Salford Support Fund
The Salford Support Fund was created to help UK students who are experiencing exceptional and unexpected financial difficulties during the academic year and/or are considering leaving higher education because of financial issues. The Fund’s purpose is to help our students to achieve their potential at University. We recommend International students experiencing financial hardship read our International Support Fund information.
Students experiencing hardship as a result of unexpected financial difficulties or one off, unexpected essential costs can apply for a non-repayable* award through the Support Fund. Any awards given are intended to help with essential living costs or an unexpected financial emergencies only and cannot be used to assist with non-priority debts such as credit card or personal loan repayments. The Fund cannot be used to pay tuition fees.
Each application is assessed individually against set criteria and is based on evidence provided by the applicant. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment from the Fund and no guarantees that applicants will be successful.
The Salford Support Fund opens on 16 September 2024 for all eligible students and closes on 27 July 2025. Please note that we cannot accept applications from final year students who are eight weeks or less from completing their course.
*Non-repayable means that you do not need to pay the money back to the University.
Types of awards
- Standard: an assessment of income against allowable expenditure will be carried out to see if you are eligible for an award
- Non-standard: can be considered when you don’t qualify for a standard award but have unexpected expenditure during the year resulting in hardship
Eligibility for the Fund
- You must be a UK student or an EU student in receipt of both a tuition fees loan and a maintenance loan from Student Finance
- You must be registered on a full or part-time course. This can be at either an undergraduate or postgraduate level of study
- If you are a postgraduate student or a part-time undergraduate student, you must be able to show that you have made reasonable financial provision to support yourself during your studies
- You must have accessed all other sources of funding available to you before making an application, e.g. funding from Student Finance, savings, financial support from family, utilising any overdrafts available to you, etc.
Applying for the Fund
To apply to the Fund, you need to contact askUS. A member of the askUS team will take you through an application assessment to ensure you meet the eligibility criteria. If you meet this, they will send you an online application form to complete. To contact askUS, you can phone us on +44 (0)161 295 0023 (option 2, option 3), email us at askus@salford.ac.uk or visit us in University House, Peel Park campus.
Before completing the form, read our guide to make sure you have all the necessary evidence and documentation we require to make a full assessment. Once you have completed the form in full and submitted it, your application will be assessed by a specialist askUS adviser. You may be contacted to provide further evidence or to attend an appointment to discuss your financial circumstances.
Appeals for unsuccessful applications
Stage 1: Reassessment
If you apply to the Support Fund please bear in mind that you may not be eligible for an award and note that a review can only be requested if you feel that there has been a mistake made within your assessment or if relevant information has been missed out. This could be new evidence that was not available at the time of assessment.
Applications will not be reviewed if the reason is purely disappointment with the outcome. Please note that capped figures and the treatment of debt as set out in our guidance cannot be changed.
Please contact moneymatters@salford.ac.uk to request information about how to request a review. This should be requested and submitted within 15 days of the date on your decision letter.
Stage 2: Formal Appeal
If after the outcome of the review, you are still not satisfied with your assessment decision, you are entitled to make a formal appeal.
The grounds on which a student can formally appeal the decision are:
- The approved procedures for the allocation of the Salford Support Fund were not followed
- A decision was made that was not supported by the evidence submitted
Appeals against a Salford Support Fund decision must be submitted on an Appeal Form within 15 working days of the date on the decision letter or the date of your review.
You must indicate the grounds for the appeal and a detailed statement must be submitted, explaining why the decision is being challenged. Where the reason for an appeal is that the Salford Support Fund decision was not supported by the evidence submitted, you must have received guidance on how the original decision was made before an appeal can be pursued.
The Appeals Panel will consider an appeal after the deadline only if there is a valid reason for the appeal being delayed. The Appeals Panel will make the final decision on whether it will consider appeals submitted after the deadline.
Appeals Procedure
Your Appeal Form and a summary of the original application will be submitted to the Appeals Panel for consideration together with a copy of the assessor's spreadsheet and assessment sheet giving the reason for the original decision. The Appeals Panel may review the full application if required.
The decision of the Appeals Panel on the current application is final. If an appeal is rejected this does not prevent a re-application based on changed circumstances at a later date.
The names of the Appeals Panel can be given upon request.
If you wish to make a formal appeal, please contact moneymatters@salford.ac.uk to request the appropriate form.
Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) contribution support
Following the Government's decision not to fund the first £200 of any required computer or laptop that has been recommended through a DSA assessment, the University has decided to pay this amount to those students who have been assessed and awarded this equipment.
Applications for DSA contribution open on 16 September 2024 for all eligible students and close on 27 July 2025. Fore more information, see our Funding for Support webpage.