This page contains information about the Compelling Personal Reasons process at Edge Hill University. Information on this page was compiled by our expert Advice Team.

If you need further advice, please book an appointment here.

 

Compelling Personal Reasons (CPR)

Compelling Personal Reasons is a process where students who have had previous higher education study or had to repeat years of study can apply for an additional years funding from Student Finance England (SFE).

It is only applicable for students who have experienced serious personal circumstances such as illness, bereavement, pregnancy or a family crisis (this list is not exhaustive). 

CPR is only applied one year at a time but if granted will give you another year of tuition funding to enable you to complete your degree. Even if you studied previously for less than a full academic year this can still be considered one year of study. Study abroad is also considered previous study.

CPR is a discretionary application for extra funding and not an appeal to SFE. 

 

When to apply

The standard entitlement from SFE is 3 years (or the length of your course) + 1 “gift year,” therefore if you have or will be studying for a longer period than that, then you may need to consider your additional years of funding or whether you are able to self-fund. 

CPR is not applicable for students who have suffered financial hardship or withdrawn from previous study because they did not like their course.

If you are applying for CPR you should do this when you are applying for funding from SFE so your circumstances can be taken into consideration.

 

How to apply

You need to send a letter to SFE along with a cover letter detailing a timeline of your previous study and the reasons you had to withdraw or repeat past study.

You must submit evidence with your letter or your application will not be accepted. Evidence you could consider would be GP notes or medical evidence that refers to the time of the illness or mitigation that led to you being unable to complete or pass your previous study year(s). 

Other forms of evidence could include:
 

• A death certificate 
• A birth certificate (if you had to leave your course due to pregnancy)
• A letter from a counselling service
• Victim support
• Police Statements
   

You should Submit as much relevant evidence as you can to increase the success of your claim and ensure any documents from your doctor, social worker or wellbeing services are on official letter-headed paper.

You could also get a letter on letter-headed paper from someone at your previous or current university to confirm the dates of your prior study and the reasons as to why you were unable to continue. The evidence must cover the dates of when the situation occurred.

The address to send you letter and evidence to is: 

Student Finance England
P.O. Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ

 

Template Letter

Our Advice Centre has created a template letter that you can amend and send to SFE.

You can download our template letter here.

Make sure you detail your Customer Reference Number (CRN) and get Proof of Postage

 

Outcome

You will get a response from SFE within 6-8 weeks, it will detail whether you have been granted the additional funding or not.

If you would like to speak to one of our advisers about submitting an application for extra funding under the Compelling Personal Reasons route, please book an appointment.

Helpful Links

General Student Finance information

Further CPR information

General advice on student funding