Quintile postcode, you just need to write a note telling us this. You only need to complete the boxes containing your name, address and bank details.

If buying travel tickets and waiting for reimbursement would make things hard for you financially, let us know. We may be able to book travel on your behalf once we’ve seen your evidence. If this is likely to be the case, let us know as soon as possible so we have time to review your evidence before the workshop. You can call email access@pearsoncollegelondon.ac.uk to discuss this confidentially.

Payment Requisition form