ACCESS TO LEARNING FUND 2013/14 FULL TIME STUDENT GUIDANCE NOTES

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1 GUIDANCE NOTES Please read the following guidance notes before completing your application form to the Access to Learning Fund (ALF). The guidance notes cover two sections: SECTION 1 SECTION 2 Explains what the fund is for, eligibility, the assessment process and what happens next. Explains what is considered in the assessment, additional information about the scheme and guidance if you need to make changes after submitting your application. If you are eligible* to apply to the fund, your application will only be considered if it is fully completed and all relevant evidence has been attached. Your application will be delayed if: You have not completed all the relevant sections You have not included all necessary documents (photocopies are acceptable) You have not signed and dated the form * SECTION 1 WHO CAN APPLY These guidance notes and the accompanying application form are for FULL TIME and SANDWICH students, including full time students who are repeating with attendance on a full time degree. Further guidance and information is available on the Student Financial Support webpage SECTION 1. This section will cover the purpose of the Access to Learning Fund (ALF), who is eligible to apply and the application process. 1. THE PURPOSE OF THE ALF The Access to Learning Fund is a discretionary and cash limited fund provided by the Government to support students that experience financial difficulty whilst at university. The aim of the fund is to provide financial assistance to those students who are experiencing financial hardship and students who are at risk of leaving university due to financial hardship. Awards from the Access to Learning Fund do not need to be paid back. Whilst the Access to Learning Fund can award discretionary grant payments, there is no guarantee that an award can be made for every application. The fund has a limited amount of money to cover the full academic year. It should not be viewed as a reliable source of income to support your studies. The Government advises that the following groups be given priority: Lone Parents Care Leavers Disabled Students Final Year Students Students who have financial emergencies or who have serious financial difficulties

2 If you do not fall into one of the priority groups, you can still apply to the ALF if you are experiencing financial hardship. The Access to Learning Fund cannot be used to meet the cost of tuition fees for full time students. It is expected that students eligible for a tuition fee loan have applied for the maximum amount of maintenance loan before applying to the fund. Postgraduate students must have made adequate provision to cover the cost of tuition fees before starting their course. 2. WHO CAN APPLY All full time and sandwich students who meet the following criteria for eligibility: You must be a Home student paying the home rate of tuition fee loan. You must be in receipt of the maximum amount of maintenance loan and tuition fee loan you are entitled to. If you are eligible for a maintenance grant, you must be in receipt of this. Students in receipt of the maintenance loan are expected to have received the first instalment of maintenance loan, before applying to the ALF. NHS Students You must be in receipt of a means tested bursary. If you are an NHS salaried student, you must have applied for your student loan before you can apply to the Access to Learning Fund. Intercalating Students If you have suspended your studies due to health problems, for caring reasons, or other unavoidable circumstances, you may be eligible to apply. Franchise Students You may be eligible to apply to the Access to Learning Fund. EU Students You must be in receipt of a maintenance loan and paying the home rate of tuition fee loan. Postgraduate Students You must have made adequate provision to fund your tuition fees and living costs before embarking on your course. If you have an outstanding Emergency Hardship Loan (from any academic year), you must repay the debt in full before you can apply to the ALF. If you are in receipt of benefits, you are expected to have applied for all statutory support to which you are entitled to, particularly Tax Credits and Social Security Benefits before you apply.

3 3. WHEN CAN I APPLY Applications will be available on the 23 rd September You can apply up until the closing dates below. No applications can be accepted after the closing date. Final Year and Postgraduate Students 4 th April 2014 Continuing Students 23 rd May WHERE DO I SUBMIT THE FORM Completed application forms, together with all supporting evidence, should be sent to the Student Financial Support Team at the following address: Student Financial Support Room 2.01 Business School and Student Hub Manchester Metropolitan University All Saints Campus Oxford Road Manchester M15 6BH If you want to submit your application in person, you can submit it at the Student HUB, Front Desk, New Business School, All Saints Campus. If you are posting your application form, please ensure you take it to the Post Office to ensure it is weighed and the correct postage is paid. It is your responsibility to ensure that it arrives by the closing date. Applications received after the closing date due to an insufficient postage payment will not be accepted. 5. CHECKING MY APPLICATION FORM Use the Evidence Checkpoints on the application form to make sure you have included your supporting evidence (see example below). Remember, applications without all necessary supporting evidence cannot be processed. Evidence Checkpoint Have you provided evidence of your benefit award letters (all pages) for this year? You will need to check that you have signed and dated your form before submitting your application.

4 6. TIMETABLE FOR MAKING A DECISION Provided your application form has been accurately completed and the appropriate documentary evidence supplied, an assessment and decision should usually be made within four working weeks (excluding bank holidays and the Christmas closure) of submission. If your application is incomplete, the assessment will be delayed. The volume of applications received and complexity may vary at times. If we expect a delay in assessing your application due to this, we will notify you via your MMU student account. 7. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT Stage 1 Application Submitted Stage 2 Application is Assessed Stage 3 Decision and Outcome STAGE 1: STAGE 2: STAGE 3: The application is submitted and checked by SFS staff. If your application is incomplete, it will be delayed at Stage 1. The application is confirmed as complete and moved to Stage 2 for assessment. This stage will take approximately 4 weeks to complete. A decision is made and you are notified of the outcome by letter and your documents will be returned to you. STAGE 1 Applications received will be checked in by Student Financial Support staff. The application is checked to make sure that: The eligibility criteria has been met Application form has been completed correctly All relevant evidence has been included The application form has been signed and dated We aim to you within five working days of submitting your application form to confirm the status of your application. If your application is incomplete, your application will be delayed at Stage 1 and we will contact you to advise you on what is needed to progress your application onto Stage 2 for assessment. We will use your MMU student account if we need to contact you regarding your application; you should check this account on a regular basis. STAGE 2 Once your application has been confirmed as complete your application enters Stage 2 for assessment. We will notify you via your MMU student account to confirm the date it has entered Stage 2 (this is known as the Assessment Date) and we aim to notify you of the outcome of your application within four working weeks of this date. In order that we can ensure that all forms are assessed within four working weeks, they are assessed in strict date order.

5 During Stage 2, an assessor may need to contact you for further information to help them complete the assessment. Please check your student s regularly. When Stage 2 is completed, your application will move to Stage 3. STAGE 3 Decisions on the outcome of your application will be notified in writing by letter to the correspondence address you have provided on the application form. If your application is successful, information will also be included regarding the payment of your award. We cannot give assessment decisions over the telephone. Please allow four working weeks, from the date your application entered Stage 2, before contacting the Student Financial Support Team with any queries regarding progress. If any issues or queries arise concerning your application, a member of the team will contact you using your Student address. 8. HOW AM I PAID Awards of 500 or less are normally paid in one lump sum. Awards of more than 500 will be paid in instalments each term. Subsequent instalments will be paid in the Spring Term on or around 29 th January 2014 and in the Summer Term on or around 14 th May Subsequent instalments are paid once we receive confirmation from your department that you are in continued attendance on your course. We will write to you in advance of every payment date. Payments are made directly into your bank account and can only be paid into an account bearing your name. It is your responsibility to ensure that we hold the correct bank details for you. (Please see Change of Bank Details in Stage 2) No consideration is given to requests for advance payment of instalments. SECTION 2 This section will cover what is included in the assessment, additional information about the scheme and changes to the application. 9. ASSESSMENT EXPLAINED Your application is assessed by examining the difference between your income and your expenditure as specified on the application form. If your assessed expenditure is higher than your income, an award is likely to be made. If your assessment shows that your expected expenditure is lower than your income, your application will not be successful. In some cases, the fund will be able to consider students for an award that does not depend on income and expenditure. If you have provided evidence of your exceptional or unexpected circumstances detailed in Section C of the application form, you will be automatically considered for an additional award. These types of awards usually consider exceptional costs, such as: Repairs to or replacements for essential household equipment; Debts with repayment plans Costs caused by emergencies, including travel costs associated with family illness or bereavement, and hardship caused by a burglary or fire; Costs for students with disabilities that are not met by the DSA.

6 Assumed Income The fund must use assumed income during your assessment. This is income the government assumes you can access in addition to your student support. Assumed income may include parttime work, a bank overdraft or additional support from parents and partners. Regardless of what your actual income is for these categories, only the assumed income figure can be used. Assumed income is reduced for students who are unable to work due to caring responsibilities, disabilities or health difficulties. Composite Living Costs Composite Living Costs are figures set by the government that establish a fixed living cost for all students. It is intended to cover the basic costs for food, household bills (gas, electricity, water, TV licence, etc.), clothes and entertainment. Additional costs are included if you have a partner and/or children. These figures are included as expenditure in all assessments regardless of what you actually spend on these items to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly. Postgraduate Students Postgraduate students are expected to show that they can meet the cost of their tuition fees and demonstrate that they have made reasonable provision to support their living costs for the duration of the course. This could be through a Professional and Career Development Loan or other sources of funding such as savings or scholarship. Disabled Students The Access to Learning Fund is not intended to provide the additional study support that is available from the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) unless the DSA is unable to cover the whole cost, or the cost cannot be met from DSA. Travel Costs Daily travel costs to and from university and once per term travel costs to see family during holidays are included using the cheapest means of public transport available, we use the GMPTE website ( for details of travel costs and saver tickets. For students with disabilities, or students with children or caring commitments, a capped contribution towards the cost of running a car may be included, but the full cost will not be met. Debts Under the scheme, we are only able to consider debts with repayment plans and Notices Seeking Possession. You will need to provide evidence of these with your application. If you have not entered into an official agreed repayment plan with your creditors, we cannot consider this debt during the assessment. If you are experiencing debt, you should seek advice from the Student Union Advice Centre who may be able to assist you managing your debt. Their contact details are s.u.advice@mmu.ac.uk or

7 10. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Repeat Applications You can apply to the fund, even if you have applied to the fund previously. If you apply to the fund again, in the same academic year, you will need to demonstrate in your new application that your financial situation has changed significantly since your first application. Applications are assessed for the whole of the year when considering financial need; this will be taken into account if you submit a further application within the same academic year. Each application is assessed on the information provided for the current academic year. Funding allocations change each year as well as operating guidelines laid down by the UK Government. Do not rely on the Access to Learning Fund as a source of income as there is no guarantee that you will receive an award. Decisions are made on a year by year basis and are dependent on the volume of applications received and funds available. Emergency Summer Fund We aim to reserve funds for students who may run into unexpected financial difficulties over the summer vacation. The amount of funds available over the summer will rely on the demands of the fund during term time. The Emergency Summer Fund will be open for a limited period only; it is your responsibility to check these dates on our webpages Change of Bank Details It is your responsibility to ensure that we hold the correct bank details for you. You must notify the Student Financial Support Team immediately if you wish to change your bank details. Please proof of your new bank details (copies of a statement or account opening letter) along with a written request for the change to take place to the address studentfinance@mmu.ac.uk Change of bank details request need to be received by us SEVEN WORKING DAYS before the Payment Run date specified on your payment letter. As payment runs are organised several days in advance, we cannot make changes after the deadline specified above. It is also not possible for us to reissue payments to another account. If you are experiencing difficulty with your account, you should ask us to place any potential payments on hold until these difficulties are resolved. Appeals We hope that by reading these Guidance Notes you will understand why and how a decision was made regarding your application. However, if you are still dissatisfied you may appeal the outcome. Appeals must be made within four weeks of the date of the original decision as indicated on the letter. studentfinance@mmu.ac.uk to request an Appeals Pack. An Appeals Pack will be issued to you, which will provide you with information regarding the appeals process, the timescales involved and detail the action you are required to take. Staff independent of the Student Financial Support team handles appeals and as such, we cannot update or advise you regarding the progress of your appeal. Other Assistance The University does not offer any other discretionary funds. Information on budgeting tips and useful contacts can be found on our website at

8 The Students Union Advice Centre offers a free advice service on all the issues that affect students at MMU, including advice on how to budget and manage your finances. They will be able to check to see if you are receiving all of the loans, grants and benefits available to you. They may be able to offer you further help and advice in completing your application form. Please see their webpages at or contact them on or s.u.advice@mmu.ac.uk

PART 1 BEFORE YOU APPLY

PART 1 BEFORE YOU APPLY Please note this is Part 1 of 3 of the Supplementary Notes explaining the Access to Learning Fund for full time students. Parts 2 and 3 are available online here: www.mmu.ac.uk/studentfinance.