King's Hardship Fund 2024-25

Award details

The King’s Hardship Fund (KHF) is available to help Home students in need of financial support during their studies. Awards made from the fund aim to assist with day-to-day living costs such as rent, utility bills, travel costs etc. An award from the KHF cannot be used to pay tuition fees directly on your behalf.

Applications open on 14th October. Applications should be submitted at least 4 weeks before the end of your academic year but if you are a continuing student you can apply until 31 May 2025, subject to funds being available. If you think you might need to apply for hardship funding, we recommend that you submit an application as early as possible; you should not wait until you have run out of money.

Since our Hardship Funds have opened we have received a larger number of applications than originally anticipated, meaning our processing times will be longer than usual. If you have submitted an application already please ensure you have submitted all supporting documents.

Please note that no applications will be processed during the Christmas break between 21st December – 1st January.

Applications can only be assessed once they are complete, so it's really important that you submit all required evidence to us via email. If your application has outstanding evidence at the time the fund is closing, your application may not be considered.

If you have any queries about KHF or any other aspect of student funding arrangements, please contact the Student Funding Office here at King's where we will be happy to offer you further advice.

If you are experiencing problems with your funding or you’re worried that you will not have enough money to cover all your costs, our Money & Housing Advice Service can assist you by checking that you have received all the funding and benefits that you’re entitled to. They can also help review your budget, provide you with financial education tools from Blackbullion, and ensure you have explored all funding avenues. You can submit a form to access their services.

Award value

If your application is successful, you could receive between £250 - £3,500.

Please note that any award above £2,000 will be paid in two equal instalments - the first when you are notified of your application outcome and the second in mid-February 2025. If you withdraw or interrupt your studies before the second payment date, this may not be released. If you are considering either option, please contact the Student Funding Office for advice. If you are notified of your application outcome after February 2025, your award will be paid as one lump sum.

An award from the KHF is not guaranteed and it should not form any part of your planned budget until you have received formal notification that you have been granted support.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply to the King's Hardship Fund you must be a home student, which means that you will be paying the home rate of tuition fees. 

Please note, EU students facing financial difficulties who are not in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance will usually need to apply for the International Hardship Fund

Applicants must also meet one of the following criteria:

1. Be an undergraduate student NOT in receipt of the King's Living Bursary

The KHF is intended to provide support to students who do not meet the financial eligibility criteria of the King’s Living Bursary, but who need to access additional financial support. 

You must be in receipt of the maximum Maintenance Loan available to you from Student Finance England/Wales/NI/SAAS. This involves sending evidence of your household income to Student Finance to be means-tested.

If you are not taking a loan for religious reasons, please indicate this on your application and provide evidence of alternative financial provision. Please note, we will still consider this as income when assessing your application. You must still apply to Student Finance and have your application means-tested. You do not need to take out a loan to have your application means-tested.  

2. Be studying a postgraduate pre-registration course

Students enrolling onto a postgraduate pre-registration course are entitled to apply to undergraduate funding from Student Finance England (if ordinarily resident in England).

You will need to have applied to receive the maximum statutory support available to you if you are eligible.

3. Be studying postgraduate degree programme at King’s

The KHF welcomes applications from both full-time and part-time campus-based postgraduate students who have met the following criteria:

• You need to have applied to receive the maximum statutory support available to you if you are eligible (Postgraduate Masters Loan or Postgraduate Doctoral Loan from Student Finance).

• You must be able to prove that you have made sufficient provision to begin your studies, by supplying evidence that you meet the Notional Postgraduate Income (NPI).

The NPI has been set at £261 per week for students living alone, £220 for students with dependants or a disability preventing work, and £220 for students living at home. Students are expected to meet the NPI with savings, grants, earnings, benefits, family contributions, etc.

If you are not taking a loan for religious reasons, please indicate this on your application and provide evidence of alternative financial provision. Please note, we will still consider this as income when assessing your application. 

Case study: Read an example case study of a how a student could be eligible for the King's Hardship Fund on our Hardship Funds Assessment Guidelines webpage.

Application process

Step 1: Submit an online application

Applications must be made online through the King's Student Records Portal.

On the first page of the portal, find the ‘My Fund Application’ box and select 'Click here to view your Student funding options'.

The application involves series of questions about your current income and expenditure and requires you to write a personal statement explaining your financial situation.

NOTE: The application form will only allow numerical values to be entered for each answer. If a section does not apply to you or you wish to indicate a value of zero/none/nil, please enter ‘0’.

Step 2: Submit your supporting documents via email to funding@kcl.ac.uk

Once we have received your online application we will email you requesting supporting documents to enable us to make an assessment.

Please read the email carefully.

All supporting documents must be legible:

• Scanned/electronic copies, saved in a PDF sent as email attachments 

• Documents should be named according to the contents of the document e.g., Halifax October bank statement etc. 

Please email your documents to funding@kcl.ac.uk and include your King’s Student ID.

Supporting document checklist: To help you with your application we've created a supporting document checklist. Visit our King's Hardship Fund Supporting Document Checklist webpage to find out more.

Step 3: We assess your application

Applications are assessed under an ‘additional need’ methodology, which looks at the difference between accepted reasonable expenditure and expected funding.

Awards are not meant to cover all of your financial needs, they are a contribution to your funding. To find out more about how your application is assessed, please see our Hardship Funds Assessment Guidelines webpage.

Step 4: We let you know the outcome of your application

Once the assessment has been completed and a final decision has been reached, you will receive notification of the outcome via email.

Can I apply more than once?

Usually, we will only consider one application per academic year (September-May). This means that if you need to you may be able to apply in subsequent years.

We will only consider a repeat application in the same academic year if you have experienced a significant change of circumstance that has negatively impacted your financial situation since your previous application. 

Before you apply again, please contact the Money & Housing Advice Service to discuss your circumstances and review your budgeting. They can then advise if another application would be appropriate or offer other guidance/support.

If you have received the maximum award from the fund, we will not be able to consider a further application.

Additional Support

If you are still concerned about your financial situation, you should contact a Student Advisor for confidential advice.

You can register with the Money & Housing Advice Service on their webpage. They also run a dedicated Advice Line. Full information about Money & Housing Advice Service and the range of advice services they offer can be found on their webpage.

Students in receipt of the NHS Learning Support Fund may also be able to claim additional hardship funding from the NHS LSF Exceptional Support Fund (ESF). Students must have exhausted all other funding available (including university hardship funds) to be eligible to apply for ESF.

Students in receipt of the NHS Bursary, may also be able to claim additional hardship funding from the NHS Bursary Hardship Grant. Students must have exhausted all other funding available (including university hardship funds) to be eligible to apply for the NHS Bursary Hardship Grant.

 

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