Financial Support available at the University
Being a student can be expensive. There are a number ways the University can support you financially. With living costs increasing and endless new textbooks to buy it is important to get the most out of what you are entitled to.
Support for all students (with a few exceptions)
If you find yourself experiencing some unexpected financial hardship during the academic year you may be able to apply to the University’s Hardship Fund for a grant. Examples of this might include someone who has unexpectedly lost their job, whose flat has been flooded or damaged by fire, or who has lost a source of financial support (perhaps through bereavement).
It’s maybe worth noting that the University will ask for proof of your income/expenditure as part of the application process. They are unlikely to award money if they feel you have simply spent too much on non-essential items.
In order to qualify you simply need to be a registered student at the University although there are a few exceptions who are not eligible. Details of these are listed on the Financial Aid Website.
You will also need to ask your Adviser of Studies or Postgraduate Supervisor to support your case. There is a special section on the form for their statement.
Once your form has been submitted, you may be invited to speak with one of the Financial Aid team, who will be able to advise you of whether your case will be considered by the Hardship Committee, and if so how best to prepare for the committee meeting.
Emergencies
If you find yourself in a situation where you need money urgently and can’t wait for a Discretionary Fund or Hardship Fund application to be considered, you can apply to Financial Aid for a Crisis Loan.
Support for UK ‘Home’ students only
If you are studying either full-time or part-time you can apply to the HEI Discretionary Fund for financial support. The only other qualifying criterion for the fund is that you must have taken up your full student loan entitlement, should you be eligible to do so. In other words you can’t apply for a grant from the fund if you haven’t applied to SAAS/SFE etc for maintenance loan support first.
The fund is primarily there to assist students with 4 areas and these are accommodation costs, disability, mature/independent students and part-time students studying 60 credits or more.
Financial support is also provided via the HEI Discretionary Fund towards formal childcare costs for undergraduate and PGDE students in receipt of SAAS tuition fee funding.
More details of eligibility are available on the Financial Aid website.
What if I have more money going out than coming in?
Whilst the University can provide some financial support in the form of the funds mentioned above they also expect you to a certain extent to have “done your sums” before you enrol at University to ensure you’ll have enough money each month to live on.
If you think you might need a bit of help with making your money go further or just budgeting advice in general there’s some helpful advice and budgeting tips on the “Money Saving Expert” website here.
If after cutting back on a few things or following the budgeting advice you still find yourself struggling, or you’ve got debt problems general, we have some helpful advice on our website here.
We would also encourage you to call into our Advice Centre and speak to one of our Advice Team who will be able to provide you with confidential advice on your options going forward and can even contact your creditors to arrange a repayment plan/stop the interest accruing on outstanding debts etc.
If you’d like any more information or advice on any of the above please just get in touch with our Advice Centre who are open Monday to Friday 11:30am to 4pm and located on the ground floor of the John McIntyre Building on the main campus. Their contact details are listed below:
Email: advice@src.gla.ac.uk
Tel: 0141 330 5360