Apply for discretionary funding

The Discretionary Funds are now open for any in session UK resident student on their programme for academic year 2022/23 (for example: you must be enrolled for 22/23). For students starting in September, you will be able to apply from 26 September. All students applying to these funds must provide evidence that you have received the first month of your funding from your funding body.

International students with a Student visa are required to have sufficient funds available to them to cover their full tuition fee and living costs for the duration of their course.  The university is understanding of unexpected issues which can have a negative impact on students’ funding.  For such extreme situations, students can apply for financial aid by completing the online form.

Students who are within the first six months of their studies and have no income, without adverse situations will not be supported.  

We pay out the following discretionary funds:

• Higher Education UG and PG Discretional Funds.
• Higher Education Childcare Fund (see below)
• Lone Parent Childcare Grant (LPCG)
• International Students’ Emergency Fund
• Higher Education Nursing & Midwifery Discretional Fund

We also distribute various donations and Trust scholarships.

You may be allocated an award to assist you with your general living costs, or a contribution towards your childcare costs. Assistance will not be provided towards tuition fees.

Any funds awarded will normally be paid directly to your bank account in instalments. Awards for childcare will be paid directly to your childcare provider.

The Student Funding Unit has a duty to protect the public funds it administers, and complies with financial audit requirements.

Higher Education Childcare Fund

Undergraduate students

If you are an undergraduate student with registered childcare costs, you can apply to the Higher Education Childcare Fund. This will be for a contribution towards your registered childcare costs which we pay direct to your childcare provider on a monthly basis. Our priority is to provide a contribution towards registered childcare costs during term time.

If you are receiving the childcare element of Working Tax Credit or Universal Credit, we expect you to maximise that entitlement before considering applying for the Higher Education Childcare Fund.

Application deadlines

You will need to apply for assistance towards your childcare each semester. 

The deadline for applications to the HE Childcare Fund in Semester 1 2022/23 is Friday 25 November 2022.

Applications for childcare assistance received after this date will be rejected.

Postgraduate students

If you are a postgraduate student, who has received funding for a Tuition Fee Loan from SAAS for your course, you can also apply to the HE Childcare Fund, providing you have taken the maximum student loan to which you are entitled.

Single parents

If you are a single parent and have applied to SAAS for the Lone Parent Grant (LPG), you can apply to us for the Lone Parent Childcare Grant (LPCG) of £1215 which goes towards your registered childcare costs.

Eligibility for discretionary funds

You can apply for financial assistance if you are:

• eligible to apply for a student loan

and

• have accessed the maximum government funding to which you are eligible.

and are either:

• a UK resident student, or the child of an EU migrant worker
• an EU student receiving SAAS support equivalent to a (UK) Home student
• a full or part-time Nursing student who is undertaking a Pre-Registration Nursing course
• a UK full-time or part-time undergraduate or postgraduate student studying a course as part of a degree programme.

If you are an EU or International student, or a Postgraduate Researcher, experiencing unexpected or unforeseen financial circumstances, you can also apply to us for financial assistance.

Students who are not eligible

You are not able to apply for financial assistance if you are:

• a co-curriculum student in your first year attending college - you need to contact your Student Services Directorate in your college for financial aid
• on an extended DP or are writing up a thesis
• studying on the MSc Educational Psychology programme and are in receipt of the Educational Psychology training grant
• a postgraduate student looking for a contribution towards registered childcare costs and eligible for a living cost loan, but have not taken this loan from your funding body

PGDE students in receipt of the STEM Training Bursary provided by the Scottish Government would also need to have taken out the maximum SAAS funding to which they are eligible, to be able to apply to the Discretionary Funds.

Apply for funding

If you want to apply for financial assistance, please make sure you are a current and matriculated student for this academic year (meaning that you have enrolled on your course).

We recommend that you save all the necessary documents in a named folder on your device to make it easier to submit your application, and also for future reference.

Eligibility for International Students’ Emergency Fund

All the following must apply:

• Students must be facing financial hardship as a result of a significant change of circumstances and at risk of not being able to continue with their studies due to that hardship. Changes of circumstances can include being unable to return home because of conflicts or the fear of persecution.
• Student must be non-UK domiciled on an international fee place OR be UK domiciled but not eligible to receive living cost support from a UK funding body.
• Student must have applied to the Home Office for a form of leave or extension of right(asylum seekers, students with limited leave to remain, leave outside of the rules, students who have applied to the Ukraine Extension Scheme who are NOT eligible for living cost support from SAAS, etc) to stay in the UK. Examples of residency statuses where someone maybe considered eligible for this fund can be found in the Residency Statuses section.