What is Clearing?
How you can help your young person with Clearing.
Thousands of students every year use Clearing to find a university place, whether that’s because they’ve changed their mind about what or where to study, missed the application deadline or received different grades from those they were expecting.
It's a great idea to have a plan B and research other options, even if they're confident in their firm choice.
Clearing key facts
- Clearing opens on Thursday 2 July 2026, and remains open until the start of term
- ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ with spaces will be clearly advertised on our website
- Students can apply through Clearing if:
- They’re applying on or after 2 July 2026
- They don’t hold any offers
- They don’t want to accept the offers they’ve received
- Or they didn’t meet the conditions of their offer.
More information can be found on our Clearing hub.
On Results Day
Your young person will either be:
- Accepted by their firm choice
- Accepted by their insurance choice if they don’t get the grades for their firm choice
- Automatically entered into Clearing if their results don't meet the conditions of any of their choices.
They may also have changed their mind about their firm and insurance choice and opt to enter Clearing – and that’s okay.
Help them to search available courses in Clearing and either call us or use our online form to see if we can offer them a place – we’re not able to discuss your young person’s application, they must call us themselves.
When contacting us, they will need the name of the course they’re interested in, their A-Level, BTEC or equivalent results, and their GCSE results.
Scholarships and bursaries
ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ has lots of support in place to make sure you and your student feels secure with finances. A few examples are:
- The Accommodation Bursary is a one-off bursary of either £500 or £1,000, awarded to eligible students to help them with their accommodation and housing related expenses.
- The Bath Spa Access Fund helps students who are experiencing financial difficulties after arriving at BSU.
- Our Placements Bursary helps make work experience more accessible with a bursary of £500 - £1,500 during a students’ Professional Placement Year.
See our extensive list, including eligibility for each, on our scholarships and bursaries page.
What happens next?
If you can, take the time to visit your Clearing options. BSU run campus tours during Clearing to help students make informed choices.
If offered a place, this will need to be completed in UCAS by the student. Don’t forget to update Student Finance with any changes to course or university too.