Compelling Personal Reasons - advice needed.

Hi,

I am a little confused as to the rules surrounding compelling personal reasons with student finance.

Basically, I suffered from some mental health conditions in the past which are now under control (I do not wish to divulge the full extent of them on a public forum, but for this queries sake, lets assume that SFE would view them as 'compelling personal reasons')

Would there be any way in which to get 4 previous years (no degree obtained, 2 completed first years and 2 drop out years) of University study to not be taken into account for future funding? I previously studied in 2008/2009, 09/10, 10/11 and 2011/2012.

I have been studying with the OU and would love the opportunity to go back to a brick uni, using these credits as entrance.. but as far as I can see, you can only apply for one CPR year at a time.

I realise this is an odd request, but I was wondering if anybody has been in a similar situation before? Perhaps if I wrote a lengthy letter with plenty of evidence to support my illness they could make an exception? Or is there really no way around it?

Any advice appreciated, thanks

Reply 1

Mark Lee - SFE Official Adviser

Official Rep

Hello

Firstly you would need to have an application in place before we can consider compelling personal reasons, so if you have not done so you should make this.

There is no limit to the amount of years you can apply for, it's very much dependent on your personal situation and the evidence you can provide. We would require medical evidence and letters from your university confirming how this affected your study. If you have specific evidence outlining each year, it would be down to the assessor as to how many years of CPR could be awarded. The more evidence the better, and you can include a cover letter detailing exactly what you are applying for.

Thanks