Before you apply

What do we mean by an ‘unforeseen change’?

An unforeseen change is something that happened to you unexpectedly – you couldn’t predict it would happen, like an accident, and it’s affecting your financial situation. Read our example scenario below.  

The ‘unforeseen change’ must be something that has impacted you directly, or dependants who are living with you and are included in the application. The Fund is not able to support situations where your family or friends have experienced an ‘unforeseen change’ and are consequently unable to provide funds that had been previoulsy promised and were part of your financial plan.

Unfortunately, it is not within the scope of the Fund to support students whose finances are impacted by currency fluctuations or political changes in their home country.

Eligibility criteria for the Financial Assistance Fund

There are eligibility criteria to meet as a student applying to the fund:

• You must be registered on a higher education course at the University of Leeds;

• Students who have suspended studies for all/part of the year or are taking all/part of the year externally can still apply;

• Students who have stepped off the course and are ‘Not in Attendance’ (NA) cannot apply;

• You must not be ‘Under Examination’ (PGR);

• You must not be studying on a degree apprenticeship course;

• You must be able to show that you had funding in place and a sound financial plan to cover your living costs and tuition/examination fees at the start of your current academic year; 

• You are expected to seek help from all other available funding routes before applying to the Financial Assistance Fund, including friends and family if applicable, and benefits if you are eligible;

• The fund is primarily to help you to continue with your studies. If you have dependants (spouse/child/children), normally evidence of their income and expenditure will need to be provided to carry out a full financial household assessment;

• You must have applied on time, and received the first instalment of any statutory funding that you are entitled to e.g. Student Loan or NHS bursary.* 

*Note, if you applied by the published deadline, have completed online registration and have had your ID checked and the first instalment of your statutory funding has been delayed due to circumstances outside of your control please contact Student Funding. 

Additional eligibility criteria for international students 

As an international student applying to the fund, you must: 

• Continue to meet all of your Student Visa requirements;

• Have a valid Tier 4 sponsorship or Student Visa. Students sponsored by the University of Leeds as Tier 4 students won’t be eligible for assistance from the fund if their Tier 4 Sponsorship is temporarily or permanently withdrawn;  

• Have met the UK Student Visa Financial requirement. £1023 per month will be included as income within the FAF assessment;

• Be aware that because the Financial Assistance Fund is primarily for you, if dependants like a spouse or child/children have travelled with you, you must have met the financial visa requirement. £680 per month for each dependant will be included as standard income within the assessment;

• Be aware that if you hold a Tier 4 or Student Visa, applying for assistance from the fund will not affect your visa or be reported to the Home Office. If your visa has a 'no recourse to public funds' condition on it, applying for/receiving assistance from the fund is not a breach of this condition;

• Be aware that any student needing immigration permission to be in the UK will not be eligible to apply to the fund if that permission expires or is curtailed by the UK Home Office;

• If you have non-UK bank accounts, provide your bank account statements and also complete the Financial Information Form which will be sent to you with the application form. You will need to convert foreign currency amounts into UK sterling. 

Income 

For international students, we’ll automatically include some income in your application:  

• £1023 per month will be included as standard income because you will have met the UK Student Visa Financial requirement;

• £680 per month for each dependant (e.g. spouse, child/children) will be included as standard income if dependants have travelled with you. 

For all students, here is a list of your income that you’ll need to evidence when filling out your application form: 

• Bank statements (your and your partner’s, if applicable) covering 90 days for all of your accounts, including savings accounts, locked savings accounts, ISAs, unused accounts, accounts closed in the previous 90 days, non-UK accounts;

• Documentation for all money available in your bank and savings accounts* - income/savings/wages/benefits - including your three most recent payslips (and/or for your partner, if applicable); 

*Please note, the assessment must take account of all available funding, including money in locked savings account(s), even if this was intended for a specific purpose. If you have funds in a UK Government Lifetime ISA, we will also need to include this as ‘available funds’ but we will take account of the 25% charge incurred for early withdrawal.

• Documentation of any statutory funding, bursaries and scholarships you receive. For example, your Student Finance England notification letter and/or NHS bursary statement (Home/UK students only);

• If you are a postgraduate, an international student or an undergraduate with previous study, you will need to show that you had a sound financial plan in place to cover your tuition fee and living costs i. at the start of your study, if you are in the first year of study at Leeds or ii. at the start of the academic year if you are in year 2 onwards;

• Any financial contributions from family, friends or other sources, e.g. community trusts.

Expenditure 

For all students, we’ll automatically incorporate set allowances for some costs and include these in the assessment of your expenditure. This means you don’t have to worry about providing evidence for the following: 

• Composite Living Cost (CLC): this is a set amount based on UK state benefit rates to cover general living costs including food, gas, electricity, water, contents insurance, clothes, TV licence, streaming services, entertainment, socialising, and gym membership. You do not need to list these items on the application form and you do not need to provide individual costs for each item;

• A set amount for mobile phone and broadband;

• A set amount for travel, based on the cost of a monthly off-peak Zone5 MCard (students with costs above this set amount will be able to explain this on the application form. NHS funded students with additional travel costs for attending placements should claim these via the NHS TDAE);  

• A set amount for course-related costs such as books, printing, study materials and field trips.

For all students, here is a list of your expenditure that you’ll need to evidence in your application: 

• Rental/Mortgage/Housing costs. This can be evidenced by your rental contract or mortgage statement (this evidence is not required if you are in University of Leeds accommodation);

• Childcare costs (if applicable); 

• Costs associated with specific learning disability diagnostic tests (if applicable); 

• Credit card or non-priority debt – so that we can include the minimum monthly repayment when assessing your application. Please note, we can only include the minumum monthly payment you are required to make, and we cannot assist with paying off debts or overdrafts. You may be referred to LUU Help and Support if it is determined that you need help managing your debt; 

• Any other expense that you consider essential, for example medical prescriptions. 

There are some personal financial commitments that cannot not be included in the overall expenditure assessment – please see below. 

Expenditure that cannot be supported by the Fund

The purpose of the Fund is to provide support for essential living costs only, and there are certain costs that the Fund cannot assist with. Additionally, you may have some personal financial commitments that cannot be included in the overall expenditure assessment as they are beyond the scope of the Fund. These costs and commitments include, but are not limited to:

• Rent outside your academic year. The assessment will include the rent you are paying in your current academic year, but cannot include rent you need to pay before the start of, or after the end of, your academic year. Assessments for students who meet the eligiblity criteria for applying to the Fund over the summer break will include the rent you are paying over the summer months.

• Tuition Fees;

• Visa Fees;

• Legal Fees;

• Fines and bank charges;

• Subcription charges and membership fees, e.g. for publications, membership of professional bodies, etc. (NB: the Composite Living Costs already incorporates a set allowance for gym membership and streaming services, which will be included in the assessment of your expenditure); 

• Credit agreements and hire purchase arrangements, e.g. buying a mobile, equipment, car;

• Buying a laptop (if the laptop has been purchased with the Disabled Student’s Allowance but the first £200 is not covered, this amount can be included as expenditure in the assessment);

• Losses as a result of fraud or being scammed, or the theft of cash (please see the University guidance if you have been a victim of fraud or victim of a crime);

• Private medical treatment (including private therapy);

• Costs of extra-curricular activities that are not a compulsory part of your course, e.g. attending conferences, summer schools;

• Replacement of non-essential household items stolen or damaged (these should be covered by contents insurance);

• Repaying loans to family and/or friends;

• Financially supporting family and/or friends, and expenditure incurred by them (this includes situations such as medical emergencies) except for dependants who are living with you and included in the application;

• Cost of attending your graduation ceremony;

• Post-graduation costs, e.g. relocating and starting work.

Applying for a reassessment 

You generally shouldn’t need to submit a second application in any one study year because the original assessment will normally cover the period up to the end of your academic year. However, if there has been a significant change in your financial circumstances, you can ask for your application to be re-assessed.   

You can ask for a reassessment whether or not you initially received a financial award. If the reassessment shows that you have a financial need, you may receive a financial award. You can ask for a reassessment at any time before the last day of your academic year. Not all changes in circumstances will result in a change to the original assessment.  

Before requesting a reassessment please contact the Student Funding team to discuss your eligibility. 

Applying during the summer vacation period 

If your course has a summer vacation, you can apply for summer costs at any time during this period if you: 

• Have dependent children (you should already have applied for all available benefits);

• Are unable to work or have limited availability to work due to illness; 

• Are unable to work or have limited availability to work due to a disability (you should already have applied for all available benefits); 

• Are care experienced;

• Are estranged from both of your parents, or your guardian(s) and you have no support from your family, or, you have been granted independent status by the Student Loans Company due to estrangement; 

• Have been a Foyer Federation resident or participated in a similar scheme for homeless people;

• Are a Nursing or Midwifery student, or student on an undergraduate course with non-standard term dates, who has not already applied during the academic year.

Information on funding during the resit period is available on the Examinations webpage. 

Assessment of Home/UK First degree Undergraduates Applicants 

This category applies if you are a UK undergraduate student taking your first degree at Leeds. In this case, the Financial Assistance Fund assessment will include your calculated income over the full academic year and compare it against the total of your calculated expenditure. If you live with a partner/spouse, your joint income and expenditure will normally be assessed. Assessments are for the full academic year regardless of when the application is made, except for students in their final year who apply in the 3^rd term in which case the assessment period will be from the date the application is submitted up to the last day of the course.

Home/UK undergraduate students undertaking a first degree should be eligible for a student bank account with a free overdraft facility (no interest or fees). The assessment will include any unused overdraft as available funds. If you do not have a student account with a free overdraft facility the assement will include an assumed available overdraft as funds you would be able to draw on, unless you have been refused an overdraft by your bank (e.g. due to credit history). 

Providing you meet the general conditions of the Financial Assistance Fund, an award may be paid to you to cover the assessed shortfall if your expenses are higher than your income, and you’re unable to cover your living costs. 

If your expenses are lower than your income and you're able to cover your living costs, you are unlikely to receive an award from the Financial Assistance Fund.  

Assessment of Research Postgraduate, Taught Postgraduate, International and Non-SLC Funded Undergraduate Students*  

*not eligible for Student Tuition Fee Loans because of previous Higher Education study. 

If you are a Research Postgraduate, a Taught Postgraduate, an International student, an Undergraduate student who isn’t eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan due to previous study, an Undergraduate who isn’t eligible for a Student Loan due to other eligbility criteria, or an Undergraduate who has chosen not to take out a Student Loan, you will need to demonstrate that you meet the following requirements to be assessed for an award:

1. You had a sound financial plan in place at the start of the academic year to cover both your tuition/examination fee and living costs;

2. If you are an international student, we will assume as a minimum that you have the monthly income figure required to obtain a UK Student Visa for yourself and any dependants. Although, for the Visa, you need to demonstrate the monthly income for 9 months, if your academic year is 12 months, we apply the monthly income figure for 12 months in calculating your income. If your monthly expenditure exceeds the UK Student Visa monthly income figure, you are expected to fund this shortfall yourself, for example, through paid work; and, 

3. Since the start of the academic year there has been an unexpected change in your situation that could not have been reasonably foreseen and that has impacted your financial plan. Please read the section above for guidance on what can be considered an ‘unforeseen change’ within the criteria of the Fund.

If the assessor determines that a sound financial plan was in place (i.e. you were able to cover the costs of living expenses and tuition) and an unforeseen change has occurred that affected your finances, then they will assess your current financial situation to determine if an award can be made.