Previous study
Awarded Hons Degree
Applies to Student Finance England. Different rules may apply to Student Finance Wales and Student Finance Northern Ireland.
Students can usually only get student finance for their first undergraduate degree even if their first course was self-funded. Some courses are exempt from the rule including:
- Medicine
- Dentistry
- Veterinary science
- Architecture
- Allied health professional courses.
If you are taking one of the above exempt courses as a second degree you will be eligible for a maintenance loan and any relevant supplementary grants but no tuition fee loan.
Students who have previous study but were not awarded a degree
If you have studied previously but were not awarded a degree, the number of years you are eligible for funding may be reduced, this is calculated as follows:
- Ordinary duration of current course +1 year – years of previous study
For years when you are not eligible for full funding you should still be eligible to receive a maintenance loan and any relevant supplementary grants.
If you haven’t got enough years funding left to cover your course, you will need to fund some of the costs yourself unless you can apply for compelling personal reasons (CPR).
Compelling personal reasons (CPR)
It may be possible to get an extra year of tuition fee support if you need to repeat a year, suspend studies, withdraw and start another course due to compelling personal reasons. CPR can be awarded for various reasons including bereavement or illness (academic reasons alone will not be considered).
To apply for CPR you will need to provide evidence of your circumstances. This could include:
- Medical evidence from GP
- Evidence from social services
- Evidence from support agencies
- Evidence from university or college.
Any evidence needs to state the nature of the CPR and how it impacted your ability to study and the dates and periods affected. Evidence should be on letterheaded paper where possible and it should be signed and dated.
Your cover letter
You will also need to write a cover letter to send along with your evidence. This should include your address, Student Finance Customer Reference Number, Student Finance England address, your date of birth, date the letter and sign it manually.
As a suggestion the first paragraph could read:
I am applying for compelling personal reasons for Year _____ in order to secure full funding for this academic year 19/20.
You will need to include in your statement
- Periods of illness, symptoms, how it affected your study, and what treatments are in place, Hospitals, counselling etc.
- Bereavement circumstances, evidence may include death certificate
- And other exceptional circumstances.
Our supporting statement
Once you have collected your evidence and written your cover letter, please contact your Money Adviser and we will arrange a follow-up appointment with an adviser. We will check that the evidence is adequate and look over your cover letter. We will then take this information from you, and write a letter of support and send special delivery to your funding body.
Speak to a Money Advice and Guidance advisor
If you are unable to find an answer to your query on our web pages email money@liverpool.ac.uk or book an online confidential one-one appointment.