MEDR Fee Waiver

A student enrolled on an eligible course must:

(i) be classed as eligible for funding according to the definition provided in MEDR’s Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES) survey

(ii) be Welsh domiciled (provision of a Welsh address by the student would usually be considered sufficient evidence of Welsh domicile).

and meet one or more of the following conditions:

a) the student or the student’s family is in receipt of:

• Universal Credit or its predecessors
• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Employment and Support Allowance

b) the student is in receipt of:

• Carers allowance or carer’s credit
• Disability premium or other disability-related financial support 
• Bereavement benefits

c) be from a group which is considered to be under-represented in higher education, such as:

• students of all ages from areas in the bottom two quintiles of the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019
• students of all ages from UK low participation in HE areas as measured by the proportion of working age adults with HE qualifications from the 2011 census (bottom two quintiles)
• care leavers or care experienced students • students with disabilities • students from ethnic minority backgrounds
• LGBTQ+ students
• refugees and asylum seekers
• students with caring responsibilities
• those studying through the medium of Welsh.

For the purpose of the criterion (a) the definition of ‘family’ is as follows: married, civil partnership or unmarried couple, or married or unmarried couple, or couple in a civil partnership with dependent children, or lone parent with dependent children.

Eligible students must be domiciled in Wales.  

For full eligibility details see the following document:

MEDR regulations

Students who already hold a first degree, Foundation Degree, HNC or HND, or another undergraduate credit-bearing higher education course funded by MEDR – the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research and who are studying for a qualification that is of the same level or lower will not be eligible for a fee waiver. Non credit-bearing courses and postgraduate courses do not qualify for the scheme.

Students are not eligible for funding to repeat a course or any modules or units within a course under any circumstances.

You should also note that this scheme is reviewed annually by MEDR; it could be withdrawn prior to your achieving the full qualification.