Help with Unexpected Financial Difficulties
Students are expected to have planned their finances before starting their studies. However, we appreciate that occasionally problems arise. Here are the options available.
If you are a fully funded student, you should contact your funder in the first instance. For applications to any of these funds, you will be asked for information and evidence of your income and expenditure.
The Pillman Student Support Fund can provide small grants to postgraduates experiencing financial difficulty due to an unavoidable change in their circumstances and where a relatively small amount of funding might make a significant difference.. You should talk to your Tutor or the Financial Welfare Officer and then you can apply online. All applications will be sent on to your Tutor for their approval. The committee meets twice each term and applications close for consideration on the Friday of week 1 and week 5 of term: 24 January 2025, 21 February 2025,, 2nd May, 30th May 2025.
Do you require higher value support?
If you are experiencing more significant problems and may need longer term or higher value support, here are the steps you should take if you wish to apply to University Financial Assistance. For queries related to this, you can also contact the Financial Welfare Officer
- Talk to your Academic Supervisor and College Tutor about applying
- Read the eligibility criteria here to ensure you are eligible
- Read the application guidance
- Complete a draft of the University's PG Financial Assistance Word copy of application form ( to draft your responses and share your application with your College Tutor before applying)
- Once you have completed these steps, you can apply and submit online here
- Applications open at the start of each term and are responded to at the end of the month following the month of application.
This is available to any student from a country on UNICEF's Level 2 or 3 Emergency list, or who has Refugee, Asylum Seeker or Humanitarian Protection status.
Students can apply for support with living costs. Further details are here:
Humanitarian Response Fund to support students affected by conflict | University of Cambridge
Overview of funds
It can be difficult to navigate what financial support may be provided. Here is some more information about the support available. In all instances, applications will require your Tutor’s support. Some of the funds listed above : University Financial Assistance and Humanitarian Response funds are outlined here