Hardship Support

Financial difficulties can be worrying and can make being a student seem tough. Oxford has a wide array of extra financial support available and if you are anxious, you should have a look at the possibilities. Usually the best starting place is your College Bursar.

Graduates have to supply proof of funding before they arrive, but if they run into unexpected financial hardship there is available support. For undergraduates, for most sources of hardship support there are some general guidelines:

• If you are a home student, have you taken all the support available from your LA
and the Student Loans Company?

• If you are an EU student or overseas student, have you ensured that you came to
Oxford with enough money to cover all your costs?

College Bursaries

Many colleges have bursaries that are only available to students of that college. Ask your college office for details about how to apply and deadlines. You may also want to check websites and noticeboards for more information. Some colleges will print information about bursaries in
handbooks or leaflets and give them to you in Freshers’ Week.

There may be awards, prizes or book grants aimed at encouraging students to improve their
academic performance.  Check to see if these are available and if a book grant is available save
any receipts for academic books that you purchase.

Many colleges offer vacation grants. These subsidise your rent or living costs if you stay during
the vacation. Find out about them as soon as you can, as deadlines may be sooner than you
think.  Some colleges will offer vacation grants automatically if you need to stay up for exams.

Oxford Opportunity Bursaries

If you are an undergraduate in your first year and your carers’ income is less than £37,425, you are eligible for an Oxford Opportunity Bursary. You do not need to fill in a separate application form, but you (and your carers)  need to sign the bursary consent statement in the PN1 form. This gives the Student Loans Company (SLC) permission to pass on information to the university which is then used to calculate your entitlement to a bursary. (If you are from Scotland a letter from you and your carers giving your permission for SAAS and SLC to do this will need to be sent.) The university will send you a letter telling you how much you will get.

The Oxford Opportunity Bursary is worth between £100 and £4,000 in your first year and
between £100 and £3,000 in other years. It is paid in 3 instalments, in the middle of each term.

The exact amount depends on your carers income for that year so the amount you get may
change from year to year. You must sign the consent statement each year to continue to be
considered for a bursary.

Other sources of funding may be available to you once you arrive in Oxford if you receive
a bursary. EU students are only eligible for an Oxford Opportunity Bursary if they receive
maintenance support from their LA. If you confirmed you were going to take a gap year before
1 August 2005, you are eligible for an Oxford Bursary instead.

Access to Learning Fund (ALF)

This is a government hardship fund that students apply to through their college.  Generally, if
you are a home student or from the Republic of Ireland you are eligible to apply.  If you are of
refugee status, or are dependent on someone of refugee status, or in a similar situation you
may be eligible to apply.  Details about who can apply and how to apply accompany the forms
given out by colleges.  Ask your college office for details.

The fund is designed to meet your shortfall between income and expenditure.  You will be
asked for detailed information about how you spend your money and your sources of income,
with supporting evidence (eg bank statements.)  The office staff will then feed this information
into a computer programme and the application will be assessed automatically.  Once an
amount of hardship support is offered it cannot be changed, and to get more support another
application is necessary.

University Hardship Fund

There is some money available from the University that covers unforeseen hardship.  Unforseen hardship means that there has been an unpredicted change of circumstance since you started studying at Oxford.  Some examples might be a change in your carers’ income, or a family emergency.

Any student at Oxford who has come across unforeseen hardship can apply and application
forms are available through colleges.

Vice-Chancellors’ Fund Awards

This fund is to assist academically outstanding DPhil students at the University in the last stages of their degree, who need extra funding to complete their research. Candidates must be expecting to submit their thesis within twelve months of the closing date. There is strong competition for these awards, which do not usually exceed £1,000 each. Successful candidates will be asked for a short report on their work on completion.

The University's funding website has more information.

Other University funds

There are a variety of other funds available, and an updated list appears in the University
Gazette around October/November. Contact the Student Advice Service for details. The University's student funding website has more details too.