Application guidance for financial aid

If you are a current student who is in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance England and you are in financial hardship, you may be able to receive early payment of your maintenance loan.

To apply for an early payment of an instalment you will need to make an application using the SFE Financial Hardship Confirmation Form. 

In order to receive your funds early, you must

1. Be in attendance of your course.
2. Reasonably have explored alternative options before making the request.
3. Be a fully enrolled student at Oxford Brookes University (SFE will not consider applications from students who have not yet enrolled on their course).
4. Make the request more than two weeks in advance of the instalment date.

If you believe that you may be eligible to ask SFE for an early payment of one of your loan instalments, you may also wish to speak to one of our Student Money Advisers who can provide advice and assistance on the process.

The University does not offer loans.

Please email us immediately at finaid@brookes.ac.uk. You will be asked to make a Financial Aid application and provide relevant information.

Continuing students can apply at any time. Please note that during the Summer period, only applications for those in food poverty, imminent homelessness and students with Health Care placements will be considered.

Graduating students need to apply at least 4 working weeks before their expected completion date (please note that it is not your graduation date). See Graduating student application deadlines.

All communication is from Financial Aid to your Brookes email account.

Your application will take approximately 4 working weeks from the date all supporting evidence has been received to be considered by the Committee. NB The University is closed on Bank Holidays, Concessionary Days and between Christmas, and New Year.

Food voucher assessments are prioritised and would usually be addressed within 2 working days.

The assessment process is designed to ensure that all applicants are looked at consistently.

Every application is considered by the Financial Aid Committee.

When deciding whether a payment can be made, we will look at your expected and assumed income and what is considered to be ‘reasonable’ expenditure on living.

Your student finance is there to help with your rent, food, travel to campus, course materials, utilities etc. There is no room for lifestyle expenses eg. shopping sprees, costly mobile phone bills, online gambling. Where there is evidence of such spending, you will be directed to Student Money Advice for budgeting and information on debt management guidance.

There is a cap (upper limit) on the amounts Financial Aid considers reasonable when considering expenses for day-to-day living. The tables below show the caps allowed when we assess your application in the academic year 2024-25.

Weekly living costs including excluding rent

This is the weekly expenditure we allow for costs such as food, household bills eg. gas and wifi, clothes, phone, sport, entertainment etc.

Caps on rent / mortgage

It is expected that students will supplement their funding eg. Student Finance by a variety of means such as part-time work, vacation work, savings. The assumed income figure will stay the same regardless of whether the student earns more or less than that figure.

Assumed income is waived for students with caring responsibilities, a disability which prevents them from working, or placement commitments which prevent them from working eg. paramedic students.

Assumed income per year

For part-time students, we take into account actual earnings.

On the Financial Aid Policy and Terms of Reference webpage.

Applications are means-tested. Therefore, to be made an award, you would need to show a shortfall over the whole academic year.

Students are expected to have planned and budgeted for their time at university, and to live within their means. Student Money Advice can offer guidance on budgeting and debt. They can also advise on what funding or benefits you might be entitled to.

To be eligible for Financial Aid, students need to have other funding in place. If you have used up all available statutory funding, e.g. because you have studied at the same level previously or you have extended your studies, you are not eligible for Financial Aid.

The only exception are Paramedic students who are currently not eligible for a second student loan under the allied healthcare regulations.

If you have a query about statutory funding you may be eligible for, please contact Student Money Advice.

We may pay all or part of any award direct to your nominated bank account. .

We may pay all or part of any award direct to a 3rd party eg. your landlord.

We may make all or part of any award in the form of Tesco e-vouchers for food and other essentials.

You don’t need to pay any award back. It’s not a loan.

We means-test your application over the whole academic year and any award is made on that basis. If you’ve had a change of circumstances and you didn’t receive the maximum award available, you can reapply.

Summer applications may be considered from students who’ve already been made an award during the academic year but have ongoing financial difficulties.

No. Financial Aid will not cover the cost of Council Tax for students whose mode of study has changed to part-time due to their academic results.

If you have debt that you incurred prior to starting your degree, financial aid will not normally be available to help you to pay these debts. The hardship fund is intended to help students who experience financial difficulties that their student funding and income cannot cover. Students are expected to begin their course having put in place a plan to manage their debt.

There are organisations that can give free information advice and assistance in managing debt:

1. National Debtline is a free to use service that can offer self guided help and a telephone advice service on dealing with debt
2. Citizens Advice is a national charity which offers a lot of information on dealing with debt. They have a chat facility to enable you to talk to an adviser.

Financial Aid doesn’t cover loss resulting from fraudulent activity.

Citizens Advice can advise you on the matter.

If you need emotional support, please contact the relevant Student Support and Wellbeing Service.

You can apply if you can show that an award would make a demonstrable difference to your return to study.

Yes, you can ask for a reassessment or an appeal.

If you forgot to submit evidence which would make a material difference to your application, you can request a reassessment within 10 working days of us emailing you the outcome of your original application. You don’t need to submit a new application, you just need to submit the additional evidence. We will let you know the outcome within a further 20 working days. Request a reassessment by emailing finaid@brookes.ac.uk and submitting the missing/additional evidence.

An appeal can be requested on the basis that there has been a fault or irregularity in the consideration of your application under one or more of the following grounds:

1. The decision was not in accordance with the Financial Aid Policy or Guidance Notes;
2. The judgement of the Financial Aid Committee was affected by personal bias;
3. There was a material administrative error or some other material irregularity in the conduct of the Financial Aid Committee, such that the decision would have been materially different had the error or irregularity not occurred.

Appeals must be requested within 10 working days of the date of the email informing you of the outcome of your application and needs to state the ground(s) under which you are making the appeal. All appeals are considered by the Academic Registrar and Director of Academic and Student Administration or their nominee. They will let you know the outcome within 20 working days. The decision following an appeal is final and you will be sent a Completion of Procedures letter. You can request an appeal by emailing finaid@brookes.ac.uk.

Financial Aid is based on income and allowable expenditure. That means there is a limit put on the amount you spend on day to day living and rent, travel etc, see above.

Awards may vary from year to year, or an application may be declined. This is because the amount of Financial Aid available varies and is limited, and because a student’s income, e.g. Oxford Brookes Bursary, may increase.

Financial Aid should not be relied on as a source of income.

We do not administer bursaries or scholarships. For bursary and scholarship queries, please see our funding and financial support pages.

Please see the information on Oxford Brookes Bursaries. If you have any questions about Oxford Brookes Bursaries, please contact the Oxford Brookes Student Funding team at slcfunding@brookes.ac.uk.

Student Money Advice can offer guidance on budgeting, debt and what funding or benefits you might be eligible for. They can also help you with completing the Financial Aid application form and submitting supporting evidence. 

Your Student Support Co-ordinators can help you with completing the application form and submitting supporting evidence.

The Brookes Union Advice Service is independent of the University, and can offer advice on a range of matters.

The University offers a range of Student Support and Wellbeing services.

For information about how Oxford Brookes University collects and uses personal data please see the University’s privacy policies.