Guidance

Applying for student finance as an estranged student

Published 7 October 2025

Applies to England

1. Overview

Student Finance England normally work out how much money you can get by looking at your parents’ household income. This is because they might have to help with your living costs while you’re studying.

If you’re estranged from your parents, it might not be possible or safe to ask them for their income details.

You can apply for independent status if you’re estranged. This means you can still get full financial support without needing your parent’s household income details.

1.1 Eligibility

You can apply for independent status as an estranged student if:

• you’re under 25 years old

• you’re estranged from your parents

Being estranged from your parents means that you’ve not had any verbal or written contact with them for at least 12 months and this is unlikely to change.

If you’ve had contact with your parents within the last 12 months you can still apply, but you’ll need to give a full explanation of the nature of the contact. This would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

1.2 How to apply

To apply for independent status as an estranged student, you need to:

• tell Student Finance England you’re estranged in your student finance application

• complete and return a confirmation of estrangement form or send a supporting statement written by an independent third party who has knowledge of your estrangement

You’ll need to tell Student Finance England you’re estranged from your parents each year you complete a student finance application.

You may be asked to give evidence of your estrangement each time you apply, but this will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

There’s a different way to apply for student finance as an estranged student if you’re:

• a student from Northern Ireland

• a student from Scotland

• a student from Wales

2. Supporting statements

A supporting statement is a letter that’s written by an independent third party with good standing in the community. They must be able to show knowledge that you’ve not had verbal or written contact with your parents.

A supporting statement could be:

• a letter from a member of staff at your school or college which explains that they knew about the difficult relationship whilst you were at school and your subsequent estrangement

• a letter from your doctor explaining that you’ve consistently and historically reported difficulties associated with your estrangement

• a letter from a social worker or local authority that shows they were aware of your difficult situation, or they allocated you a child protection order

• a letter from a counsellor or an organisation such as National Association of People Abused in Childhood or Karma Nirvana, that confirms you’ve been seeking support for your estrangement

• a letter from a housing support worker that may have helped you find accommodation after you left home

• a letter from a member of the clergy, a rabbi or imam that explains they were aware of the difficulties in your family and your subsequent estrangement

• a statement of incident from the police that shows any callouts, arrests or cautions involved in the case

2.1 Secondary supporting statements

You can also send secondary supporting statements to provide more details about your circumstances, but these can’t be sent as evidence on their own.

A secondary supporting statement could be:

• a letter from other members of your family, a family friend or partner

• a letter from an independent person that states you’ve told this person about your circumstances recently

• a letter from anyone that hasn’t known you for a long period of time, for example, statements from your university student support officer

• a letter from your parents that declares the estrangement - this would be considered a communication within the last 12 months and isn’t valid to verify your estrangement

You may be asked to give supporting statements each time you apply, but this will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

2.2 Supporting statements checklist

Before you send Student Finance England your supporting statements, check that you’ve included the information they need.

Have you made your circumstances clear?
If you feel comfortable enough, explain your situation in your own words and make a timeline of key events.

Have you provided as many statements as you can?
You can provide as many supporting statements as you’d like but at least one of these statements needs to be from an independent person with good standing in the community.

A person with good standing in the community could be:

• a member of staff from your school or college
• a doctor
• a social worker
• a counsellor
• a housing support officer
• a member of the clergy, a rabbi or imam

Are your statements suitable?
Make sure that your statements from independent persons are on headed paper where possible and includes a telephone number so they can be contacted.

3. How to send evidence

The quickest and easiest way to provide evidence is by uploading it via your online account

Alternatively, this evidence can be posted to Student Finance England:

Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ

If you’re sending evidence by post, send all of your statements together in the same envelope where possible.

If you’re sending anything by post, make sure it’s a copy and not an original document.

4. Other support sources

Your university or college may be able to give you additional support if you’re having issues proving your estrangement. Talk to your student services, student wellbeing or student union teams at your current or first choice university for more information.

If you’re feeling a drop in your mood or well-being as a result of proving your estranged status, visit your GP and tell them about your situation.

If you need to talk about something urgently, you can contact Samaritans for support.

If you’re an abuse survivor and want help with processing and understanding your past, contact National Association for People Abused in Childhood for support.

If you’re experiencing family estrangement as a result of escaping forced marriage or honour abuse, you can contact Karma Nirvana for support.