Guidance for students who’ve been awarded funding they’re not entitled to due to previous study
This information is only for you if we’ve contacted you to let you know that we’ve awarded you funding that you weren’t entitled to due to previous study. This means you don’t have enough entitlement left to cover the rest of your course.
Applies to England
If you don’t have enough standard entitlement left to cover the rest of your course and you find yourself in ‘exceptional circumstances’, you can send us evidence to review. We might be able to give you funding to cover the rest of your course.
Examples of exceptional circumstances could be if:
- you’re experiencing financial hardship
- you have to withdraw from your course
- you’ve changed your employment or personal situation as a result of the funding we’ve awarded you
If you think any of these, or any other exceptional circumstances apply to you, you should upload as much information as you can about them in your online account. Make sure you include:
- a cover letter explaining your situation and why you think we should review your remaining years funding
- documents to show that your circumstances are exceptional
Here’s some examples of the evidence we can consider.
Financial hardship
To show significant financial hardship, you can send us:
- your incomings and outgoings
- recent bank statements (covering the last 3 months)
- financial commitments made after you received your initial entitlement notice
- tenancy or mortgage agreement
Withdrawal from your course
If you’ll have to withdraw from your course as you’re unable to cover the tuition fees or living costs yourself, you can send us:
- documents showing that you’ve talked to your university or college about not being able to self-fund the rest of your course
- financial commitments made after you received your initial award notice
Change to your employment or personal situation
If you’ve left your job or moved house after being awarded the initial funding, you can send us:
- written communication between you and your employer to show you’ve left your job or reduced your hours after the initial award was given
- a tenancy or rent agreement dated after the initial award was given to show a change in your living situation
- documents showing failed attempts at regaining employment or an increase of hours
What happens next
We’ll review your evidence and check whether you meet the ‘exceptional circumstances’. We’ll email you to let you know the outcome as soon as we can.
If we need any more information from you, we’ll be in touch.