This is a discretionary fund that can provide financial assistance for registered ROI, EU & International students, studying in Northern Ireland, who have exhausted all other options of financial support and are facing difficulties meeting daily living expenses, due to the cost of attending University.
You can download a copy of our Student Money Magazine and access other Money and Wellbeing resources from our Student SharePoint website.
We will be hosting face-to-face Mind Your Money workshops on all campuses throughout the academic year. To register, visit the events pages.
How to apply for the fund
1. Documentary Evidence
- Ensure to have all supporting Documentary Evidence downloaded in PDF format, and saved, ready to attach to your application.
- Students must be in good academic standing. To clearly evidence this, please ask your course director to email sma@ulster.ac.uk confirming this. Your application will not be processed before this is received.
- International students must provide a copy of their Banking letter confirming they meet the Tier 4 Visa requirements for studying in the UK.
First year UG & PG students cannot apply for financial hardship support until semester two of their course.
2. Create a Personal Statement
All students are required to complete a personal statement (max 300 words). Please detail the following:
- Evidence that you started your course with sufficient funds to cover the full Tuition Fee and daily living costs for the duration of your study.
- The circumstances surrounding your current financial situation and what steps you have taken to try to rectify the situation.
- How any financial support you may receive would be used
- The Bank account number and Sort Code that any award granted can be paid into.
3. Send your application
- Create a new email addressed to sma@ulster.ac.uk. Ensure to attach your supporting documentary evidence and personal statement before sending.
- All applications are processed in date order, and one of our team will contact you to advise if we require any additional evidence.
- Any payments made will be a one-off and are not considered to be a substitute for a regular income.
Criteria for application
- We can only accept one application per academic year
- You must be a registered ROI, EU or International Ulster University student studying in Northern Ireland.
- You must be in good academic standing (as confirmed by your course director).
- You must show (with supporting evidence) that you have made arrangements for payment of tuition fees and daily living costs for the duration of your course. (ROI & EU students must have taken the full Tuition Fee Loan available to them through SFEU).
- You must provide evidence that you have exhausted all other sources of income, for example, interest free student overdraft, student loans, grants, bursaries, assistance from family, savings and part-time earnings.
- We cannot accept applications from students showing signs of gambling/betting or excessive spending.
- The fund cannot be used to cover the cost of Tuition Fees, nor to maintain a student's lifestyle.
- Should you receive an award, this will be a one-off payment, and should not be considered a substitute for a regular income.
- it is your responsibility to put measures in place to avoid the same situation occurring again.
For further support and guidance with managing our money, visit our Budgeting and Money Management pages.