Hardship Letter for International Students: Fees

Hardship Letter for International Students: Fees

If your sponsor's income falls or your home currency drops during a UK master's, write to the university's fees team for more time to pay, not for a fee cut. None of the three UK hardship funds we checked pays tuition: Liverpool says a tuition contribution "will not be considered under any circumstances".

The hardship fund and the fee bill are two problems. At the universities we checked they sit with two offices under two sets of rules. A hardship fund helps with living costs or an emergency, and Greenwich caps its award at £1,000 a year. The tuition balance is a payment-schedule question for the fees team. This page sets out what five universities publish, a way to state a currency shock in both currencies, and a constructed letter from a Nigerian MSc student.

Every university and GOV.UK page quoted below was checked on 31 October 2026. Fund rules and instalment dates change each academic year, so check your own university's page for 2026/27 before you write.

What universities can actually offer

Hardship funds: open to international students, closed to tuition

Read the last column carefully if you are on a one-year master's. At Worcester you are never in year 2, so the fund is closed to you. At Greenwich you cannot apply until semester two, and only with your fee account up to date. Greenwich calls its fund "a safety net for students in financial difficulty, not their main source of support." Its 2026/27 applications are open from 26 October 2026 until 5pm on 21 May 2027, or until the money runs out.

Instalment plans: time, on the university's terms

Neither page publishes a hardship extension beyond these plans. Leeds says: "If you need help, contact the Student fees team". That is the office your letter goes to.

What nobody publishes: whether a university will move an instalment date after a currency shock, or how often it agrees. None of the five pages mentions currency devaluation at all. Treat any answer as discretionary until you have it in writing.

Before you arrive or after you enrol: two different problems

The date of the shock decides which letter you write.

Before your visa. GOV.UK says: "You need enough money to pay for your course for 1 academic year (up to 9 months)." On top of that, you show living costs of "£1,529 per month (for up to 9 months) for courses in London" or "£1,171 per month (for up to 9 months) for courses outside London", and "You must have this money for at least 28 days in a row." An instalment plan does not change that evidence. If the shock happens before you apply for the visa, the question is your deposit and start date, so write to admissions instead; see the UK master's deposit and deferral email.

After you enrol. Now it is a payment problem. Write to the fees team about the tuition balance, and apply separately to the hardship fund for living costs if you meet its rules.

Our view: ask for time, not a discount. None of the hardship funds we checked covers tuition, and none of the instalment pages offers a fee reduction. A request the office can grant, such as splitting one payment into three, is a better letter than a request it has no power to approve.

The countercase: if your university runs a scholarship or fee-reduction scheme for continuing students, apply to it on its own terms. A payment plan does not stop you from applying for funding the university actually offers. For a scholarship decision you think is wrong, see the master's scholarship reconsideration letter.

Quantify the shock in both currencies

A fees team cannot act on a sentence saying your currency has fallen. It can act on a number. Build a small table with four rows:

1. The balance due, in pounds, and its due date.
2. The rate your sponsor budgeted at, and the date that rate applied.
3. Today's rate, from your central bank, with the date.
4. The gap: the balance at today's rate minus the balance at the budgeted rate, in your home currency, then converted back to pounds.

Attach the evidence for each row: the fee invoice, the sponsor's letter, the two central bank rate notices, and a recent bank statement. Liverpool's guidance says it reads bank statements "to get a bigger picture of your income and living costs", so send the statement even if it is not flattering.

Constructed example: the currency gap

Constructed example, written by us, not a real student's figures. Every amount and exchange rate below is invented.

Our arithmetic: 12,000 × 1,500 = 18,000,000; 12,000 × 2,100 = 25,200,000; 25,200,000 − 18,000,000 = 7,200,000; 7,200,000 ÷ 2,100 ≈ 3,429.

The gap is what the sponsor cannot cover on the due date. It is not the whole balance, so do not ask the university to wait for the whole balance.

The hardship letter

Constructed example: a payment-plan request after a currency drop

Constructed example, written by us, not a real student's letter. Context (invented): Tobi Adeyemi, a Nigerian student on a one-year MSc at a UK university, sponsored by her father. The university's plan takes 50% at registration and 50% in February. The letter is 161 words.

Subject: Request to revise February instalment, Tobi Adeyemi, Student ID [number], MSc [Programme]

Dear Student Fees Team,

I paid 50% of my tuition at registration. The remaining £12,000 is due on [February date]. I am writing before that date to ask for a revised schedule.

My father funds my studies. He budgeted the balance at 1,500 naira to the pound. The rate on [date] was 2,100 to the pound, so the same balance now costs 7,200,000 naira more, about £3,429. The attached table shows the calculation.

I am asking to pay the balance in three parts: £8,571 on the original date, then £1,715 in March and £1,714 in April. I am not asking for a reduction.

I have attached:

1. my father's letter confirming his support and income;
2. the two central bank rate notices;
3. my most recent bank statement.

Please tell me if a revised plan affects my registration, and whether you need anything else.

Yours sincerely, Tobi Adeyemi

Our arithmetic: £8,571 + £1,715 + £1,714 = £12,000. The first payment is the balance less the gap: £12,000 − £3,429 = £8,571.

Why it works: it is sent before the due date, so it is a plan request, not a missed payment. It asks for time and says so. It pays everything the sponsor can still cover on the original date and spreads only the gap. It asks the one question that matters for an international student: whether the change affects registration. Leeds warns that a plan may not be available "if you have failed to pay a previous instalment on time", so writing before the date protects the next request too.

Questions about hardship letters for international students

Can international students get a hardship grant for tuition fees?

Not from the three UK hardship funds we checked. Liverpool, Greenwich and Worcester all accept international applicants. Liverpool and Worcester exclude tuition outright; Greenwich lists only short-term living, technology and travel costs and requires your fee account to be up to date.

Will a UK university reduce fees because my currency fell?

None of the five university pages we checked offers a fee reduction or mentions currency devaluation. Ask for a revised payment schedule, which instalment pages do describe.

Who do I send the letter to?

The tuition letter goes to the student fees or finance team. A hardship fund application goes to the money advice or student support team, on its own form. At Liverpool, international students contact International Advice and Guidance before applying.

When should I write?

Before the due date. A request before the date is a plan request; after it, you are in arrears, and Leeds says plans may not be offered to students who missed an earlier instalment.

My family's appeal is for an undergraduate in the US. Is this the same?

No. US colleges review need-based aid under their own rules. See the financial aid appeal letter for international students. PhD students with a studentship gap should read UK PhD funding and the international fee gap. If the cost you are facing is the application fee itself, the grad application fee waiver email page shows where US programs put that request.

If a visa refusal, not a currency shock, is the problem, see deposit refunds after a visa refusal.

Get a free review of your personal statement

If the shock means you defer and apply again, or apply for a funded place next year, the personal statement carries the new application. Get a free Quick Review of your personal statement against GradPilot's UK master's personal statement rubric, the closest rubric for this decision. It reads whether you make a clear academic case for the degree, connect your learning needs to the named programme, and keep your claims specific. For a US-style SOP, use the general MS statement of purpose rubric. For the statement itself, see the UK master's personal statement guide for Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. More guides are in the graduate school essay hub.

Sources

Retrieved 31 October 2026, except where noted.

• University of Liverpool, University Hardship Fund (no year stated): international postgraduates eligible; no tuition contribution; prior provision; IAG contact; bank statements.
• University of Greenwich, International Hardship Fund (2026/27 application window): eligibility, covered costs, £1,000 maximum, £500 balance rule, fee account up to date, semester-two start for first years.
• University of Worcester, International Student Hardship Fund (no year stated): year 2 and above only; no tuition.
• University of Leeds, Tuition fee payment schedule (current session): 50/50 plan for international taught postgraduates; plans discretionary; fees team contact.
• Queen Mary University of London, Tuition Fee Instalment Plans (no year stated): 50% first payment for Overseas students, £60 charge, plan approval.
• GOV.UK, Student visa: money you need (current rules): one year of course fees, monthly living-cost amounts, 28-day rule.