The Emergency Hardship Fund closes on Wednesday 18th December 2025 and will reopen Thursday 2nd January 2025.

Any student who has been registered on a credit-bearing course at the University during the current academic year.

The EHF is intended to provide prompt, small (up to £300) awards to address to address a specific financial situation that has arisen due to exceptional or unforeseen circumstances.

• The application form is available on Blackbullion. If you do not already have a Blackbullion login, you can set one up for free.
• As part of the application process, you will be asked to state how much money you need and to provide a breakdown of these costs. Providing copies of receipts or invoices will be helpful to your application and will speed up the decision-making process.
• You will be asked to provide a statement detailing the unforeseen circumstances which has led to your current financial situation. This is your opportunity to tell us what has happened and how we can help. Please do let us know what impact your situation is having on your studies and wellbeing.  If you have already discussed your circumstances with a member of staff in Student Welfare or Student Support and Wellbeing, you can indicate this on the form and do not need to repeat the details of your situation if you prefer not to. A Student Welfare Officer may call you to discuss your situation to ensure that we are supporting you in the most appropriate way.
• During the application process you will also be asked to upload bank statements covering the previous 30 days from all current and savings accounts.  
• When assessing an application, we will consider whether the situation was foreseeable, whether you have other sources of funding and savings, whether you could come to harm without financial help and the impact on your studies.  

• We have a strictly limited amount of money available each year and awards can only be made where there are available funds. In normal circumstances awards will not exceed £300 across the year for any student.
• There is no automatic entitlement to an award from the fund and all applications are considered on their individual merits.
• In some cases, the award will not be made as a direct payment but could take the form of an amount loaded onto your KentOne card, food vouchers, or other options appropriate to your circumstances.
• The Fund cannot be used to cover general living costs or to subsidise a substantial shortfall in income or rise in expenses. For assistance with general living costs, students should apply to the Access to Learning Fund if eligible. For assistance with general living costs in an emergency, students should apply for the Kent Emergency Student Loan. Students should contact the Advice Service at Kent Union to discuss their options if they are unsure of which fund to apply for (advice@kent.ac.uk).

There is no definitive list of situations that would guarantee a payment from the fund. The following is an indicative list of the type of situations that might be successful:

• Immediate need to move properties for reasons beyond a student's control
• A close family bereavement leaving a student with unexpected financial responsibility
• Circumstances that could not have been planned for meaning a student is unable to work (for example illness or injury)
• Impact of a natural disaster
• Impact of a criminal act against a student or their property, where the student was insured but their insurance was unable to assist
• A sudden loss of financial support from a parent, sponsor, or guardian for which it was not possible to make alternative plans

The following is an indicative list of circumstances where we cannot provide support:

• Failure to purchase insurance
• Paying down debts
• Requests to pay tuition fees
• Compensation for injuries, illness, or negligence by a third party
• Medium or long-term help with bills or other costs such as rent
• Costs to repair, maintain or to insure vehicle (including contributions for business travel insurance) 
• Compensating for loss of benefits or other payments
• Cases which include excessive unessential spending
• Cases where we are asked to help with unessential costs such as streaming services, the purchase of vehicles and subscriptions to unessential services
• Payment of fines levied either by the University or a third party

Applications are reviewed every working day and we aim to provide a decision within 3 working days of you submitting the application.  In more urgent emergencies, you should contact the Student Welfare Team (StudentWelfare@kent.ac.uk) to discuss your situation.

If we need any further information relating to your application, you will be asked to provide this.  Failure to respond to a request from the University in a timely manner will delay the final decision.

If your application is successful, payments will be made on the Tuesday or Friday afternoon after your receipt of the confirmation email. In some cases, the award will not be made as a direct payment but could take the form of an amount loaded onto your KentOne card, food vouchers, or other options appropriate to your circumstances.

There is not an appeal process for the Exceptional Hardship Fund. If you are unsuccessful you might want to take a look at other funds or get in touch with Kent Union's Advice Service for further advice.