The RVC encourages you to seek help as early as possible if you are struggling to meet the costs of your studies.  

The RVC Student Support Fund is available to support enrolled students who are facing the following financial difficulties:

• Exceptional but necessary course related costs - generally accommodation and travel costs related to EMS, placements, rotations, projects, etc.
• Unexpected costs relating to general living expenditure – such as accommodation, travel, bills, childcare etc.
• Students who, because of financial hardship,  are unable to pay their rent, buy food or other essentials.

Note: The Student Support Fund is not able to assist with Tuition Fees.

Awards are made based on an understanding of your whole financial situation and priority is given to those applicants who can demonstrate that their overall income (including family contributions) is insufficient to meet their costs while studying.  

Other priority groups include: 

• Students with caring responsibilities or students with children (especially lone parents)
• Students from low-income families (under £25,000 Household Income)
• Students with a disability
• Students estranged from their parents
• Care leavers
• Students who have lived in Foyers or who are homeless
• Students receiving the final year loan rate who are in financial difficulty (including those who are unable to work because of academic pressure)
• Mature students with existing financial commitments and priority debts

Note: Previous applicants should only reapply if their circumstances have changed and/or they are experiencing unforeseen or exceptional difficulties.

Who is eligible?

Current RVC student who have applied for all available funding from statutory sources e.g. Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, SAAS, US Loans, etc.

Students must have less than £1,500 in all of their accounts combined at the time of submitting their application.

When to apply?

The 2023/24 Student Support Fund is now open for applications.

All applications must be submitted, in full, before 11:45pm on Friday 12th July 2024 for continuing students or before 11:45pm on Friday 31st May 2024 for final year students.

If you require emergency funding, please see our page here or consider an application to the RVC Student Union Emergency Loan.  More information on this can be found here.

How do I apply?

Please check you meet the Eligibility Criteria above before applying to the fund using the online application form. 

Please see the link below to apply:

Student Support Fund Application Form

• You must complete all sections of the application form that apply to your circumstances. 
• Please ensure you attach copies of all necessary supporting documents with your application. Failure to submit all of the required documents will result in a delay to your application.
• Processing time varies but usually takes approximately 28 days if all documents are submitted with your application.
• Applications and documents are processed on a rolling basis so we recommend you submit your application as early as possible.

If you require the application form in a different format, please email supportfunds@rvc.ac.uk to request one.

If you are unsure what documents you might need to include with your applications, please see our checklist:

Supporting Documents Checklist

Please ensure you send copies of ALL necessary supporting documents with your application.

If you have any queries about the fund, please e-mail moneymatters@rvc.ac.uk.

Digital Support Fund

The RVC Digital Support Fund is funded by the RVC's Blended Learning Project Group.  The fund aims to reduce digital poverty by assisting RVC students with the cost of essential equipment to ensure they can fully engage with Blended Learning e.g., being able to watch and listen to digital aspects of their course (lectures, CALs, etc), complete online assessments, etc.

The fund can help students with the cost of equipment including:

• purchasing a new laptop (including laptops purchased via the RVC Library*)
• fixing a current laptop
• USB headsets**

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What is the maximum amount of money I can receive? The maximum award per student is £350 per academic year.  This is so we can support as many students as possible  
• If I already bought a new laptop can I be reimbursed for the purchase? Yes, but the purchase must have been made since 1st December 2023  
• How do you determine eligibility for an award? Eligibility for an award will be determined by a financial assessment and students may be asked to provide further financial information***  
• I received funding from the Digital Support Fund – can I apply again?  Students who received an award from the Digital Support Fund in the previous academic year will not be able to receive funding for the same or very similar items in this round of applications
• Can I apply to buy other items such as tablets? While we recognise that tablets can be very useful for study purposes, we want to make sure that as many students as possible have laptops to access their studies and assessments.  As such, the fund is unable to assist with purchasing tablet devices.
• Would a Chromebook be funded by the Digital Support Fund? The fund can help with purchasing a Chromebook however, we have been advised by academic staff that certain programmes, such as GraphPad Prism for statistical analysis, do not work on Chromebooks. There is not a web version of GraphPad Prism so it needs to be downloaded and run on a Mac or Windows laptop.  Please check the Blended Learning FAQ section for more information on the laptops recommended by the RVC.

If you would like advice on improving your Digital Skills or accessing support with Blended Learning, please visit our How We Deliver Blended Learning information page or Digital Skills section on the Student Hub on LEARN.  

If you have a Disability or Specific Learning Difference (e.g., Dyslexia or Dyspraxia) and would like to learn more about equipment and software available to support your studies, please contact the Disability Adviser in the Advice Centre.  Or see the information on the RVC Student Hub on LEARN.

Who is eligible?

The fund is open to students who meet the criteria below

• Enrolled in the 2023/24 academic year
• Undergraduate and Postgraduate students
• Full and part time - Home, EU and International fee status***
• Accessing all available financial support from their funding body e.g. SFE, SFW, SFNI, SAAS, US loans, SLC
• Struggling to meet the costs of the essential equipment to access your studies or in financial hardship due to purchasing equipment

If you are experiencing general financial difficulties, please consider an application to the Student Support Fund (information above) or book an appointment with the Student Money Adviser via LEARN.

When to apply?

The fund is now closed.

Depending on funding, we hope to be able to re-open the fund in the Autumn term 2024.

How do I apply?

Please check you meet the Eligibility Criteria above before submitting an application to the fund.

The fund is now closed.

• You must complete all sections of the application form that apply to your circumstances.  
• If you are applying for a reimbursement, please upload your receipt or invoice for external purchases or your email from the RVC library* confirming the equipment you have purchased.  The document must clearly show the date of the purchase, cost and item details. 
• If you are applying for help with the cost of a laptop or headset, please upload a screenshot or invoice confirming the cost of the equipment you wish to purchase. We may contact you after the award has been made to request proof of purchase.

If you need any help completing the application, please contact moneymatters@rvc.ac.uk (you can use accessibility features such as changing the text size, colours or use a screen reader by clicking on the immersive reader icon at the top of the form). 

Applications will be processed in order of the date received and can take up to 4 weeks to process. As part of the financial assessment we may request financial documents such as recent bank statements.    

Once you have submitted the application form, please email supportfunds@rvc.ac.uk with any queries.

*The RVC Library offer a limited number of new laptops at a reduced price of £367.  Please contact the Library directly to enquire about these laptops by emailing library@rvc.ac.uk or submitting a request for more information via the Service Desk Portal.  The Digital Support Fund can assist with the cost of these laptops.  

**Headsets are necessary for students to fully engage with online lectures and assessments.  The fund can assist with a maximum of £50 towards headsets or earphones for this purpose.

***Home/EU students with a Student Finance assessed Household Income over £60,000, Postgraduate and International students applying to this fund will be asked to provide some financial documents to show they are in financial need. Students may also be asked for confirmation they are receiving all loans they are eligible for. Students will need to show they have less than £1,500 in all bank accounts in their name on the date they applied for financial support from this fund to be eligible. 

What is this scheme? 

The RVC EMS+ Awards scheme is generously funded by RVC Alumni (from the Alumni Fund and the former RVC Graduates Association) and aims to encourage and enable BVetMed students in their 3rd, 4th and 5th years to experience potentially career-informing EMS opportunities in the UK or abroad (subject to current RVC policy on international travel). Please ensure you read the most up to date information on policy as it changes regularly. 

Please note, due to changes in US visa laws it is not possible for students who do not have USA citizenship or permanent residency (Green card) to attend EMS placements in the USA as the visa restrictions do not permit any form of “work experience” (paid or unpaid) for non-residents. This means that from now on EMS placements in the USA can only be approved for students who are USA citizens/residents.

The EMS opportunity must offer an exciting opportunity to the student and be aspirational.  Students must demonstrate how the placement will fulfill these objectives in the application form.  Preference will be given to placements which are at least two weeks in duration. Students may have already had the opportunity approved (please provide a copy of your confirmation e-mail) but prior approval (or indeed, prior arrangement of the placement) is not a requirement:  in such circumstances an award will be made on the proviso that approval is given. 

All placements must meet the usual criteria set for RVC EMS. The scheme will invite applications twice a year in May and December and for each call, one award of up to £1,000 will be available and around 8-10 further awards of up to £500 each (the value of awards may vary depending on the size and quality of applications received). Please note we will not fund any EMS placements that require payment to attend.

All awardees will be expected to supply a short report (min 750 words) within a month of completing the placement outlining how the placement benefited them, reflecting back on their objectives as outlined in their original application and with good quality photos. Awards are given on the proviso that students consent to their reports and photos being used online and offline for fundraising, to promote the scheme and to update alumni as to how their donated funds have been spent.

Applications will be judged by a panel of RVC staff chaired by Vicki Laing and comprising Jane Tomlin, Julian Drewe, Jackie Cardwell, Imelda McGonnell and Shelley Revell.  

Who is eligible?

This scheme is open to students studying Veterinary Medicine years 3, 4 and 5. The EMS can be of any type (including any animal species) and be in the UK or abroad. Students may apply more than once during their course (maximum of one application per deadline) but each student is eligible to receive only one award during their degree. 

When to apply?

There will be two funding calls per year, one in December and one in May.  The next deadline is

• Friday 17th May 2024 - For Placements from July 2024 onwards
• Friday 13th December 2024 - For Placements from February 2024 onwards

How do I apply?

Please complete the application form here:      EMS+ Awards Application Form

Completed application forms must be sent to Joyce Fenner, Grants and Legacies Administrator by 5pm on the deadline day at jfenner@rvc.ac.uk

All applications will be checked for their eligibility and then independently scored by Panel members and discussed at a Panel meeting three to four weeks later. For the May deadline, successful candidates will be informed in June, for the December deadline, successful candidates will be informed in February.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please contact the Student Money Adviser: moneymatters@rvc.ac.uk.

What are they?

This bursary is made possible by a generous legacy donation from Ted Nelson. 

The Fund offers BVetMed students in their 3rd, 4th or 5th years experiencing financial difficulty, a £250 bursary towards potentially career-informing EMS Farm placement opportunities in the UK or abroad. 

Students are encouraged to provide information on the placement and how it has or will influence their future career choices.

Who is eligible?

This bursary is open to students who are:

• RVC Enrolled UK, EU or International Students
• Accessing all loans and grants they are entitled to from their respective governments (i.e. SFE, SFW, SFNI, SAAS, US Federal Loans, Canadian Loans, etc.)
• Studying in years 3, 4 or 5 of the BVetMed (including those on the Gateway and Accelerated pathways)
• In need of financial support to attend a farm placement

When to apply?

Applications are currently closed for the 2023/24 academic year.

Applications for the 2024/25 academic year are expected to open in December 2024. 

How do I apply?

The fund is currently closed. When it re-opens, the application form will be available here. 

Submitting an application:

• By Email.  Applications and supporting documents can be submitted by email to the following email address: supportfunds@rvc.ac.uk. We advise students to password protect their documents and send the password information in a separate email.

Please ensure you send copies of ALL necessary supporting documents with your application. 

If you have any queries about the fund, please e-mail moneymatters@rvc.ac.uk

What are they?

The BHH Clinical Rotations Support Fund is a new fund to support 4th year BVetMed students. This fund merges the Burrows Bursary, Homfray Awards and Hynes Fund.

Awards of £1,250 are available to 4th year BVetMed students in financial hardship (including those on the Gateway, Accelerated and Aberystwyth pathways).

Awards will be paid in two instalments (Summer 2024 and January 2025) to support students during the final 12 months of their course.

The Burrows Bursary scheme is made possible as a result of a generous bequest to support students training to become veterinary surgeons.

The Homfray Awards are made available to support Veterinary students, due to a generous donation from The Mary Homfray Charitable Trust, via Mary’s grandson, Matthew Homfray. 

The Hynes Fund is a legacy donation from Mr. Reginald Hynes with the purpose of giving financial assistance to Veterinary students to help them complete their studies. 

These funds are intended to support students facing financial hardship, and for this reason you will need to submit evidence of your financial situation. A list of the documents you will need to send can be found on the application form.

Who is eligible?

Applications for the award are invited from students who meet all of the following criteria: 

 Enrolled RVC UK, EU or International students
 Accessing all loans and grants from their home government (i.e. SFE, SFW, SFNI, SAAS, US Federal Loans, Canadian Loans)
 Studying on the 4th year of the BVetMed
 Experiencing financial hardship

Successful applicants must be willing to provide a short report if their application is successful. Failure to provide this report may result in the award being withdrawn.

When to apply?

Applications are now open.

Applications will be considered after the closing date of Monday 27th May 2024.

Students will be notified of the outcome of their application in July 2024.

How do I apply?

We are now accepting applications to this fund. Please complete the application form below:

BHH Clinical Rotations Support Fund Application Form

Please check you meet the Eligibility Criteria above before applying to the fund. 

• You must complete all sections of the application form that apply to your circumstances. 
• Please ensure you attach copies of all necessary supporting documents with your application. Failure to submit all of the required documents will result in a delay to your application.

If you require the application form in a different format, please email supportfunds@rvc.ac.uk to request one.

If you have any queries about this fund, please contact moneymatters@rvc.ac.uk.

The RVC International Experience Scheme (IES) is funded by the Turing Scheme.  The UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world. It offers students, learners and pupils life-changing experiences to study or work abroad.  For more information, please visit our International Experience Scheme page