PART 1 BEFORE YOU APPLY

Transcription

1 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: This part will cover: 1a. What is the Access to Learning Fund?...page 1 1b. Who can apply (eligibility)?..page 2 1c. Closing dates for applications.. page 3 1d. Guidance on how to complete your form.....page 3 1e. How to check your application form...page 6 1f. Where to submit your application form.page 7 1g. How long will it take to receive a decision?...page 7 1a. WHAT IS THE ACCESS TO LEARNING FUND? The Access to Learning Fund (ALF) is a discretionary and cash limited fund administered by the university to support students who 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 difficulties. Awards from the ALF do not need to be repaid. who apply may be awarded a discretionary grant payment. However, 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. Any student who is eligible to apply to the fund can submit an application if they are able to demonstrate that they are experiencing financial difficulties. In particular, we invite applications from a number of targeted groups of students including: Care leavers Disabled students Estranged students Final year students Lone parents from low income backgrounds in emergency situations e.g. at risk of losing their home or liberty who are currently caring, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support. Page 1 of 7

2 If you do not fall into one of the above priority groups, you can still apply to the ALF if you are able to demonstrate that you are experiencing financial hardship, exceptional costs or an unexpected situation. If you do fall into one of the above priority groups, this does not guarantee that you will receive an award from the ALF. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis, and any awards granted are dependent on your personal circumstances. IMPORTANT: The ALF cannot be used to meet the cost of tuition fees for any student. It is expected that students eligible for a tuition fee loan have applied for the maximum amount before applying to the fund. 1b. WHO CAN APPLY (ELIGIBILITY) All full time students must meet the following eligibility criteria to apply: You should be a home student paying the home rate of tuition fees OR an EU student in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance* Enrolled on a full-time or sandwich course that is a minimum of 1 year *Postgraduate EU students will either need to demonstrate that they were in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance during their undergraduate degree or will need to demonstrate that they have been resident in the UK for 5 years prior to the start of their course (other than for the purposes of education). N.B. paying the international rate of tuition fees or EU students who are in receipt of a tuition fee loan only are not eligible to apply. The following table outlines further eligibility criteria depending on the level of study or funding body: Undergraduate NHS Funded You must be in receipt of the maximum amount of maintenance loan and tuition fee loan that is available to you. If you are eligible for a maintenance grant, you must also be in receipt of this. You must have a UK Student Support Number. You must have received your first instalment of maintenance loan before applying to the ALF. You must be in receipt of an NHS means-tested bursary and a maintenance loan from Student Finance England. You must also have received the first instalment of your maintenance loan before applying to the ALF. If you are an NHS salaried student, you must have applied for a maintenance loan from Student Finance England. Page 2 of 7

3 Postgraduate Intercalating You must have made adequate provision to fund your tuition fees and living costs before embarking on your course. This means that we expect you to have enough money in place to cover the total cost of your tuition fees and your basic living costs before starting on your course. This may be through a student loan, a Professional and Career Development Loan, sponsorship, scholarships, savings, part-time work or other available funding. If you have suspended your studies due to health issues, for caring reasons, or other unavoidable circumstances, you may be eligible to apply. Please refer to the Student Financial Support Team to check if you are able to apply. IMPORTANT: Any student who is eligible to receive benefits whilst studying is also expected to have applied for all statutory support to which they are entitled before applying to the ALF, particularly Tax Credits and Social Security Benefits. Any student with an outstanding Emergency Hardship Loan, including any loans to pay for an Educational Psychologist Assessment (from any academic year), must repay this in full before applying to the ALF. 1c. CLOSING DATES FOR APPLICATIONS Application forms will be available from the 18 th September You can apply up until the closing dates below. No applications can be accepted after the closing date. CLOSING DATES FOR APPLICATIONS 12 Noon Friday 18th May d. GUIDANCE ON HOW TO COMPLETE YOUR FORM This section outlines how to complete your application form. Please read this section carefully as application forms that are not completed correctly will be rejected. Section A Personal Details Please complete all of the relevant boxes with your personal details, ensuring your correspondence address is correct as your supporting documents will be returned to this address. You should then use the table to indicate any personal circumstances that are relevant to you. If you are unsure if you meet some of the criteria listed, please refer to the following definitions: I am estranged from my parents Page 3 of 7

4 To be considered as estranged from your parents, you should not have had verbal or written contact with both of your parents for a period of one year before the start of the current academic year. If the period of estrangement is less than one year, you could still be regarded as estranged if you are able to demonstrate on other grounds that you are irreconcilably estranged from your parents. During the application process, you may be asked to provide evidence to show that the estrangement is genuine and that reconciliation is currently impossible (or at least highly unlikely). It is not enough that you do not get on with your parents or that you have had a serious disagreement recently. The fact that you may choose to live apart from your parents is not itself sufficient evidence of an irreconcilable estrangement. Similarly irreconcilable estrangement cannot be inferred simply on the grounds that your parents refuse to co-operate during your application for Student Finance (e.g. by not replying to letters or refusing to complete income assessment forms) or does not provide financial support to you. These factors could be present if there has been a genuine estrangement, but one of these factors alone is not sufficient to be regarded as estranged. Before starting university I had been in care or I was a Foyer resident: You must be a care leaver as recognised under the Children Leaving Care Act You must have been under the age of 25 at the start of your course. If you were a Foyer resident, you will have spent time living in a Foyer residence immediately prior to starting university. I am currently caring, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without my support There are many different ways in which you may care for a friend or family member. For example, you may have been a carer for a long time, or recently started caring for someone who has become ill. However, if you fall into this category, please ensure that you provide evidence of your caring responsibilities. This evidence could include: A letter confirming why you need to provide care to this individual (e.g. DLA/PIP letter) Carers allowance letters* (from before you became a student) Hospital appointment letters A supporting letter from the person you are caring for (if possible) *Full time students who were previously in receipt of carers allowance before they started university should no longer be eligible to receive this benefit. Section B Bank Details Please provide the account details for your main account. If your application is successful, this is the account that your award will be paid into so please ensure that this section is completed correctly. You should also list account details for every other account that you own, including joint accounts, student accounts, current accounts, savings accounts and ISAs. EVIDENCE: You will need to provide bank statements for every account that you own. If your statements show transfers into another account in your name, these Page 4 of 7

5 transfers will be questioned. Therefore, please ensure you provide statements for all of your accounts. You should also ensure that your bank statements show receipt of your student loan/grant (if applicable). Section C Income In this section, you will need to tick the box to indicate that you are receiving your maximum entitlement to Student Finance in 2017/18. N.B. You do not need to tick this box if you are ineligible for Student Finance. You should then indicate any other income that you will receive in 2017/18 by ticking the relevant boxes. EVIDENCE: You will need to provide a copy of your Student Finance Entitlement Summary (see green box on application form for instructions of where to find this). You will also need to provide evidence of all of the other income you have indicated that you will receive. Please refer to the right hand column of the table for guidance on the evidence that is required. N.B. If you are in receipt of universal credit, you must provide a copy of your Universal Credit award letter (all pages) AND a copy of your tenancy agreement. Section D Personal Statement This section gives you the opportunity to explain in as much detail as possible your reasons for applying for financial assistance, including any unexpected events or exceptional costs. Anything that you write in this section must be supported by evidence. There is no guarantee that we will be able to consider all of the circumstances referred to in your personal statement as we must follow assessment guidelines set by the university. However, we will only be able to consider events or costs if they are supported by evidence. This section also gives you the opportunity to list any priority debts that you are currently repaying. Priority debts are those debts that should be dealt with immediately. If priority debts remain unpaid, they could result in you losing your home, liberty, essential goods or services. Bank overdraft facilities and credit card debts would not normally be considered as a priority debt. We can normally only consider debts where a realistic repayment arrangement has been arranged or a notice seeking possession or other court order has been issued. EVIDENCE: You will need to provide evidence of all the events and costs that you refer to in your personal statement. Section E with dependents to complete You only need to complete this section if you have any children or adults who are financially dependent on you. You should list the full names and date of birth for all children and adults who are financially dependent on you. You should also indicate any income that you receive as a result of having dependents by ticking the appropriate boxes, and any costs that you incur as a result of caring for your dependents e.g. childcare costs. You may wish to expand on any of these costs in your personal statement. Page 5 of 7

6 EVIDENCE: You will need to provide evidence of all the income that you receive and any costs that you incur as a result of having dependents. Please refer to the right hand column of the table for guidance on the evidence that is required. N.B. If you are in receipt of Universal Credit, you must provide a copy of your Universal Credit award letter (all pages) AND a copy of your tenancy agreement. Section F living with a partner to complete You only need to complete this section if you are living with a partner. You should list all of the income that your partner will receive in 2017/18. You should also list account details for every account owned by your partner, including joint accounts, student accounts, current accounts, savings accounts and ISAs. EVIDENCE: You will need to provide evidence of all income that your partner receives. Please refer to the right hand column of the table for guidance on the evidence that is required. You will also need to provide bank statements for every account owned by your partner. If your statements show transfers into another account in your partner s name, or another account in your name, these transfers will be questioned. Therefore, please ensure you provide statements for all of your accounts and your partner s accounts. Section G Student Declaration To complete this section, you should read each of the statements in the declaration carefully and then tick the appropriate boxes to confirm that you agree to the relevant statements. You should then sign and date the declaration. Applications that are signed electronically (i.e. typed) will not be accepted. 1e. HOW TO CHECK YOUR APPLICATION FORM Evidence checkpoints are placed throughout the application form to help you include all of the correct supporting evidence (see example below). There is also a final evidence checkpoint on the last page of the application form which should be used as a check list before submitting your application. EVIDENCE CHECKPOINT 1 Have you provided the last 3 months bank statements for all accounts you own? If YES, you can proceed to section C. If NO, your application may be rejected. YES/NO Remember, applications without all necessary supporting evidence cannot be processed so please ensure you refer to all of the evidence checkpoints before submitting your application form. Page 6 of 7

7 1f. WHERE TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION FORM Completed application forms, together with all supporting evidence, should be sent to the Student Financial Support Team. In person, to the Student Hub, Business School, Manchester Campus (Please ask for a receipt when submitting your form.) By post, to the following address: Student Financial Support Room 2.01 Business School and Student Hub Manchester Metropolitan University Oxford Road Manchester M15 6BH PLEASE NOTE: If you are posting your application form, please ensure you take it to the Post Office so that it is weighed and the correct postage is paid. It is your responsibility to ensure that your application arrives by the closing date. Applications received after the closing date due to an insufficient postage payment will not be accepted. 1g. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO RECEIVE A DECISION? The time in which you will receive a decision will depend on the complexity of your application. However, all applications should reach Stage 3 (decision) within four working weeks of submission, provided the application form is completed correctly and the appropriate documentary evidence has been supplied. If your application is incomplete, or if we ask you to provide additional information at any stage throughout the assessment process, your application will be delayed and may take longer than four working weeks to process. The volume of applications received 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. Page 7 of 7