1. Complete the online application form if you wish to apply for financial support. You only need to submit one application (and one set of supporting documents) and our assessing team will assess your circumstances and eligibility across all of the funds we administer (Housing Support Fund, Mature Students Hardship Fund, The Lady Eileen McDonald EU & International Student Fund and Discretionary Fund)
2. Ensure you include all income and expenditure. We cannot assess an incomplete application.  You must provide all the documents needed, or your application will be delayed

Application for Financial Support

University of Strathclyde Discretionary Fund Assessment Guidance

3. When you submit your application to the Financial Support Funds, we will complete an income assessment to evaluate your income and expenditure. If, over the academic year, you have a shortfall, we will provide you with an award from the Financial Support Funds. However, if you have a surplus, it's unlikely that you will be eligible for an award, as this indicates you have sufficient funds to cover your essential living costs.

If you have a surplus but also extenuating circumstances, you can still apply. In this case, please include a statement in the 'Additional Information' box to explain your situation.

Submitting an application – getting it right first time

When submitting your application to the Financial Support Funds, you will need to upload supporting documents. Providing incomplete or incorrect documents, such as screenshots, will significantly delay the processing of your application. Below are some helpful tips to ensure your application is correct the first time.

Student Funding Award Letter

You can download your full funding award letter from your online account with your funding provider.

The following links will take you directly to your login page for your funding provider, where you can obtain this:

• Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS)
• Student Finance England (SFE)
• Student Finance Wales (SFW)
• Student Finance Northern Ireland (SFNI)

If you would like to see an example of what the document should look like, please email us on: financial-support@strath.ac.uk.

If you send us your Student Loan Schedule from the Student Loans Company (SLC), please note that this document does not show your full funding package. We will still need your full award letter to process your application.

Bank statements

As part of your application, please upload PDF copies of your bank statements for the last two months for all accounts. This includes current, savings, ISA’s, and investment accounts.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept screenshots or statements in a spreadsheet (CSV) format as they often don’t include all the required information.

You can usually find instructions on how to download your statements on your bank’s website and most UK banks allow you to access and download statements going back up to seven years.

You can try searching online for “how to download a [bank name] statement” or visit the help or support section of your bank’s website for guidance.

Accommodation

If you are renting or living in student accommodation, please upload a copy of your tenancy agreement showing that you are a named tenant and confirming your monthly rent amount.

If you are an owner-occupier, please provide a copy of your most recent mortgage statement showing your name and your monthly mortgage payment.

Please also ensure that your accommodation payment appears on the bank statements you have submitted.

Payslips

If you are employed, please ensure we can see your wages clearly on the bank statements you have submitted.

If you have recently left your job, upload your P45, which shows your last day of work. If your P45 is not yet available, a letter from your employer confirming your last date of employment will be accepted instead.

Universal Credit

If you receive Universal Credit, please upload your most recent award letter, which shows all deductions. Please do not send screenshots, as they may cut off relevant information.  You can download your award letter by:

• logging in to your Universal Credit account
• go to the Statement Summary page and select your latest statement
• when your award statement appears, click the printer icon to the right of your name
• select the option to 'Save as PDF'

If you would like to see an example of a Universal Credit award letter, please email us on: financial-support@strath.ac.uk .

To help avoid any overpayment of benefits, please upload your Student Funding Award Letter to your Universal Credit account. This will allow them to deduct your student funding package and recalculate your award accurately.

Debts

We’re unable to provide support from the Discretionary Fund for any debts owed to family or friends. However, we can include the minimum or contractual repayments for any consumer debts that are in your name.

To include these in your assessment, please upload a statement for each debt showing that you are the named account holder, the outstanding balance, and the minimum or contractual monthly repayment amount.