Help and Support | Estrangement

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

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Student Maintenance loan

We recognise that being estranged from your parents will likely mean that you will have less money, and finances could be a struggle. When applying for your Student Finance loan, you can ask to be assessed as an independent student and be assessed on your own household income. This means that you can get the maximum amount of student loan possible. This can also makes things easier if you do not have contact with your parents but you have to get them to provide their financial information for your loan. If they won’t do this or you don’t want to ask them, you will only get the minimum, means tested amount of student maintenance loan.

We can offer advice about applying as an independent student and provide guidance through this process.

Financial bursaries

The Access to Exeter Bursary - If you are a full-time undergraduate student with home fee status, and your household income is below £25,000, then you will be eligible to receive the Access to Exeter bursary as long as you have applied for means tested student finance and selected that you are happy for details of your application to be shared with the University.

This bursary is processed automatically and details of the level of bursary, payment dates and more can be found on the University’s webpages here.

If you are assessed as an independent student you will likely have the maximum student loan and will automatically be eligible for the bursary.

The Estranged Student Bursary - When you are navigating life without parental support, different challenges will arise and this bursary allows us to help students based on individual need. This amount is not fixed and will be dependent on your situation. You can work with Claire (our Widening participation Advisor) to think about what would help support your continued study at Exeter. Examples include specific counselling, food parcels, and travel related costs.

For more information about the financial support available to you and for guidance for applying, please contact us at advice@exeterguild.com

Hardship fund

The University has the Success for all fund that all students can apply to for financial help. This could be for living costs, specific needs, diagnostic assessment or IT equipment. We can support you to apply for this fund and talk through eligibility criteria.

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ACCOMMODATION

‍We understand that estranged students can face a greater disadvantage while searching for year-long accommodation. The University of Exeter can provide access to accommodation all year round, including the holiday periods, to remove the obstacle of having to find temporary vacation accommodation.

You can visit our housing advice page here to get more information about searching for accommodation, finding flatmates, managing paperwork, moving in, and much more.

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OTHER SUPPORT

Peer Mentoring

The Peer Mentoring Programme is an opportunity for you to connect with a student from higher years who has been in the same position as you. They will give you support and guidance during your studies to help you succeed. Find out more here Peer support

What additional support is available to me?

Looking after your wellbeing is a fundamental part of supporting you during your time at Exeter. The University’s Wellbeing team offers a range of services to support you both personally and academically.

For more information about support available see the Wellbeing website or email wellbeing@exeter.ac.uk

I still have more questions, where can I get more support?

If you still have any more concerns, please get in touch with our Advice team at advice@exeterguild.com or go to our Drop in pages for drop-in session times.

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