The student advisor can help you choose a course that's right for you. Call the advisor on 01847 889310 or email info@northhighland.ac.uk

Don't forget too that it is possible to make an appointment with a Careers Scotland Advisor through the College. Email info@northhighland.ac.uk and Admissions staff will forward your request to Careers Scotland staff.  We have close ties with Careers Scotland and one of their Advisors often comes to college to chat with students about their options.

You may not have to! There is a cost for all courses, however many categories of student are not required to pay fees.

If you are given a place on a full time course then you will not have to pay.

If you receive certain types of benefit, then you may not have to pay for your course at all.

If you hold an Individual Learning Account then you may be able to use this to help towards the cost of the course. This can be up to £200 per year.

If you are studying an HNC, HND or Degree on a part time basis you may be able to claim up to £500 from ILAScotland if you study 40 SCQF credit points in a year. Contact ILAScotland on 0808 100 1090 or visit the website www.ilascotland.org.uk.  

You can download an information sheet from the resources section of the website by clicking here.

If you are still unsure about what is available to you, speak to the bursary awards officer by phone by calling 01847 889000 or email info@northhighland.ac.uk

If you are thinking of joining a full time or part time course, before you enrol on the course it is important to discuss your plans for study with the Department for Work and Pensions.

It may be possible for you to study part time and still have access to your benefits. 

You may apply for a bursary while you attend college, to help with living costs, but this may have an effect on the benefits you already receive.

You can talk this over with the Bursary Officer too, before deciding which method of study suits you best.  Call her on 01847 889000 or email info@northhighland.ac.uk. You can download an information sheet from the resources section of the website by clicking here.

Don't forget that you could use an Individual Learning Account to help pay for your learning, especially if you are studying one or two units at a time.  With an ILA200 you will be awarded £200 per year to pay for your course fees.

If you are studying an HNC, HND or Degree on a part time basis you may be able to claim up to £500 from ILAScotland if you study 40 SCQF credit points in a year.

Contact ILAScotland on 0808 100 1090 or visit the website www.ilascotland.org.uk.  

If you are studying a full time or part time non-advanced course at FE level, such as a National Certificate or SVQ, you may be eligible for child-minding payments. If you are eligible, payments will be made for childcare if the child or children are being cared for by a Registered Childcarer, Nursery or Out of School Club.

If you are studying a higher level course, childcare funds are only available for full time study. The childcare must be formal, for instance a registered childminder or after school club. For part-time study the discretionary fund may be able to assist with childcare.

Applications and more advice on this are available from the Student Advisor at The NHC-Thurso on 01847 889310, or email info@northhighland.ac.uk.

You can download an information sheet about this from the resources section by clicking here.

You can apply for as many courses as you wish and may be asked to attend an informal interview for each one, but we will try to make these timed as closely together as feasible. This will probably be with the course tutor, so ask as many questions as you like in order to make sure that the course is right for you. In fact, this is more of an informal meeting rather than a formal interview.

It is a good chance to find out as much about the course and the college as you can. Have a good look round while you are here, and chat to some of the students (try the nely refurbished cafeteria in Thurso!).

This really is an informal discussion which is much more about making sure that the course you have chosen is the course for you, rather than trying to find out if you are right for our course. If you do decide, for one reason or another, that your chosen course is not suitable, talk to the course tutor or the Student Advisor: we will possibly be able to suggest a suitable alternative.

You can download an information sheet showing term dates by clicking here.

The College dates may vary slightly from closure dates of local schools.  We often open in August a week earlier to allow our students to attend our Induction procedures. These procedures do not take up the full week, but will allow new students to become acquainted with the place before classes start officially.

In October we have only one week's break, not the two weeks schools have at this time.

At Christmas we close and reopen around the same time as the schools usually, although there may be a day or two's difference at the start or end of the break.

We do not have long week-ends during the academic session, apart from Easter which usually falls within the College Easter break.

Our students normally aim to finish their course by the end of May, although there is an extra week set aside, known as "Remediation Week" which some may need to complete assignments or assessments.

An application form is included withion the current prospectus, but you can download an application form from the resources section by clicking here. Print it out, then fill it in and return it by hand or by post to one of our campuses. Alternatively you can contact our admissions office by phone for more information or to have an application form sent to you in the post.

Once Admissions receive the completed form they will acknowledge this in a letter to you. Shortly after this you will be invited for a meeting with the course tutor, if you have applied for a place on a full time or part time course.  Arrangements for open learning courses may differ slightly: this will be explained in the acknowledgement letter.

If you wish to apply for a place on the first year of a Degree course, such as BA Child & Youth Studies, and are a school leaver, then you should apply using UCAS. Visit www.ucas.ac.uk for information, and to start your application procedure. It really is very simple!

Full Time National Certificate Courses:

When you are given an unconditional offer of a place on a course, for instance on the National Certificate in Gamekeeping or the SVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery, the College will send you a bursary application form for you to complete and return to us.

You use this form to apply for a bursary to help with living costs and any grants or allowances you might qualify for (eg travel, books and equipment).

You can download an information sheet from the resources section of the website by clicking here. If you are still unsure about what is available to you, speak to the bursary awards officer by phone or email info@northhighland.ac.uk

Higher Education Courses:

Students on a full time course, for instance a Higher National Certificate, Diploma or Degree, will not be asked to pay tuition fees as these are paid by the SAAS direct to the College, but you must apply to SAAS to have them paid.

Student Grants and Loans:

We aim to make our courses as accessible as possible. You may not even have to attend college: quite a number of our courses are available by open learning which could mean there is little or no college attendance, courses could be available by e-learning (online) or blended learning (a mix of online, home study and tutor-led classroom activities). Don't foget too, that even if you do not have to visit College very often, our tutors are always available by email or telephone.

The college buildings are fully accessible.

The Student Advisor offers help, information and advice on any matter which may be interfering with your studies, including financial. Interviews are confidential and no information will be passed on to a third party without your agreement.

Extra help:

You may need extra help with your studies. Support services are available: this may include help with specific study skills and revision techniques, provision of readers, scribes, assistive technology (for physical/ visual/hearing impairment and dyslexia). This could also include the organisation of special assessment/examination arrangements and help (for those moving on to HNC/D/Degree courses) with applying for the Disabled Students’ Allowance.

Assistance is also given with transition to Higher Education or Employment.

Many of our courses have been designed to suit both school leavers and mature entrants. Check the Entry Requirements section of the course description, this will tell you what we are looking for. Many of our courses are open to mature students who may have had sufficient experience to allow them to join a course.

If you are still unsure about what is available to you, speak to Admissions on 01847 889250 or email info@northhighland.ac.uk

Many of our programmes have no end-of-year exams.  Most of the SQA programmes we offer use continuous assessment as a measure of progress. Each unit of study has a number of outcomes, or goals, which have to be achieved and students have the opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do as they progress through their programme.  When all of these outcomes have been successfully completed, the unit is awarded.

Some programmes do require written assessments under test conditions.  If this is true for a programme of study you are undertaking, this will be explained to you well before it is required.

We offer a number of SQA Highers, and of course for these there is an end-of year- examination.

At the College we want to make sure that our students can progress from introductory programmes on to employment, or more advanced learning.

The course information within the prospectus and on the website here will give you an idea of the best progression routes for the programme you are studying.

It may be that you decide to complete an NC, then progress to an HNC, HND, Degree or Honours Degree course in the subject, or you may move on from an NC to do an HNC in a related subject.  All may be possible!