Support to purchase food and essentials for students who are in financial hardship.

Overview

Over two-thirds of respondents to a recent cost of living survey run by Hallam Students' Union stated that they'd been substantially impacted by the rising cost of food. The purpose of this fund is to provide students who are in hardship, with a one-off digital Tesco voucher to help them purchase food and other essentials.  This grant has been made available through funding from the Office for Students.

What you could receive

Successful applicants will be awarded a £100 digital Tesco voucher.  There is no cash alternative, and we cannot provide vouchers for other supermarkets.

Who can apply

You can apply for the Cost of Living Grant if you:

• are fully enrolled at the time of application on a taught credit-bearing course or research degree for the 2023/24 academic year, and
• are paying a tuition fee to the University (or in receipt of a tuition fee loan to cover this amount), and
• are able to demonstrate that you are currently experiencing financial hardship (by uploading bank statements/screenshots to your application for all of your accounts).

If you receive benefits and/or any other financial support, it is your responsibility to check whether receiving an award will affect your entitlement(s)/payments.

When to apply

Applications for the 2023/24 academic year open on Tuesday 2 July 2024, and will be assessed on a first come, first served basis.  We have a limited number of vouchers, so do not delay in applying as we expect this will be a very popular scheme.

Applications will close when all vouchers have been allocated to eligible students.  We reserve the right to withdraw this scheme at any time and at our discretion.

How to apply

You will need to complete an online application form. The form will ask you to provide balance screenshots or bank statements from all of your accounts.

What happens next

Your form will be assessed. If we require further information or evidence from you, we will send an email to your student email address. If you do not respond to a request for further information or evidence in a timely manner, your application will take longer to process, and you may miss out on receiving a voucher.

We will contact you within three weeks of the date you submit your application with either an update or an outcome.  This will be by email to your student email address.  Please be aware that it may take us longer to contact you if we receive very high volumes of applications.

Successful applicants will receive a digital Tesco voucher link and code by email, with instructions on how to activate and use the voucher.

Need help

If you have any questions about the Cost of Living Grant, please contact Hallam Help.