Eligibility

To be eligible for the Bristol Standalone Bursary you must be:

• a Home/UK undergraduate student
• registered on a full-time course at the University of Bristol
• aged under 25 on 1 September of the year you start your course
• studying for your first degree
• have been assessed by the Student Loans Company to be an independent student and eligible for the maximum amount of means-tested support.

You must also be:

• a care leaver
or
• estranged from your parents
or
• have no living parents.

The groups of students are not eligible for a bursary are:

• international students
• EU students
• students studying a second degree or an equal or lower qualification
• students who are studying in years where the course attracts NHS funding
• students who are registered as 'exams only'.
• postgraduate students (including PGCE students).
• students in receipt of the Unite Foundation Scholarship or Sanctuary Scholarship.

Receipt of the Bristol Standalone Bursary in conjunction with any other award not listed above will be at the discretion of the University and may be dependent on the availability of funding.

The University reserves the right to withdraw the Bristol Standalone Bursary from anyone who is found to have misled the University about any aspect of their eligibility and to seek repayment of any monies already paid by appropriate means.

Award

Awards are valued at £1,500 for each year of study (not including NHS-funded years).

Awards cannot be claimed retrospectively for previous academic years.

The Bristol Standalone Bursary is funded by the University of Bristol. This bursary is not affiliated in any way with the Stand Alone Charity or any similar organisations.

How to apply

You can apply by completing the Bristol Standalone Bursary online application form during the application period.

Applying to the Student Loans Company (SLC) as an independent student

To be eligible, the SLC must have confirmed you are an independent student. This means the SLC won’t consider your parents’ income when deciding your loan.

Your reason for being independent must match your bursary application. For example, if you are estranged, your record must show you are independent because of estrangement.

You cannot claim independent status because your parents won’t share their income details or give you financial support.

UCAS has helpful guides on how to apply as an independent student. The steps and documents you need will vary depending on your situation.

Students who are bereaved of both parents

To apply for independent status due to being bereaved of both parents, you will need to provide the SLC with death certificates.

Care leavers

To apply for independent status due to being a care leaver, you will need to provide the SLC with supporting documents.

This could be a letter from the Local Authority (LA) or your case worker/social worker. This should be on headed paper, signed and dated and confirm that you:

• were under local authority care (this includes foster care)
• are a care leaver
• the dates you were in care
• that you’ve not returned to the care of your parent(s) before the first day of the first academic year of your course
  • if you have returned to live with your parents but are still under the care of the LA, you can still be classed as a care leaver.

Estranged students

To apply for independent status due to being an estranged student, you will need to provide the SLC with:

• a completed confirmation of estrangement form
  • Student Finance England 
  • Student Finance Wales 
  • Students from Scotland or Northern Ireland will be sent details of the form(s) they need to complete. This will be after they have indicated that they are estranged on their main Student Finance application
or
• a supporting letter on headed paper from a professional or third party such as:
  • your former headteacher
  • GP
  • an external agency supporting your status. 

Help with your Student Loans Company Application

If you are unsure who to ask to provide a supporting letter, there is advice and guidance available.

If you are a prospective student, teacher or advisor, you can contact Kat Whidden in our Widening Participation Team. Kat offers advice and guidance throughout the application process.

• +44 (0)7483474372
• care-leavers@bristol.ac.uk

If you are a current student, you can contact Maria Tottle in our Student Inclusion Team. Maria offers 1:1 advice, support and coaching throughout your time at Bristol. Maria can also signpost you to extra support and help you to work through challenges or concerns.

• +44 (0)7811010176
• maria.tottle@bristol.ac.uk

You can contact our Money Advice team if you are a current student experiencing issues with:

• contacting the Student Loans Company,
• providing or getting your evidence accepted
• the process as a whole.

The Money Advice Team specialise in supporting students with their SLC application.

• Email: money-advice@bristol.ac.uk.
• Meet with a Money Advisor.

Award Process

The Scholarships and Bursaries team will review your application and information from the Student Loans Company. We will then decide whether you are eligible for the scholarship.

You will receive an email within five working days of submitting your application. This email will come from from scholarships-bursaries@bristol.ac.uk. It will notify you of the outcome of your application.

If your application is successful, we will tell you your bursary entitlement and payment schedule.

If your application in unsuccessful, we will tell you the reason for this and the next steps required for you to meet the criteria. We will keep your application open for four weeks. If you become eligible after this period, you may submit a new application.

The information provided to us by the Student Loans Company updates every Monday. It may take up to 10 working days after updating your record for your bursary application to update. Once the data is available, the university will download it on the following weekend. You would then hear from us on a Monday if you are eligible.

We can make no awards after 17 July 2026.

Payments

We will pay awards in two instalments by bank transfer:

• £750 shortly after registration in October
• £750 in January.

To receive a payment, you must:

• be fully registered and engaged with your studies
• have entered your bank details to receive payment by bank transfer.

We reserve the right to redirect any payments of the award towards covering any outstanding payments you may have due to the University. This is under the University’s regulations.

Bursary renewal

For your bursary to be renewed in future years of study, you must:

• have been assessed to be an independent student by the Student Loans Company for the new academic year
• continue to meet the eligibility criteria for the bursary.

If you were awarded the bursary due to being a Care leaver or having no living parents, and have met these requirements, you will have their bursary renewed automatically.

If you were awarded the bursary based on estrangement in a previous academic year, you will also need to complete a new application. This is to confirm that your estrangement is ongoing and have not  been reconciled with your parents/sponsors. Your new application will be assessed following the standard Award process.

Changes of circumstance

You will continue to be eligible for the bursary if you:

• study a year in industry;
• study a year abroad;
• are on a medicine, dental or veterinary science course and intercalate (including intercalating into Bristol);
• transfer to a new course that is longer than your original course (eg from a BSc to an MSci);
• transfer to a new course, providing other eligibility criteria are met;
• are permitted by your faculty to temporarily change from full-time study to part-time study due to extenuating circumstances;
• suspend your studies part-way through your academic year (you will continue to be eligible during your suspension);
• repeat a year of study.

You need to inform scholarships-bursaries@bristol.ac.uk if you are no longer estranged from your parents.

If you withdraw from your studies you will not have to repay any bursary payment, so long as you are still in attendance on the date that bursary payments are made. If you withdraw before the next bursary payment date, you will not receive further payments, but you will not be required to repay any previously paid instalments.