Short-term Emergency Loans

Short-term emergency loans are available on a discretionary basis to assist students experiencing delays in their funding or suffering immediate financial crises.

Short-term emergency loans are not grants and must be repaid: nor are they a solution to long term underfunding or cash-flow problems.

You should familarise yourself with the following terms and conditions before applying for an emergency loan:  

  • you should access all sources of funding before applying for an emergency loan
  • emergency loans are normally only issued for essential maintenance costs such as food; travel to and from University, essential medical costs and essential consumables/toiletries.
  • emergency loans are generally small and cannot assist with rent payments.  If you have rent arrears you should negotiate with the University accommodation team or your private landlord (Student Advice Centre can provide assistance when negotiating with private landlords).
  • emergency loans will not be issued to fund tuition fee arrears, library fines or any other fines which could have been avoided.
  • emergency loans cannot normally provide financial support for laptop purchases, gym memberships and course costs (field trips, books, materials). 
  • emergency loans are normally a one-off measure.  If you apply for more than one emergency loan during your course you may be referred to the Student Finance Adviser for budgeting and money management advice before any subsequent emergency loan application is considered.
  • emergency loans are not normally issued during the summer vacation.
  • if you are in the final year of your course you are not eligible to apply for an emergency loan after your course end date regardless of graduation date.
  • it will not be possible to proceed with an emergency loan if you do not provide the required evidence (e.g. continuous bank statements for the four week period preceding your application)
  • if it has been discovered that you have made a fraudulent application for an emergency loan you will be refused financial support and could face disciplinary action.
  • if you are abusive or insulting to any member of staff when applying for an emergency loan your application will be declined and could face disciplinary action.

Application Process

If you wish to apply for a short-term emergency loan you must contact us by *telephoning 0191 222 5679 or 0191 208 3760.

*If you are unable to call us you should complete an enquiry form providing your contact telephone number.  You will receive a call back.  Please note that the number we call you from may show as a blocked number.  If we are unable to get through to you we will leave a voice message or send you an email. 

  • Enquiry received between 9.00am -12.00pm – call back between 12.30pm – 2.00pm the same working day
  • Enquiry received between 12.00pm – 5.00pm – call back between 12.30pm – 2.00pm the following working day.

We will conduct a telephone interview to determine your eligibility for an emergency loan.  You should answer all questions to the best of your knowledge.

If you are deemed to be eligible for an emergency loan you will be asked to attend a meeting with a member of the Student Financial Support Team.   You will be given an appointment time and asked to bring itemised and continuous bank statements showing transactions in all of your accounts for the last month including accounts you are no longer using.  You should make every effort to turn up to your appointment on time or ring in advance if you need to cancel or rearrange.  Failing to do this could lead to appointments not being offered in the future.

Staff will make decisions on the basis of the discussion and evidence provided.  A decision will be made at the end of this interview, wherever possible but it could take up to 24 hours if you are asked to submit further evidence.

Payment

In most instances only a small sum will be loaned to cover very basic living costs. If eligible, you will normally be offered cash but irresponsible or unnecessary spending could lead to you being offered Tesco Spend Cards or a combination of the two.

Tesco Spend Cards cannot be used to purchase alcohol or tobacco products

Repayments

Short-term emergency loans are interest free. A repayment date will be agreed during the meeting, taking into account when future income is expected.

Failure to repay may prohibit you from re-registering in a subsequent year, attending a graduation ceremony and receiving your degree parchment.   

Further Information and Assistance

International and non-UK EU Students with longer term cash flow problems should consider making an application to the Financial Assistance Fund (International and non-UK EU students only). The FAF may be able to provide discretionary assistance to students who are struggling to cover their living costs.

You should have exhausted all other sources of funding available to you before applying and note that as this funding is discretionary there is no guarantee that any one applicant will be successful.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible to apply for an emergency loan you should by calling 0191 208 3760 or 0191 222 5679.