Financial Assistance Fund
The Financial Assistance Fund (FAF) is provided by the University, and offers non-repayable support that can help you if you are having financial difficulties during your degree.
FAF is open to all current students studying at Queen Mary, ordinarily based on our London campuses. The fund is intended to act as a safety net for those in need, and can help alleviate unexpected financial hardship – although we are unlikely to be able to provide all the funds you may need. FAF is unable to help with the payment of tuition fees. We aim to help eligible students as much as possible within available resources, applications will be means-tested to ascertain financial hardship, as such, some applications will be unsuccessful.
Your application needs to show that you have made realistic provision to support yourself and any dependants throughout your course at Queen Mary. If you are eligible you must have taken out all government funding available to you.
If you need help with making your FAF application, or if you would like to talk to an adviser about the other sources of funding that may be available to you, you can book a confidential one-to-one appointment with a Welfare Adviser in the Advice and Counselling Service. Further information about FAF, including how to apply, can be found below.
If you think you might need to apply for financial assistance we recommend that you submit an application as early as possible; you don’t need to wait until you have run out of money.
Financial Assistance Fund Policy_23_24 [PDF 168KB]
Current students are eligible to apply, regardless of nationality, level of study or mode of study (part time or full time), if they are ordinarily based on our London campuses.
Students who are studying abroad as part of their course are eligible to apply.
ULIP students are eligible to apply.
EU Undergraduate students
If you are assessed as a Home EU student and are in receipt of either the tuition fee loan only or the full tuition fee and maintenance loan package, you are considered an Undergraduate Home student for the purposes of FAF.
If you are assessed as an Overseas EU student and are not eligible for any loans from the UK Government you are considered an International student for the purposes of FAF.
Please check our guidance for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals
MBBS in Malta
If you have exceptional or unforeseen costs and are in financial need you can contact the Head of Student, Academic & Pastoral Support (SAPS) Aimee Dent at the SAPS Office, 2nd floor of Queen Mary University of London, Malta Campus, or by phoning +356 99108315, or by email a.dent@qmul.ac.uk
Further information can be found at the following link: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/malta/student-life/student-support/
Degree Apprenticeship students
Students attending a degree apprenticeship are not eligible to apply.
Associate students
Students who are fully registered at a different institution are not eligible to apply and should contact their home institution for support in the first instance.
All applications need to come via the Scholarships and Bursaries section of MySIS
- Log in to your MySIS portal and go to the Scholarships and Bursaries page (click More Options... if not visible)
- Click on ‘Apply for Scholarship or Bursary’
- Select ‘Financial Assistance Fund’ from the funding type dropdown and complete the online application screens
- Make sure you click the ‘Submit’ button on the final screen
The online application gives you guidance on how to complete all the sections and what evidence to provide as you go through it.
It's really important that you submit a complete application and that you provide all of the supporting evidence requested on the form. Failing to provide sufficient evidence may result in a delay with your application. Here are our recommendations for ensuring that we can process your application as quickly as possible.
- The sections that are most often incomplete are the Income and Expenditure sections - remember that income isn't only earnings, but all of the money you have available to you.
- We often have to go back to ask for bank statements, statements from savings accounts and trading accounts. Your application will be processed more promptly if we are sent statements from all accounts held straight away, even if there is nothing in the account!
- Make sure you check any messages that are sent to your student email - this is where we will ask you for any updates or further information.
Undergraduate Home Students
Applications for Standard Awards should be submitted by Friday 19 April 2024.
Applications for Exceptional Awards should normally be submitted at least 4 weeks before the end of your academic year but if you are a continuing student you can apply until Friday 12 July 2024 subject to funds being available.
Postgraduate and International Students
For students ending their studies before 12 July 2024 applications must be submitted 4 weeks before the end of your course, otherwise you can apply until Friday 12 July 2024 subject to funds being available.
Your application will be assessed with care by experienced members of the Bursaries, Grants & Scholarships team. There are two types of awards you may be considered for:
Standard Awards
A Standard Award can help to meet general living costs associated with being a student such as accommodation, food and utility bills and with course-related costs such as childcare, travel and books.
Most applications will be assessed for a Standard Award, where your expected income and that of any partner will be compared against your reasonable expenditure.
All students encounter costs for food, bills, clothes, leisure, plus they may have to pay for rent, travel and course costs, however some students will choose to spend more than others. To ensure parity, we will use pre-set values that are considered reasonable for each of these costs when assessing your application.
Exceptional Awards
Some students may be faced with unforeseen or exceptional circumstances, for example, essential household repairs or emergency situations, such as travel costs due to family illness or bereavement or if you are unable to work due to health reasons or caring responsibilities. These are only examples; if you feel your circumstances are exceptional you should apply.
In these instances we may be able to make an Exceptional Award as a one-off contribution towards these costs if it can be demonstrated that these costs are necessary, reasonable and that the costs cannot be met from any other source.
Priority Groups
The fund is there to help any eligible student who has a particular financial need but we cannot meet every application we receive and we cannot always meet all of the costs that you might apply for. Priority is given to certain groups of students when deciding how to allocate the funding. These include:
- Students with children (especially lone parents)
- Disabled students (especially where the Disabled Students’ Allowance is unable to meet particular costs)
- Students who are care experienced or are estranged
- Students in the final year of their study
Further information on types of awards, assessments and priority groups is provided in the FAF Policy on this page, Section 5
Your application will be assessed with care by experienced members of the Bursaries, Grants & Scholarships team. As funds are limited we can only consider applications for Exceptional Awards from Postgraduate and International students.
Students may be faced with short-term and urgent situations, for example, essential household repairs or emergency situations, such as travel costs due to family illness or bereavement or a sudden, temporary loss of earnings. These are only examples; if you feel your circumstances are exceptional you should apply.
Please complete the statement in the application form explaining your financial situation including:
- How you have been funding your course
- What has happened that has led to your funding being disrupted
- What steps you have taken, where possible, to resolve the situation yourself and how long you expect to be in financial difficulties
In these instances we may be able to make an Exceptional Award as a one-off contribution towards these costs if it can be demonstrated that these costs are necessary, reasonable and that the costs cannot be met from any other source.
Further information on awards and assessments is provided in the FAF Policy.
CCLS Bursary Fund – this is a fund specifically for CCLS students. Applications are assessed as above and you may qualify for financial help when unexpectedly needed, during your studies in London or Paris. Funds are provided by CCLS. Please state in Part 9, your personal statement, that you are applying for the CCLS Bursary.
You will receive an email to your University email account once your application has been submitted. The Bursaries, Grants & Scholarships team may contact you to ask for further information or evidence to process your application, so please check your University email account regularly as any delay in submitting this information will cause a delay in the assessment of your application.
You will usually receive a decision on your application in two to three weeks of our having received all of the documents required in support of your application.
How will I be paid?
Queen Mary pays its students by bank transfer. Payments will be sent directly to the account you nominate within your online application.
Please make sure that the information you give us is correct as it can be difficult to retrieve payments paid into the wrong account. If your bank details change after you have submitted this form contact the Bursaries, Grants and Scholarships Office. It is your responsibility to ensure you keep us updated.
Queen Mary's Students' Union offers money advice and other sources of funding, including a Welfare Loan of £100 cash and help with graduation costs from the Graduation Fund. Visit the SU website for more details here: https://www.qmsu.org/advice/finance/funding/
Queen Mary also runs a Supermarket Voucher Scheme through which you may be able to obtain a supermarket voucher normally to the value of £25 if your funds are low, you are in immediate financial difficulty and you are unable to afford to buy food, toiletries or other essential items. For more information visit: Queen-mary-supermarket-voucher-scheme
The Students' Union has a Food Pantry, an emergency service open to all Queen Mary students in need of short-term food assistance, more details are here: The QMSU Food Pantry
If you are studying on the MBBS or GEP programme in the Medical School and are in financial difficulties due to unexpected extenuating circumstances, you may be given a grant or interest-free loan or a combination of both. Visit the Advice & Counselling website for more information here: Medicine and Dentistry funding
Why do I need to provide documents?
Documents are required as supporting evidence and verification of the information stated in your application. All of the documents we ask for can be easily obtained.
Why do I need to provide bank statements?
Bank statements are required to understand your financial situation. Internet print-outs are acceptable as long as each sheet has a header with your name and account number on it and all transactions and daily balances are shown. We cannot accept screenshots and submitting screenshots will cause a delay to the assessment of your application as we will request you resubmit with the requested PDFs.
Can I provide downloaded online bank statements?
Yes and we have a step-by-step guide to downloading online statements here:
How to download an online bank statement [PDF 400KB]
I am worried about some of the transactions on my bank statements and how these will be considered?
You need to explain any transaction in or out over £100 on statements provided in the ‘Purchases’ section of the application and these will support your declaration of expenditure and income in the application e.g. rent, loan payment, wages/salary.
Do I have to have an overdraft?
The Financial Assistance Fund is a hardship fund and it is expected that students will have accessed all other funding available to them before making an application to it. If you have applied for and been declined an account with an overdraft facility you can submit evidence from your bank to confirm this.
Do I have to wait until I have run out of money before I apply?
If you think you might need to apply for financial assistance, we recommend that you submit an application as early as possible; you don’t need to wait until you have run out of money. If your circumstances change after you have submitted your application, you can reapply to Fund.
Do I need to include my Cryptocurrency statement?
If you have a cryptocurrency account you need to provide us with your online statements
Do I need to provide my Partner’s information?
If you are living with a partner you will need to provide evidence of your partner’s income as well as their recent bank statements and you can tell us how you share the household costs. We will take their income and basic expenditure into consideration when assessing whether you are entitled to an award.
However, if you have been assessed based on your parents’ income by Student Finance we will assess you as a single student.
What rent amount do I need to provide?
You need to provide a copy of your tenancy agreement or licence agreement showing the amount of rent you are required to pay and evidence of your payments, such as transactions on your bank statements.
If you are living at home and your parent(s) are paying rent you do not need to provide evidence of this.
Can I apply more than once a year?
Assessment is over the entire academic year and any award is made on that basis. Therefore, you may only apply more than once during an academic year for the Financial Assistance Fund if your circumstances have changed from your original application and you did not receive the maximum award available. Applicants will be asked to provide appropriate documentary evidence.
If your circumstances change and you wish to re-apply you need to email bursaries@qmul.ac.uk and ask for your application to be re-opened.
How much can I receive?
Awards can be from £250 up to £3500 subject to funds being available; maximum amounts are awarded in the most exceptional circumstances depending on evidenced financial need.
I don't have a rent guarantor, what can I do?
QM has signed up with Housing Hand who provide a rent guarantor service to students.
I have debt, can I apply?
You can apply to the Financial Assistance Fund if you have priority debt such us: secured loans, rent arrears, charges for utilities, TV licence, Tax and VAT. However, the fund can not help to pay non-priority debt such us: credit cards, bank overdraft, private medical care or any other debt.
