QUEEN´S UNIVERSITY BELFAST: FEES AND FINANCE STUDENT SUPPORT FUND

The Student Support Fund is used to provide discretionary financial help for students who are experiencing financial difficulties whilst studying and comprises two funds, the Department for the Economy(DfE) Student Support Fund and the University’s Hardship Fund.

PLEASE NOTE

It is essential that the correct documentation to support your application is submitted on a timely basis. Applications with no supoorting documentation will be cancelled after 4 weeks.

if you do not submit your application within 60 days of starting your application, it will be cancelled automatically and cannot be reinstated.

DfE Student Support Fund

The DfE Student Support Fund is a discretionary fund which may provide financial assistance to students from Northern Ireland and Great Britain, who encounter financial difficulty whilst studying

All full-time and part-time (50% of equivalent full-time course) Northern Ireland and Great Britain undergraduates and postgraduate students can apply. 

Undergraduate students must have taken out their maximum Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loan entitlement.

All postgraduate students must demonstrate that they have organised sufficient funding for their course. 

University’s Hardship Fund

Students who are not eligible for the DfE Student Support Fund will be considered for an award from the University’s Hardship Fund.  There is a smaller amount of money available within the Hardship Fund, so circumstances must be exceptional for an award to be made.

How to Apply

Student can only apply to the Student Support Fund using an ONLINE application, available by logging into their Qsis Student Account at  https://qsis.qub.ac.uk/     

For help completing the online application please click here

All applications to the Fund must be made through the online application facility above, no paper applications will be accepted.

Please note that it can take up to 6 weeks to have your application assessed once to have submitted all of your documentation.

We will not be answering queries on the progress of applications at the moment due to the volume of applications to be assessed. There is currently (as of 25 November 2016) a 3 week backlog and applications and documents submitted now may not be assessed for up to 3 weeks.

Student Support Framework

Applications will be assessed for eligibility for an award from either the DfE Student Support Fund or Hardship Fund. Awards from either funds are assessed against specific criteria, full details of which are set out in The Student Support Framework, please click here

Second Applications

Please note second applications will only asessed where a student can demonstarte exceptional circumstances. These are defined in the University's General Regulations, for Undergraduate Students on Page 88 .

Please note it is essential that documentary evidence of the exceptional circumstance is submitted. Examples of evidence required include:

a maternity certificate,

evidence that a job has been lost,

medical evidence to support a condition

evidence of a parents divorce/separation

evidence of an unforeseen financial evident arising

Please note this list is not exhaustive.

Additional Information

Students will be advised by email whether their application has been successful or not, within 6 weeks of submission of all requested documentation in support of their application.  Applications will not be assessed until all documentation has been received:

Please note that No decision will be discussed over the phone.  Awards made do not have to be repaid.

Please note that students whose bank statements indicate regular gambling are not eligible to receive an award.  

Students in receipt of benefits, to which they are not entitled, are not eligible to receive an award.

If you have an outstanding Emergency Loan or Institutional Bursary overpayment, any award from the Support Fund may be used towards repayment of this debt.

There is no automatic entitlement to an award for any student.  Awards are subject to money being available in the Fund.

Emergency Loan

The Support Fund also provides help for the students who have not received their maintenance loan at the beginning of term - in the form of an emergency loan.

Emergency Loan Forms can be obtained from: Connie Craig, Student Financial Adviser, 2nd Floor, Students’ Union, tel no 02890 971049, email connie.craig@qub.ac.uk

The emergency loan is an advance receipt of a student’s maintenance loan.  Upon receipt of the maintenance loan every student is required to repay the emergency loan immediately.

Students who have applied for an Emergency Loan are encouraged to apply to the Support Fund.

Students on occasion may be referred to other support services within the University.  These may include:

Debbie Forsey: Money Management Adviser

d.forsey@qub.ac.uk

Connie Craig: Advice Centre Manager, Financial Adviser

connie.craig@qub.ac.uk

Disability Services 

disability.office@qub.ac.uk

Learning Development Service   

lds@qub.ac.uk

Counselling Service

qubstudents@carecallwellbeing.com

Queen’s Care Leavers Bursary

The Queen’s new Care Leavers Bursary, available from 2015-16, is paid directly to an eligible student’s bank account on receipt of a successful application, and is paid in two instalments of £500, at the start of each semester.

 Please visit: http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/sgc/wpu/CareLeavers/ for further details and an application form or contact Deirdre Lynskey on 028 9097 1567

or d.lynskey@qub.ac.uk

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More: http://www.qub.ac.uk/Study/Feesandfinance/LoansandFinancialSupport/