What is the Financial Assistance Fund?

The Financial Assistance Fund is a University-funded scheme for students and PGRs who are facing genuine and unexpected financial difficulties and who have accessed all other sources of financial support.  

The Financial Assistance Fund is in place to help students with the cost of essential living expenses so that you can continue studying with us at Leeds. 

To apply for the Financial Assistance Fund, you’ll need to meet the eligibility criteria and provide documentation. Read through the pages to make sure you understand what the fund is and to check you have the supporting documentation you’ll need to apply. If you have questions about the application process or your eligibility, please email the Student Funding team.

The Student Funding team will never make any judgements when assessing applications, regardless of your financial situation and events that have led you here. The team only requests evidence to support your application, and documents will only be seen by those processing and assessing your application.   

General conditions of the Financial Assistance Fund: 

• The Financial Assistance Fund is specifically to help towards living costs.  

• The assessment will not include the cost of your tuition or examination fees. 

• Assessments are completed in UK Sterling and can only take into account costs incurred whilst living in the UK. SFE, SFW, SFNI, or SAAS funded students who are undertaking a placement year or term abroad as part of their course will have any evidenced study related costs that have been incurred whilst overseas, and which cannot be reimbursed by their student loan provider (for example, via the Travel Grant), included within the FAF assessment. 

• You can apply on or after the start date of your academic year. 

• The fund cannot be used as your main source of funding as it is designed to cover unexpected financial difficulties only. 

• All available funding, including money in savings/locked savings account(s), will be included in the assessment even if you had originally planned to use this for a specific purpose. 

• Money available in overdrafts is also included as available funding where this is an interest free overdraft facility (no interest or fees are applied for using the overdraft). UK full-time undergraduates are expected to have a student bank account which will have a free overdraft facility.

• The maximum total that can be awarded in any one academic year is £4,500. 

• It is expected that you will only need to apply once, as the assessment covers up to the end of your academic year. 

• A shorter assessment period will be considered if you have an immediate and urgent financial need.