Undergraduate students are normally funded for the number of years of their current course, and one additional year called a gift year¹ to allow for a repeat or change of course. If you have used up this additional year, Student Finance may not fund your tuition fees, but you will continue to receive your maintenance loan. If you are taking a 3-year programme, your funding entitlement will look like this:

3 years (course length) + 1 year (gift year) = 4 years of funding

If you make changes to your study involving suspending or withdrawing, you would usually lose, funding for study commenced in that academic year. For instance, if you suspend in Year 2 of a 3-year course, your funding entitlement would look like this:

3 + 1 = 4 – 2 years of study = 2 years of tuition fee funding remaining

Student Finance England may reinstate your tuition fee loan, however, if you can prove that you had ‘compelling personal reasons’ (CPR) for repeating/suspending/transferring. You can only use the evidence once to get funded for a particular year, so it has to be different evidence to what was accepted for a previous repeat year, if you have already used that evidence previously for CPR.

1. This is referred to as a “gift year” because it is an additional year of tuition fee loan over and above the normal length of the course. ↩︎

Reasons for CPR can include but are not limited to:

• Depression and other mental health issues
• Illness or injury
• Family crisis
• Bereavement
• Maternity, paternity, or adoption

The reasons must be unforeseen or beyond the student’s control.

CPR cannot be awarded for:

• Events that happened after you stopped studying
• Financial hardship
• Not liking your course
• Academic failure

Write a letter

You should write a letter that sets out your request and explains the situation, including how and why you were unable to pass the year or had to leave your course. List how circumstances affected your ability to study effectively or prevented you from completing your course that academic year.

Include the dates the issue occurred and that you wish to have your eligibility for a tuition fee loan reviewed.

Ensure you have included your customer reference number, full name, signature, and the date.

Health Reasons

Think about the symptoms you’ve had or obstacles affecting your ability to study resulting from illness or a condition, be they physical, psychological, or emotional.

Example: “I suffer from depression and anxiety. My illness has affected my ability to leave the house so I have been missing lectures I need to attend the conservatoire. I have also had problems motivating myself to complete the work and have found it very difficult to process information because of my depression. I get panic attacks, which have prevented me from attending lectures and seminars. Because of the impact of my depression, I have been unable to continue with my course and was advised to interrupt my studies by my tutor. As you can see from the enclosed evidence, my doctor/counsellor is supportive of this.”

Personal Reasons

Think of a way to express what has happened and how it has affected you. If you have lost a family member or friend for example could explain the emotional and practical implications that affected their lives following bereavement that impacted on your ability to study.

Family Reasons

You may have experienced problems with your close relationships or some other disruption that has affected your ability to study. Again, think of how you would like to phrase the emotional and practical implications this has had fo your ability to study successfully.

Gather Your Evidence

Your evidence must cover what your issue was, how it affected your studies and the dates it occurred.

All letters must be on headed paper, dated and signed. The person signing must give their job title. Letters must state the academic year(s) or time periods affected.

At least one of the following should be included to support your letter:

Letter from a doctor or other medical professional

This should state the nature of your illness and give relevant dates. The letter should state how this illness/condition affected your ability to study.

Letter from a lecturer, tutor, or academic manager

This should state that they are aware of your situation and that it disrupted your studies or caused you to suspend/repeat/transfer. It would be helpful if they could state that they are happy for you to resume your course.

Letter from another professional

This could be a member of Leeds Conservatoire Student Services or other University where the previous study took place, a social worker, or solicitor, etc.

Sending Your Request and Evidence

You can upload your letter and supporting evidence digitally directly to your online Student Finance England account – this is the quickest and easiest option.

It is best to upload both your letter and supporting evidence at the same time so they can be considered together.

If you are unsure how to upload your evidence, you can watch Student Finance’s video on how to provide this.

You will need to upload your documents to the correct year’s application. For example, if you’re asking for extra funding for 2025/26, upload your letter and evidence to your 2025/26 application.

If you are not from England, please check with the body which awards your funding, or ask the Student Funding Team.

It usually takes at least 6 weeks for a CPR request to be reviewed. Student Finance will write to you to say that the request has been reviewed and to let you know the outcome.

If the request has been rejected then the letter will explain why and what further evidence is required.

If your request was successful then you will receive your full funding and an email will be sent informing you of this.

If your request is rejected and no further evidence is available, you will be liable to pay your own tuition fees and you will be invoiced accordingly – please get in touch with us if this is the case!

For further support with an application for Compelling Personal Reasons, you can contact the Student Funding Team at Leeds Conservatoire.