A Money Outsider investigation, based on Freedom of Information responses from 102 UK universities, reveals a significant and widening difference in hardship fund approval rates for UK versus international students.

The headline numbers

In 2020/21, international students who applied for hardship support were approved 94.9% of the time, a higher rate than UK students (86.3%). By 2024/25, those positions had reversed: UK students were approved at 80.6%, while international students had fallen to 70.0%.

The crossover happened between 2021/22 and 2022/23. Before that point, international students were more likely to be approved. After it, they were less likely, and the gap has continued to widen.

There are possible explanations. The COVID year saw specific emergency funding streams, some of which may have been particularly accessible to international students. As those wound down, universities may have reverted to hardship criteria that favour home students, whether by design or effect. Some government-funded hardship pots are explicitly restricted to UK students.

Fee income versus hardship spending

International students pay significantly higher tuition fees than home students, and at many universities they contribute the majority of total fee revenue. As those fees have to be funded without the aid of UK Government student loans, the assumption is that most international students have more substantial personal or family wealth; therefore, a lower need for hardship funds.

We compared each university’s international share of tuition fee income with its international share of hardship fund spending for 2023/24.

At the vast majority of universities, the international share of hardship spending is lower than the international share of fee income. This does not necessarily indicate unfairness: fee income and hardship eligibility are separate things, and many hardship funds are drawn from sources ring-fenced for home students. But the scale of the gap at some institutions is notable.

Six universities (Exeter, Royal Holloway, Bangor, Royal Academy of Music, Cranfield, and Keele) spend proportionally as much or more on international hardship as international students contribute in fees.

Hardship spending per student

Another way to look at the data is to calculate how much each university spends on hardship per UK student versus per international student. The variation is large.

At De Montfort, the university spends £41 on hardship per UK student and 17 pence per international student. At the other end, Exeter spends roughly twice as much per international student as per UK student. The range is enormous.

Some universities awarded zero international grants

At a small number of universities, every single international hardship application was refused, presumably on the grounds of policy. Leeds Beckett rejected all 67 international applications in 2022/23, and all 53 in 2023/24. The Royal Veterinary College has awarded zero international grants in three consecutive years. These may reflect eligibility rules rather than discretionary decisions, but the pattern is striking.

Context and caveats

This data does not tell us why these gaps exist, and there are several legitimate explanations.

Many university hardship funds are drawn from sources that are restricted to home students by regulation, not by university choice. The Office for Students’ hardship funding, for example, is ring-fenced for UK students. Several universities told us this explicitly in their FOI responses.

International students also have different financial profiles. They must demonstrate funds before receiving a visa, which may make them less likely to meet hardship criteria even when they are struggling. Conversely, international students do not have access to the UK welfare system, maintenance loans, or many of the other safety nets available to home students, which could mean their need is underreported rather than lower.

It is also worth noting that fee income and hardship spending are fundamentally different things. Tuition fees go into the university’s general revenue. Hardship funds are typically a separate, much smaller pot. There is no established principle that hardship spending should be proportional to fee contribution.

What the data does show clearly is that the gap is large, it is widening, and it varies enormously by institution. Whether that reflects appropriate policy or a structural problem is a question the sector has not yet publicly addressed.

The full dataset behind this investigation is available here, including charts and raw data tables.

This dataset is compiled from responses to Freedom of Information requests made to UK Universities. Money Outsider have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the disclosed information. Money Outsider have attempted to reprocess data from different formats to allow comparison. No warranty is given as to fitness for purpose. Use of this dataset is at your own risk. Attribution to MoneyOutsider.com is appreciated.

Where applicable, re-use of information is intended to be consistent with the Open Government Licence.

Money Outsider sent Freedom of Information requests to every university in the UK. The 101 that responded with comparable data gave us a detailed picture of how hardship funding has changed since the pandemic.

The five-year arc

In the COVID year of 2020/21, fuelled by emergency government funding, universities paid out £79 million. By 2024/25, that had dropped to £46 million, a fall of 42%.

But it is the 2022/23 cost-of-living crisis year that deserves the most attention. That year saw the highest number of applications in the entire dataset: 116,373. More students asked for help than at any point during the pandemic. Yet total spending (£66.7 million) was 16% below the COVID peak. The money was being spread thinner: more students receiving smaller amounts.

The shrinking grant

The average hardship grant has fallen consistently. In 2020/21 a typical grant was worth £958. By 2023/24 it had dropped to £702, a 27% decline in nominal terms. The 2024/25 figures show a partial recovery in average grant size to £785, but total spending continues to fall because fewer applications are being received. Adjusted for inflation over the same period, the real-terms cut would be significantly larger.

Number of hardship applications is falling

In 2024/25 3.4% of students applied to their university’s hardship fund. The drop in hardship applications from their 2020/21 peak of 5.4% is one of the few pieces of encouraging news in an otherwise bleak landscape for student finances in the UK.

The broader student finance picture

The maintenance loan system, for all its faults, does appear to be doing the basic job of keeping students afloat while they study. The fact that hardship applications have come down from their cost-of-living crisis peak suggests that the worst of the acute funding emergency may have passed, at least for home students who can access the full loan package.

But the real sting comes after graduation. The student loan repayment system has come under intense criticism in recent months, and the numbers are stark. The total outstanding student loan book now stands at £267 billion. In the last tax year, £15.2 billion in interest was added to loans, but only £5 billion was repaid. The average graduate who finished in 2024 left with roughly £53,000 of debt.

The full dataset behind this investigation is available here, including charts and raw data tables.

This dataset is compiled from responses to Freedom of Information requests made to UK Universities. Money Outsider have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the disclosed information. Money Outsider have attempted to reprocess data from different formats to allow comparison. No warranty is given as to fitness for purpose. Use of this dataset is at your own risk. Attribution to MoneyOutsider.com is appreciated.

Where applicable, re-use of information is intended to be consistent with the Open Government Licence.