Previous study and Compelling Personal Reasons

If you're repeating some or all of a year of study for the first time, you'll receive both a Tuition Fee Loan and a Maintenance Loan. You won't need to take any further action once you've applied for your student finance.

If you have previous study, your entitlement may be affected, even if you didn't achieve a qualification. If you're repeating studies or changing course, you may not have enough years of Tuition Fee Loan funding to cover all years of your current course.

If you've already used your extra 'gift' year, you'll usually have to self-fund your repeat year of study. You should pick up funding again in a later academic year.

You may be able to secure a further year's Tuition Fee Loan. You'll have to show that:

• a Compelling Personal Reason (CPR) affected a previous year, and
• you didn't progress in that previous year.

Compelling Personal Reasons can only be applied to an academic year where you didn't progress. You may have previously withdrawn from a course, taken a break in study or not have passed all your exams.

Student Finance will need to see that you didn't progress as a direct result of your Compelling Personal Reasons. This means that they must have occurred at a particular point during the academic year in question.

You must be able to evidence that the Compelling Personal Reasons:

• affected your studies, or
• prevented you from continuing.

You'll need evidence in support of your application. This must be from a professional person aware of your circumstances. Supporting evidence may include:

• medical evidence from a GP
• a supporting letter from Student Support Services
• a supporting letter from a pastoral adviser at NTU or a previous university
• a supporting letter from your course leader or tutor
• a letter from Social Services
• a letter from clergy or professional person
• a death certificate
• a photocopy of a birth certificate.

Your supporting evidence must clearly show that:

• your Compelling Personal Reasons affected your studies, and
• that they affected your studies during the year in question.

Your supporting evidence must show that your Compelling Personal Reasons occurred at a particular point during the academic year in question. This could be a particular month or term. Just stating that it happened in a particular year is often too vague, and will be rejected by Student Finance.

The evidence must be on headed paper. Electronic copies are fine. All evidence must be legible.

Your personal statement will need to include:

• your name
• your address
• your Student Finance customer reference number
• a statement describes how your Compelling Personal Reasons affected your studies.

Your statement should be brief, a few sentences is usually enough. It must be in your own words.

You must be able to show that your Compelling Personal Reasons occurred at a particular point during the academic year in question, such as a month or term. Student Finance will need to see that it was your Compelling Personal Reasons that prevented you from progressing.

You should also include a brief sentence explaining why you're now able to continue with your studies. For example, you are now better after the period of ill health or are now receiving treatment/support for a long-term health condition.

Our CPR guide for undergraduates has a template letter for you to use.

Upload your Compelling Personal Reasons request. Use the document upload facility in your Student Finance account. This short video explains how.

You can also send your evidence in by post, but it may take longer to process. If you post your evidence, send it by recorded delivery.

1. Identify the correct academic year for your Compelling Personal Reasons request. This must be a year in which you did not progress as a direct result
2. Include a brief personal statement. We have a helpful template letter in our CPR guide for undergraduates
3. Submit professional evidence in support of your Compelling Personal Reasons request . A personal statement is not usually sufficient
4. Ensure that your evidence clearly shows that your Compelling Personal Reasons occurred at a specific point during the academic year. We recommend highlighting a term or month
5. Ensure that your evidence clearly shows that your studies and attendance were significantly impacted as a direct result of your Compelling Personal Reasons
6. Upload your Compelling Personal Reasons evidence through your online Student Finance account where possible. You can post it, but this takes significantly longer to process
7. Keep copies of all evidence and correspondence
8. Once you have submitted your Compelling Personal Reasons request, contact Student Finance regularly to check the progress of your application.

Pop to our City campus drop-in if:

• you'd like to discuss your individual circumstances
• you're not sure whether you'll need to apply for Compelling Personal Reasons
• you have further questions.

If you can't get to City campus, please contact us.

You can also download a copy of our CPR guide for undergraduates.

The most common reasons for a refusal by Student Finance to award a further year's Tuition Fee Loan through the Compelling Personal Reasons process are:

• no professional evidence in support of your application
• the evidence shows an incorrect academic year. You must use an academic year where you did not progress
• the evidence doesn't clearly show when during the academic year your Compelling Personal Reasons occurred
• the evidence doesn't clearly show that your Compelling Personal Reasons impacted your study.

If your application is refused, please contact Student Finance to find out why. You may submit more evidence. If you would like support in doing this, please get in touch or attend our City campus drop-in session.

If your application is still refused, you may wish to appeal the decision. You can find out how to make a formal appeal on the website of your national Student Finance service.