The University's Commuter Fund is designed to support undergraduate living at home students, from widening participation backgrounds, with the cost of their daily commute to university.
The University recognises that students who remain living at home and commute to University can face obstacles to their involvement. As such, the Commuter Fund provides a single non-repayable financial contribution to help towards daily travel costs. This is to help ease financial barriers to participation and ensure inclusion in university life.
The Fund offers a discretionary award of up to £250.00 per academic year to eligible students. Eligible students can apply once per academic year of their studies.
Awards are limited in number and the Commuter Fund will close once all funding is allocated. Please take time to read through the guidance on this page before applying.
The Fund opened for the 2023/2024 academic year in mid-October 2023 and has now closed to applications; eligible students were notified by email when the Fund opened.
To be eligible to apply for the Commuter Fund you will need to:
And you must meet at least one of the following widening participation criteria:
You'll NEED to identify which widening participation criteria you meet on your application.
There is a limited number of awards available and an award is not guaranteed, as such each application will be assessed on merit at the Teams' discretion.
If you are an undergraduate student from a widening participation background you are welcome to submit an application with supporting statement. However priority will be given to students who meet the above listed eligibility criteria; priority will be given in the order listed above also, i.e. mature students with a household income below £42,600 will be prioritsed for awards in the first instance.
If you meet the eligibility criteria and apply to the Commuter Fund, your application will be assessed on the following basis:
Criteria | Award Amount |
---|---|
Weekly Travel Costs of at least £10.00 up to £25.00 | Receive a one off £100.00 contribution for the academic year |
Weekly Travel Costs of more than £25.00 up to £45.00 | Receive a one off £150.00 contribution for the academic year |
Weekly Travel Costs of more than £45.00 up to £65.00 |
Receive a one off £200.00 contribution for the academic year |
Weekly Travel Costs of more than £65.00 |
Receive a one off £250.00 contribution for the academic year |
Those with weekly travel costs of less than £10.00 will not receive an award from the Fund.
Any award from the Fund is discretionary and does not automatically mean that this Fund will be available in future years and as such should not be relied upon as a source of income.
The Fund considers daily commutes from your permanent home address to one of our campuses for timetabled activities and is not available to cover placement or other travel costs; please contact your Faculty should you have any concerns regarding other travel costs related to your course.
To apply for the Commuter Fund please complete an application form, in its entirety, providing clear information. Eligible students will be contacted by email when the application window opens.
Once received, your application will be processed within 20 working days and the outcome emailed to you. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
If you do not provide sufficient details the Team may not be able to process your application; the Fund will open for a 2 week application window only, and we have a limited number of awards available, so we will be unable to accept amendments once your application has been submitted.
If you have any questions or would like further information about the Commuter Fund, please contact us on livingathomestudents@soton.ac.uk.