Struggling with Money?

If you've got money worries, we may be able to help.

Help with living costs

Are you in financial difficulty? We may be able to offer:

a short-term, interest-free emergency loan
an assessment to receive extra money

What do we mean by financial hardship?

If you find yourself struggling to make ends meet and you're unable to cover essential, day-to-day living costs.

Before you apply for assistance, you must have accessed all other sources of funding available to you. This includes using savings and taking out an interest free overdraft if you're eligible. The University funds are discretionary, and there is no guarantee that you'll receive funding. If you're eligible to receive help, you might receive either a non-repayable award or a loan.

Still not sure whether to make an application?

You may feel that there are more deserving cases than yours, and that you should not submit an application. However, the funds are intended to assist as many students as possible. Our assessment process will determine the level of assistance to offer to you. We aim to provide you with an outcome within 10 working days of submitting a fully completed application form.

Financial assistance may be available for UK, non-UK, EU and international students. Read more about the Student Financial Support Fund and the Financial Assistance Fund (PDF: 128KB).

UK students

The Student Financial Support Fund is provided by the University to give discretionary financial assistance to registered UK students if they:

need help with unexpected financial difficulties
have a low income (first degree undergraduates only)
are considering leaving higher education because of financial problems
are experiencing a funding delay, such as a student loan instalment

Last year, 81% of the students who submitted an application received assistance from the fund. Read more about some of the successful and unsuccessful applications made to the Student Financial Support Fund‌ (PDF: 455KB).

Find out more about the fund by reading the Student Financial Support Fund Policy and Guidance (PDF: 307KB)

Apply for funding from the Student Financial Support Fund

To support social distancing measures we have suspended face to face appointments. If you want to submit a Student Financial Support Fund 2019-20 application form (Word: 67KB) and supporting documentation please email this to student.fin-supp@ncl.ac.uk

Non-UK, EU and international students

The Financial Assistance Fund (FAF) is provided by the University to give discretionary financial assistance to registered international and non-UK EU students who are experiencing serious and unexpected financial difficulties due to circumstances beyond their control.

Last year, 63% of the students who submitted an application received assistance from the fund. Read more about some of the ‌‌successful and unsuccessful applications made to the Financial Assistance Fund (PDF: 457KB).

Find out more about the fund by reading the Financial Assistance Fund Policy and Guidance (PDF: 342KB)

Apply for funding from the Financial Assistance Fund

To support social distancing measures we have suspended face to face appointments. If you want to submit a Financial Assistance Fund 2019-20 application form (Word: 235KB) and supporting documentation please email this to: student.fin-supp@ncl.ac.uk

Emergency loans

If you run out money and can't cover your living costs, we may be able to provide a short-term, interest free, emergency loan.

We'll usually only provide one emergency loan in any academic year, and we don't offer them during the summer vacation. They usually need to be repaid. They can't assist with ongoing or long-term financial difficulties, but we have other funding that might be able to help with this.

Before applying, you must read our Emergency Loan terms and conditions‌ (PDF: 113KB).

How do I apply for an emergency loan?

To support social distancing measures we will no longer be offering face-to-face appointments.

Please contact us by emailing: student.fin-supp@ncl.ac.uk and one of the team will respond.

Eligibility

First, we'll speak to you over the phone. We'll ask you some questions to assess your eligibility for an emergency loan. Answer all of the questions to the best of your knowledge.

If you're eligible, we'll give you an appointment time. We'll ask you to bring itemised and continuous bank statements showing transactions in all of your accounts for the last month. This includes accounts you're no longer using or any overseas accounts (if applicable). We'll try and reach a decision at the end of the appointment, but in some instances. it could take up to 24 hours to reach a decision if you're asked to submit further evidence.

Payment

We'll only offer an emergency loan to cover very basic living costs in the short term.

To support social distancing measures we will pay emergency loans by BACS transfer within 3 to 5 working days.

Repayments

We will agree a repayment date with you during your appointment. We'll take into account when you expect to receive your next source of income. You'll only repay what you borrow from us; your loan won't accrue interest.

You can repay online

If you're unable to repay by the agreed date contact us immediately to discuss the options available to you.

Need help with debts, benefits or consumer matters?

We don't provide advice about benefit eligibility, debt management or consumer matters. If you need help with any of these issues, contact the Student Advice Centre at the Students' Union, or an external organisation.

Making your money go further

Find out how you can make the most of your money:

Budgeting: take control of your money
Ideas for making money: increase your income
Cutting your costs: reduce your spending