I applied for SFE and now they’re telling me I need to reapply with a physical form

I applied for SFE in July after getting a place for Uni through clearing in July. I previously had withdrawn from uni in 2022 due to health issues and did not receive any SFE payments after my first year. I reapplied for SFE using the same account I used for my previous uni studies. Due to this, it appears as though I’ve applied for student finance as a continuing student though they didn’t give me an option to specify whether I’m a returning or new student. They’ve only just now emailed me to tell me that this means I need
to re-apply as a new student this year using a physical form after initially processing my application as a continuing student.

Will this affect how much Student Finance I get? And when will I receive it at this point? Should I just apply online or will mailing a physical form make the process quicker? When I go to the SFE website, it tells me they’re still processing my application. Is this also normal?

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 1

Claire SFE

Official Rep

Original post by smtry02

Hi there,

You should only have one account with us. It depends on the status of your previous application whether you're classed as a new student or continuing.
If you have been told to apply as a new student, we would advise to complete the paper form found on our website here https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-forms

Applications can take 6-8 weeks to process once we have everything from you. The quicker we receive it, the quicker we can process it.

Thanks,
Claire