Kent Emergency Student Loans (KESL) are available to all undergraduate and postgraduate, Home, EU or International, full time or part time students, who find themselves in temporary financial difficulties.  

The purpose of the loan is to aid students suffering financial difficulties who need help with their immediate essential living costs (i.e. not accommodation costs).  

To be eligible you need to:

• be fully registered
• have already used all the funds available to you
• have already tried other sources of funding, e.g. parents or bank
• be able to repay the loan within three months
• have not already got any short term loans outstanding
• supply all necessary evidence

Students can receive an emergency loan from the Financial Aid Office of up to a maximum of £240 after submitting a completed application.  

Students must agree a repayment date at the time of application. 

If you are eligible to apply you will need to log onto your KV Portal and select My Fees & Finance, Apply for funding, to apply for a KESL.

Please note new applications received after 4pm on Friday 13 December 2024 will not be considered.  All evidence, T&C's and ETF's must reach the Financial Aid Office by 12 noon on Monday 16 December 2024.  Applications will re-open on Thursday 2nd January 2025.

• Kent Emergency Student Loans are discretionary and not given on demand.
• They are loans granted when all other sources of funding have been exhausted. The University reserves the right to ask that a student exhausts all other reasonable avenues of funding before a KESL is issued.
• They are intended to cover essential expenses such as food, for a limited period of time, to allow time for your financial situation to improve.
•  Students can have more than one KESL outstanding at any one time but the maximum amount cannot exceed £240 in total.
• KESLs are loans and must be repaid. If this debt, or any other, is still owed when you graduate then you may be prevented from attending your graduation ceremony, with your degree being conferred "in absentia"
• Kent Emergency Student Loans will only be available to final year students in the Summer Term in exceptional circumstances
• Students applying for a KESL to pay for a fine will also need to provide satisfactory evidence of this with their application. Fines imposed by the University cannot be considered for a KESL.  

You will receive an email to confirm if your application has been successful. Turnaround for applications is usually no more than 24 hours as long as all relevant documentation has been supplied. 

If an application is successful, you will need to accept the terms and conditions and return an electronic transfer form to financialaid@kent.ac.uk. After both documents have been received, payment should be made within 4 working days.

KESL repayments should be made within 3 months of your agreed repayment date. 

You can make your payment through the epay gateway using the Miscellaneous option.

Students who are unsuccessful in their application may appeal against the decision. Please see the information sheet for details on how to appeal.