Financial assistance fund

A hardship grant for students who are having financial difficulties. You can apply for a food voucher and a cash award (maximum £900). It does not need to be repaid.

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If you are considering withdrawing from your studies due to unexpected or unavoidable financial problems, the Financial Assistance Fund may be able to help you. It does not need to be repaid. However, this fund cannot be used as a main source of income.

Awards are decided by us (the university).

You can apply for:

  • a £50 food voucher
  • a cash award (maximum £900)
  • both (where you meet the criteria)

Eligibility for the financial assistance fund

To apply for this funding, you must be one of the following:

  • fully registered student
  • temporarily withdrawn student

You cannot apply if you are a:

  • pre-sessional student
  • visiting student
  • exchange student

You must also:

  • be in financial difficulty that puts you at risk of withdrawing from university
  • currently have access to less than £1000 across all bank accounts (including savings)

Summer application eligibility

For summer, the applications will be accepted between 1 June and 13 September 2026.

You will have to meet additional conditions to apply and they will be added here at the end of April.

When to apply for the financial assistance fund

For the 2025/26 academic year:

  • Term 2: 19 January 2026 to 31 May 2026
  • Summer: 1 June 2026 to 13 September 2026

How to apply for the financial assistance fund

To apply for the food voucher:

  1. Fill in the application form.
    As the application form is in Microsoft Forms, you need to be logged into Microsoft with your university email address.

  2. You must provide supporting documents that show you have access to less than £100 across all bank accounts.

You do not need to give any other information about your personal circumstances.

After you have completed the application

Applications for food vouchers are usually assessed within one working day. If you are successful, the food voucher will be emailed to you.

You can make multiple applications for food vouchers, as long as you remain eligible. You cannot receive more than one voucher per month (or 30 days).

To apply for the cash award:

  1. Fill in the application form.
    As the application form is in Microsoft Forms, you need to be logged into Microsoft with your university email address.

  2. Provide more information (see the criteria) and supporting documents.

After you have completed the application form

Applications for cash awards are usually assessed within five working day. Do not submit more than one application per term for the cash award, unless your circumstances have changed.

If your application is successful, our assessors will decide which award you will receive based on:

  • the information the provided
  • and the eligibility criteria.

If you are part-time or temporarily withdrawn student, you will get a maximum of £600.

Supporting documents

You will need to provide us with the following when completing an application form:

  1. your bank details.
  2. screenshots showing the current balance for all of your accounts in which you hold funds.
  3. downloaded PDF bank statements showing all transactions from at least 30 days before the date of your application (even if there are no transactions).

If you need help downloading a bank statement, check these UK bank guides: 

Types of financial assistance available

Food vouchers

If your application is successful, you will get a £50 food voucher.

Cash award

We will assess your application by subtracting around three months of income and expenses from current balance of all your bank accounts.

Estimated expenses include:

  • accommodation costs (up to a maximum limit)
  • standard daily living allowance.

Estimated income includes:

  • wages from part-time work
  • scholarships
  • bursaries
  • other sources.

If your application is successful, you will be awarded one of these:

To get £300, you must have less than £100 remaining after this calculation.

To get £600, you must meet the criteria for £300 (level 1) and one of the following:

  • are taking reasonable steps to reduce your financial problems but remain in difficulty. This can include:
    • working a part-time job for a reasonable number of hours per week
    • using a considerable amount of an interest-free student overdraft.
  • excessive debt
  • placement-related costs
  • a health problem preventing you from working a part-time job.

Home student: You must be receiving the UK government maintenance loan (unless exempt).

International student: You must prove that you had made ‘reasonable financial provision’ before starting the course.

To get £900, you must meet the criteria for £600 (level 2), are in full-time study, and at least one of the following:

Appealing the decision

If your application is unsuccessful or you are unhappy with your outcome, you can email us at hardship-fund@bristol.ac.uk. You can ask for:

  • an explanation of how your award was calculated.
  • how to appeal the decision and ask for a reassessment.