UWE Bristol Student Support Fund
This fund is for UK undergraduate and postgraduate students who may need extra financial support.
About the fund
The Student Support Fund is a significant fund provided by UWE Bristol to support UK undergraduate and postgraduate students who may need extra financial support to remain in higher education.
The Student Support Fund is now closed and will open again in September 2025.
Other funding and support
Summer Fund
Our Summer Fund will open to eligible students on 26 June 2025. You can find details of the fund, including the eligibility criteria and how to apply on the Summer Fund page.
NHS Exceptional Support Fund
If you're a healthcare student you can still apply for the NHS Exceptional Support Fund (ESF). You do not need to have applied to the Student Support Fund first. This is a means-tested and non-repayable grant of up to £3,000, available to eligible healthcare students who experience unforeseen financial hardship during their studies.
This additional funding is not available to students doing the BSc Social Work, BSc Sports Rehabilitation, BSc Optometry or the Health Professions Foundation programme during the foundation year.
You can find details of the fund, including the eligibility criteria and how to apply on the NHS Business Services Authority website.
Money Advisers
If you're experiencing exceptional financial hardship which will prevent you from attending or continuing on your course, please contact a Money Adviser.
How to apply
The fund will open again in September 2025. We'll share details on how to apply nearer the time.
Application process
Applications to the Student Support Fund are processed by the Funds Team.
Once the application is submitted and evidence is received by the Funds Team, the application will go into a queue. It will then be looked at within four weeks.
The applicant will then be notified of the decision or any further information we need by email to their UWE Bristol email address (ending @uwe.ac.uk or @live.uwe.ac.uk).
Applications are processed in line with the student guide to the Student Support Fund 2024-25 (PDF), which are decided by the Funds Team in agreement with the Funds Team Manager and informed by the guidelines produced by the National Association of Student Money Advisers.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible, the applicant must be:
- fully registered on their course
- a UK 'Home' student (see determining your fee status for more information on fee status)
- on a UWE Bristol course, or a fully franchised course at a partner institution
- receiving all the student funding they are entitled to
- on an eligible course – generally, this includes undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are eligible for Student Finance funding. If you’re unsure if your course is eligible, you can email sms@uwe.ac.uk to find out.
Priority groups
The priority groups for the Student Support Fund are:
- lone parents
- disabled students (in receipt of Special Support Grant or Special Support Element of the Maintenance Loan and/or in receipt of DLA or PIP).
- care leavers (as defined on eligibility for care leavers)
- estranged students (as defined on estranged students eligibility)
- carers (as defined on eligibility for carers).
Priority group students are likely to receive a higher award than other students. However, other eligible students can still apply to the fund and receive support, and being in a priority group doesn’t guarantee an award.
In the meantime, if you are experiencing exceptional financial hardship which will prevent you from attending or continuing on your course, please contact a Money Adviser.