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Advice Needed – SFE Refusing to Fund First Year of Degree

Hi everyone,

I need some advice regarding my student finance situation. I previously started a university course but withdrew within the first year. Now, I’ve started a new degree, but Student Finance England (SFE) has told me that I only have two years of funding left, which means they will only cover years 2 and 3 of my current course, leaving me without funding for the first year.

I applied for additional funding based on Compelling Personal Reasons (CPR), but SFE has rejected my evidence. I’m not sure what my options are now.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there any way to challenge this decision, or are there alternative funding options I should consider? Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

Drew SLC

Official Rep

Hi Jean,

Have you only had one year of previous study as it sounds like you have had more than one year. Did we advise you on why your Compelling Personal Reasons were not accepted? Did we ask you to provide more evidence and have you done so?

Thanks, Drew

Reply 2

Jean Sanchez

Hi Drew,

Thank you so much for your reply.

I reached out on of my previous tutor and he cannot provide me a letter as he was advised not to do so. Right now, I don't know what professional I can use to provide me a letter. That's why I have not sent the evidence yet.

I successfully completed a foundation year.
Here is the email from SLC:
Dear Mr Sanchez Calderon,

Your evidence can’t be accepted.

We received your evidence relating to why you left your previous course.
The evidence you sent us can’t be accepted we require more evidence from
you.

You can still send more evidence:
Your evidence must be from a professional person such as a doctor,
counsellor, social worker, tutor or similar who can confirm your situation.
They must explain
• why you couldn’t continue your studies
• when this happened, including dates
• how this affected your ability to study

Uploading evidence online

What you need to do:
1. Locate the evidence we have requested. You only need to send evidence
that you have not already sent us.
2. Get a clear and readable digital copy of your evidence. You can take
a photograph or scan to do this.
3. Go to www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login
4. Log in with your student finance login details.
5. Upload your evidence and click submit.

Your upload must be:
• of the entire document
• readable by our staff
• either a BMP, JPEG, PDF, PNG or TIFF file
• smaller than 16MB.

If you cannot upload your evidence you can send clear photocopies of your
evidence to:

Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ

Any evidence you send will be carefully considered and we’ll let you know
if you can get an additional year of funding.

Reply 3

Stephen SLC

Official Rep

Hi there, from the email this reads as the evidence provided was not quite enough to allow the assessment team to award an additional year for the compelling personal reason (CPR). As advised in the email, we recommend the evidence is signed and dated and confirms the reason why you could not continue with your studies and when this took place (must be date specific). We can accept photocopies of medical evidence from a GP on headed paper, letters from your university on headed paper, letters from Social Services, clergy or professional person on headed paper, we can also accept copies of a death certificates and/or a birth certificates. However, this list is not exhaustive and any and all evidence that may help your claim for Compelling Personal Reasons (CPR) should be sent to us for consideration. Thanks, Stephen.