Cost of Living Support Fund

Section 1: Overview

What is it?

Our Cost of Living Support Fund is a University scheme that exists thanks to generous donations from alumni and friends who want to ensure that no University of Manchester student is left struggling. 

The Cost of Living Support Fund provides financial support to students who are unexpectedly suffering financial hardship.

For new students commencing their studies in September 2023, please note that this fund should not be considered as a potential means of funding your studies, and any applications in advance of commencing your studies will be unsuccessful. You can find information on potential funding opportunities available whilst at University here.  

The fund is open all year long, it is non-repayable and can help students overcome food insecurity, support them with utility bills, and address any other issues arising from financial hardship. More details of what can be supported can be found below.

Who Can Apply?

It is open to ALL students, regardless of level of study, nationality, or social background, who are experiencing unforeseen circumstances or unexpected financial hardship.

If you are an Architecture student, please get in touch with our MMU contact: Student Financial Support | Manchester Metropolitan University (mmu.ac.uk)

What do we mean by financial hardship? 

If you're struggling to make ends meet and you're unable to cover essential, day-to-day living costs, then you may be eligible for support. 

• You may be relying on part time work, or struggling to find sufficient part time work, to supplement your living expenses...
• You may be a student whose sponsors have withdrawn funding, or where payments are delayed...
• You may be an international student experiencing difficulties in transferring funds from overseas....
• Or you may have another cause to be in financial hardship... WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Before you apply for assistance, you should have accessed all other sources of funding available to you, including your full entitlement of student loans/NHS Bursary. The fund cannot assist with the cost of tuition fees for any student.

The University funds are discretionary with a maximum non-repayable award of £2,000. Awards are granted on a case-by-case basis after consideration of each application, and we cannot guarantee financial support to every student who applies.

Section 2: How are applications assessed?

This fund is intended to assist as many students as possible, so we have designed a specific assessment process to determine the level of assistance that we may be able to offer you. For detailed information on our assessment process please refer to our guidelines, in particular section 12.4 relating to 'non-essential' expenditure. 

When assessing applications we take a holistic approach, considering students' financial circumstances, alongside any specific elements of need or disadvantage.

Please provide as much detail as possible regarding your situation in your supporting statement, so that we can consider all matters when assessing your application.

For example, this might include highlighting if you fall into one of the following categories, and the challenges that might present:

• Care leavers and care experienced students
• Estranged students
• Widening Participation students
• Students with refugee or asylum seeker status

Section 3: What can we support?

We can support students with living costs they may be struggling to meet whilst studying, including accommodation costs, utilities, food shopping, study related costs e.g. placement travel costs etc. However, note that this does not include laptops/desktops/tablets.

Please note that this fund is to help students experiencing unforeseen circumstances or unexpected financial hardship. Therefore, we generally can only support students who have started their course with adequate funding in place.

What do we mean by adequate funding? 

We would expect students to commence their studies with adequate funding in place to cover both their tuition fees and expected living costs - these are published on our website: Cost of Living.

Section 4: Application process

An application will generally take 30 minutes to complete.

As part of the application, we request relevant documents from the following checklist:

Document checklist

Please have these documents to hand, ideally in pdf format, before you start your application.

To start your application please download a copy of the form using the following link:

Application form

Please note when submitting your application we recommend you password protect the document using your student ID as the password.

Our assessment time can vary depending on the complexity and number of applications received. It is currently taking up to three working weeks for us to complete assessment of applications after receipt of all supporting documentation.

Applications received after 1st December are unlikely to receive a decision before the University closes for Christmas on Thursday 21st December.

For any successful applications determined after 13th December, the award will be paid in the new year. 

Section 5: Unsure about making an application? 

Even if you believe that your situation isn't as serious as some of your peers, if you're struggling with financial hardship we can support you. There is no shame in asking for help.

If you have questions or problems with the application process, please contact us via our online enquiry form.

Section 6: Further support 

• Extra Financial Support: click here
• Financial guidance: click here
• Budgeting guidance: Student Union Advice Team
• Emergency Loan: Advice service emergency loan
• Student Union Recreation Grant: click here
• Foodbank: click here
• General wellbeing support: click here