Finance (Love Money)
Student Finance
Student Finance are here to help when it comes to anything to do with money. They can offer advice on budgeting, as well as provide support through the Access to Learning Fund.
The Access to Learning Fund (ALF) is provided by the government to give discretionary financial assistance to UK students to help them access and remain in higher education.
You may be eligible to make an application if you:
- need help with unexpected financial hardship or a shortfall in income.
- are considering leaving higher education because of financial problems.
- are experiencing a delay in payment of your funding for living costs.
- have found it impossible to manage your finances properly.
Before making an application to ALF students must have accessed all other sources of funding available to them. Undergraduate students must have taken out the maximum student loan to which they are entitled. ALF cannot act as a main source of funding for postgraduate students so they must be able to demonstrate that they were adequately funded when they commenced their studies. ALF is not a bursary or a scholarship and it cannot provide large sums for students who have made little or no financial provision for their studies.
- Government guidelines state that ALF cannot be used to pay tuition fees or repay student debts.
- Due to the discretionary nature of ALF there is no guarantee that each applicant will receive funding; there is no entitlement or automatic right to funding from ALF and awards are based on the individual situation of each applicant.
- Funds will normally be paid as a non-repayable award. Occasionally, loans may be issued instead, particularly if the applicant has a temporary cash flow problem.
Budgeting
If you've never had to manage your own money before it can be a bit daunting, especially when you get a large lump sum through at the beginning of term! It can be tempting to go out and spend all of this money, but if you manage it properly you can make it go much further. NUS have produced a handy guide to money management, which you can find here
