Graduate Young Adult Carers’ Grant

Young adult carers are young people aged 25 or under who care, unpaid, for a family member with an illness or disability, mental health condition or an addiction. Caring responsibilities might include in-person physical or personal care including practical household tasks and administrative matters, and there may be times when you need to travel from Oxford at short notice to provide in-person support to those you care for. 

If you are a graduate student (including PGCE and Graduate-Entry Medicine students) and you meet the following criteria, you are eligible to apply for the grant:

• you were aged 25 or under on the first day of your current course
• you are currently enrolled
• you have caring responsibilities in the UK for an adult family member or support your parent(s) as a carer for your sibling
• you have additional costs to meet that cannot be met through other sources associated with your caring-related responsibilities.

Please note that the fund is not intended to provide support for student parents who are caring for children.
 

Students can apply for assistance with meeting a range of caring-related costs. This may include, but is not limited to assistance with:

• travel costs to visit family member for whom you have caring-related responsibilities, either planned or at short notice
• costs associated with running and keeping car at university to facilitate travel for caring-related responsibilities
• costs related to increased personal bills as a result of supporting the household with administrative tasks
• costs related to accessing personal documentation and/or evidence for the household

Applications for the 2026/27 academic year will be accepted on a rolling basis from Monday 5 October 2026 (Week 0 Michaelmas Term) until Friday 18 June 2027 (Week 8 Trinity Term).

Students are able to obtain a link to the Oxford Financial Assistance schemes application form through their College Financial Assistance Officer. This varies across colleges but could be the Senior Tutor, Bursar or Academic Administrator.

The form comprises Part A for the student to complete and Part B for a college representative to complete. Part A, along with supporting documentation, should be submitted through the online form. The college will then be prompted to submit Part B. Applications will only be processed when all components have been received.

Student Fees and Funding may ask for clarification relating to your application or for further information. If this is the case you will receive an email from Student Fees and Funding. If no response is received within 14 days we will consider the application withdrawn.

Once Student Fees and Funding receive a complete application, we aim to process the application and communicate the outcome within 30 days. Please note it may take longer outside of term time.

Applications are reviewed by Student Fees and Funding who will assess a student's young adult carer status, the caring-related costs incurred or due to be incurred, the amount requested, and the reasons why additional funding is required. The college statement will also be taken into consideration when assessing eligibility and the grant amount requested.

We recognise that for some students their caring responsibilities may not have been formally recognised to-date and that they may have limited evidence to provide to confirm this status. Students’ applications will not be disadvantaged where formal documentation isn't available. Where you are unable to provide formal documentation, we will instead seek to verify your caring responsibilities by asking you to provide a letter from an independent person who knows your situation.

It is possible to apply for support in a subsequent year of study provided students meet the eligibility criteria and require help meeting further costs associated with their caring responsibilities. It is possible to reapply within the same academic year if a student’s circumstances have changed, provided a full award of £350 has not already been received. Any subsequent application and request for funding will be reviewed based on current circumstances and using the latest available information.

The outcome of an application will be sent via email to the student, with their college copied in.

Payment of any grant will be made directly to the student in one instalment.

If a student is not satisfied with the outcome of their application they may appeal in writing to Student Fees and Funding within 28 days of the date of the outcome notification from Student Fees and Funding. Decisions made regarding appeals conclude the University's procedures.

An appeal must be made on one or more of the following grounds:

(i) The student has new or more detailed information relating to their situation which was not available to them at the time of their original application; and/or

(ii) The decision was procedurally flawed, for example: it was not conducted in accordance with the stated procedure or there was bias or a perception of bias in the decision-making process.
 

You should also contact your college office to find out about any support that may be available to young adult carers through your college in addition to the above provision.

If you are experiencing broader financial difficulties whilst on course, you should also explore our other Oxford Financial Assistance schemes for details of other available funding.

For more details about the range of support that Oxford offers to young adult carers, visit Further student support | University of Oxford and view the "Young Adult Carers‘’ section.