What is a Student Certificate?

If you are a university student, and have found the new world of taxes, or other forms of identification, you may have come across student certificates. These can be used in many real-world situations, and can be a very useful document, which can save you a lot of money. However, what exactly is a student certificate?

A certificate of student status, or student certificate, is a certificate that is usually from your university, which proves that you are on a course there right now. It can contain your details, university details, your course details, the dates of study, and whether you are studying full time or part time. The main use of this is due to students enrolled on a course receiving exemptions from council tax. This certificate proves that the holder is a student.

In the rest of the article, we will be discussing this further, what it is and why it is needed. If you would like to know more, read on.

What is a student certificate in the UK?

A student certificate can also be known as a ‘certificate of student status’ or a ‘proof of student status letter.’ This certificate is administered by your university to prove that the holder is a student. This can be showed to whoever needs it as proof of student status.

It may contain your personal details, information about the university, dates and times of your course and information about your mode of study. For more information about this, check out this article by Save The Student.

How do you get a student certificate?

Depending on your university, there will be different ways to receive it. Some students may automatically receive this letter upon their admission to the university, and if needed can be requested again.

Many universities have an online system where you can request and receive your certificate automatically, or have it sent to you after it has been processed. For example, you can find where to request your certificate and more information about this using this page for the University of Coventry and this page for the University of Birmingham.

Otherwise, you should get in contact with the appropriate part of the university. Usually, the admin office or the admissions office. They can administer you a certificate if requested. You can learn more about this in this guide by Save The Student.

Why do you need a student certificate?

A student certificate may be needed in different circumstances. One of these could be to open a student bank account. This is a bank account with specific benefits towards students like no interest on overdraft.

To prove you are a student, you may need to show the bank this certificate. If you would like to know more about this, you can click here to a Think Student article. To find out more about the benefits of this bank account, you can click here to another Think Student article.

Other uses could be for when applying for a job or getting accommodation when you are attending university. However, the main use of the student certificate is to gain exemptions from paying council tax.

What is a student certificate for council tax?

Students may want to get a student certificate to prove to their local council that they are a student. This is because a household in which everyone is a full-time student, do not need to pay council tax.

If students want to gain exemption from paying council tax, they will need to provide proof. This comes in the form of the student certificate.

Providing this proof will allow the student access to exemptions to council tax, which will help the students a lot when managing their money. To find out whether students have to pay other taxes, you can click on this link to a Think Student article.

The UK government has criteria of being a student that must be met. These are:

• Your course must last for at least 1 year
• Your course must have a minimum 21 hours of study per week

Or, if you are under twenty and studying a qualification up to A-Level:

• Your course must last at least 3 months
• Your course must have a minimum of 12 hours of study per week

If there is an occupant of your house who is not a student, you will not get the full discount but may still qualify for a smaller discount.

To find out all of this information, you can click on this link to the UK governments website. To apply for an exemption, you can click here, or to see if you are eligible for a discount, you can click here. All of these links will take you to the UK governments page.

To find out more about university students, and the tax rules there, you should click here to a Think Student article.