If you're a parent or carer in Scotland with a low annual income, you might be able to study or train part-time at SRUC for free. We might be able to help you pay for travel or childcare costs too, so you can get the most out of your studies with us.

Scottish parents and carers earning less than £33,000 per year are invited to apply for new funding to pay for part-time, online, and in-person courses and training so you can learn a new skill or earn a qualification that could help you find a job or progress in your career.

All parents are carers in Scotland are eligible to apply. Priority will be given to:

• one parent families;
• families with a disabled parent, disabled child, or child with additional needs;
• large families (families with three or more children);
• minority ethnic families;
• families with a child under one year old; and
• families with mothers under 25 years old.

The Raising Income through Skills and Education (RISE) Fund is designed to help parents and carers in Scotland learn new job skills with education that fits around family requirements. 

To qualify for funding from the RISE Fund, you must:

• be living in Scotland full time (including asylum seekers or those with refugee status),
• be a parent or carer,
• have a child at home who is under 18 years old, and
• earn an individual income below £33,000 per year.

Learn more about the free courses available at SRUC through the RISE Fund below.

If you're an in-work parent or carer in Scotland, the Training Access Fund (TAF) can help you get free courses to learn new skills that will help you advance in your career. 

To be eligible for the TAF, you must:

• be living in Scotland full time (including asylum seekers or those with refugee status),
• be a parent or carer,
• have a child at home who is less than 18 years old, and
• earn an individual income below £33,000 per year.

The New Flexible Workforce Development Fund (New FWDF) is for Scottish parents, carers, and young people in employment who want to learn a new job skill.

It's also for businesses who want to offer job training programmes that meet employer needs while helping their team learn new job skills that will help them improve and advance in their careers. 

(Please note that this fund is not the same the FWDF initiative launched in 2017)

Funding to pay for training is available to workers with an annual income of less than £33,000 per year and who are either:

• parents or carers to a child under 18 living at home, or
• less than 24 years old, or
• less than 30 years old and care experienced or disabled. 

The New FWDF is also available to all employers in Scotland who implement or are working towards implementing Fair Work Practices.