Care Leaver / Foyer / Estranged Student Award

Financial help at University of Northampton

If you are from a care background, a Foyer or other homeless project, or you have been assessed as an estranged student by your funding provider (i.e. you do not have any contact with your parents), you may be eligible to receive an award of £1,500 per year (£2,000 in your final year) to help with your course and accommodation costs during your studies.

To be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:

• you are under the age of 25 on the first day of the first academic year of your course (1 September for courses starting in the autumn term)
• you are a ‘Home’ student enrolled on a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate course at the University of Northampton. International students are not eligible to apply for this award
• you must have been in care, or under a care order, for a period of at least thirteen weeks since the age of 14 or you are from a Foyer/other homeless project, or you are estranged from your parents. (You must provide a supporting letter from your Local Authority, support worker, Foyer Federation, or evidence of your estrangement to confirm this)
• you must not be living with parents or receiving any financial support from parents. Care leavers who are the responsibility of the Local Authority but live with parents, may still be able to apply for support but this support will be reduced to reflect the circumstances

How to Apply for the award

To apply, you must complete a Care leaver/Foyer/Estranged Student Award application form and include supporting evidence. Application forms are available on the Student Hub (username and password required).

The maximum award available is £1,500 per academic year (£2,000 for final year students). If you are struggling financially, you may also be eligible to apply for the Financial Assistance Fund (Student Hub – username and password required).

If you are eligible to receive the award, it will usually be paid in three instalments:

• 25% once your application has been received and assessed
• 25% in mid-February
• 50% in mid-June to help with summer accommodation costs

You may be eligible to apply for this award in future academic years, however this is subject to funds being made available and is not guaranteed.

Application Deadline

Please refer to the website for full details of the deadline to apply for the Care leaver/Foyer/Estranged Student Award.

If you have any queries, please contact the Financial Guidance Team at money@northampton.ac.uk.