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FAF Guidance Notes

Guidance notes for applications to the Financial Assistance Fund. Please read these notes before completing the application form.

Completing the application form

You can complete the form in stages by using the ‘Save & Exit’ function. 

Before you submit your application, make sure you have read about the scheme (including eligibility, award amounts & how to provide your bank details) on our main FAF scheme page

The deadlines to apply for 2023-24 are:

UndergraduatePostgraduate Taught & PGCEPostgraduate Research
7 June 202426 July 2024No deadline

If you have any questions about the process, or encounter any issues, please let us know by logging into askUCL, select Log an Enquiry and choose Financial Assistance Fund (FAF) from the categories

Section 1 - Confidentiality & Data Protection Act

You must agree to the statement before you can proceed.

Section 2 – Your Details

Term time address: All communications from our office will be to your UCL email account. However, it is useful for us to know where you live as this will be factored into our assessment.  Note: ‘Shared Accommodation’ should be selected if you are living in a flat/house share with other renters

Disability/Special needs: Provide details of any disabilities as this will be factored into our assessment

Homeless, Care experienced or Foyer applicants: Undergraduate students from these groups are prioritised for support, but students from other study levels may also wish to share this information as it could help their application. Our definition of ‘Homeless’ is someone who does not have a permanent address and may, for example, be living in temporary accommodation or ‘sofa-surfing’.

Section 3 – Your Dependants

Complete this section if relevant. Provide details of any children and/or adults who are financially dependent on you along with the requested supporting evidence.

Section 4 – Your Programme Details

Confirm your year of study and whether you are on a repeat year (research students may select ‘n/a – Research Degree’).

Section 5 – Bank Account Information

Provide details of all bank accounts you hold and whether an overdraft facility is provided as this will be treated as income as part of our assessment (research students may select ‘n/a – Research Degree’).

You will need to supply copies of itemised bank statements covering the last three months, with the most recent being no more than two weeks old from the date you submit your application.  If the bank statement is for a joint account, you may need to check with the other account holder(s) before sharing the documents with us.

These statements must show your name, bank account details and an itemised list of transactions. Please annotate to explain any debits or credits over £100 (£200 for Postgraduate Research students).

We can accept official bank statements, screenshots of statements or online banking printouts. Statements printed on an Excel spreadsheet are not accepted.

Please note we reserve the right to request a current ATM mini statement / balance confirmation if necessary.

Section 6 – Funding for Tuition Fees

Confirm how you are paying your Tuition Fees. Students who are not up to date with tuition fee payments will not be assessed for the Financial Assistance Fund.

If your fees are being paid by a sponsor (for example, you are funded by a Student Finance Loan, government scholarship or research studentship), tick the relevant box to indicate this and enter the total amount of your tuition fees being paid by them (you can find the exact amount in your Portico account by going to ‘My Money’ then ‘Student Statement – Tuition Fees’). 

Savings figure should be the amount you had available at the start of the year and not the balance at the time of application.

You will need to supply relevant documentary evidence.

Section 7 – Funding for Living Costs

Confirm how you are funding your living costs.  

If you receive funding from an irregular source (e.g. your family or through part-time employment), you can provide an estimated amount for the year if you are not sure of the final total.

Savings figure should be the amount you had available at the start of the year and not the balance at the time of application.

You will need to supply relevant documentary evidence.

Section 8 – Expenditure

Confirm your essential expenditure for the year. 

Where the expenditure is irregular (e.g. Childcare costs, Disability costs) you can provide an estimated amount for the year if you are not sure of the final total.

You will need to supply relevant documentary evidence.

Section 9 – Supporting statements

Answer the questions as fully as you can so we can understand your full financial circumstances. The more you tell us, the lower the likelihood of your application being delayed or rejected due to lack of information.

You can also use these sections to further explain any information you have entered in other parts of the form, as well as provide additional documentary evidence should you wish. 

After you submit the form

Once your application and all evidence has been received, we will acknowledge receipt and confirm that a decision will be made within three working weeks.

If more evidence is required, the three-week waiting period will reset, so please do make sure you have submitted all required supporting evidence.

If we require more evidence, and email you with that request, you are asked to respond within a certain timeframe. If we do not hear back from you, we will close your application.

Please be aware that should we receive your application without the following core pieces of supporting evidence, the decision turnaround time of three working weeks will not begin until you submit these documents:

  • 3 most recent months of bank statements for all your accounts
  • Proof of how you have planned to fund your course (through Student finance or any other funding authority)
  • Proof of any rent/mortgage you are paying 

You will be informed of the outcome of your application by email (to your UCL email account). If successful, you should normally expect to receive payment within 10 days of the notification of your award.

How applications are assessed

We treat applications as ‘standard’ or ‘non-standard’ requests.

The assessment of Standard requests are under an ‘additional need’ methodology, which looks at the difference between accepted reasonable expenditure and expected income.

If you have experienced unexpected circumstances, your application could be considered under a ‘non-standard’ assessment process.

Both assessment types are undertaken using the same application form.

Standard Awards

These aim to assist in contributing to the general costs such as rent, travel, food, books, field trips and childcare.

We will determine your level of financial need by comparing your annual income against annual expenditure, using a combination of evidenced costs and notional costs. Where there is a shortfall between the two, a standard award may be made. 

We use guidance from the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA) to carry out our assessment calculations, which includes using notional figures for basic living costs such as food and energy bills. We also follow their guidance on a range of other things - such as determining whether a student has made realistic provision to fund their studies and what types of income we can assume a student has from certain sources (e.g. part-time work). 

Non-standard awards

These awards aim to assist with meeting exceptional costs, such as essential household repairs, emergency situations (including travel costs for family illness or bereavement), any resulting hardship due to theft or fire, Priority Debts and expenditure not met fully through statutory grants (e.g. students with disabilities). Evidence of these costs in the form of receipts or statements is required. 

Students embarking on, or who are currently on their study abroad year are also eligible to apply for financial assistance from FAF - for example, for help with flight and/or start-up costs.