Living at Home Students' Commuter Fund | The Student Hub

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.

Am I eligible?

To be eligible to apply for the Commuter Fund you will need to:

Be a Living at Home Student, who commutes from your permanent home address to the University to study.
Be studying for a full-time undergraduate degree at one of our UK campuses (Highfield, Boldrewood, Avenue, National Oceanography Centre, Winchester School of Art or Southampton General Hospital).
Be enrolled and attending in the academic year for which you're applying for funding.

And you must meet at least one of the following widening participation criteria:

Be a mature student (i.e. aged 21+ when you started your current course) with a household income below £42,600, as assessed by Student Finance
Have a permanent address in a Low Participation Area (i.e. IMDQ1; you can check your postcode here) with a household income below £42,600, as assessed by Student Finance
Be a care leaver
Be a student whose estranged from their family

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.

How does the Fund work?

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.

How do I apply?

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.

What information do I need to provide?

Personal Details - including your address and postcode, these will be checked against your University student record, so please insure this is up to date.
Campus & Learning Details - the campus where you undertake majority of your in person learning activities and the number of timetabled days you have on campus.
Daily Travel Information - including your usual method/s of transport and a breakdown of your average daily cost.
Supporting Statement - each application will be assessed on merit, therefore we ask you to provide a brief statement about you and how receiving an award will benefit you.

Questions?

If you have any questions or would like further information about the Commuter Fund, please contact us on livingathomestudents@soton.ac.uk.