Student Finance England (SFE) guidance

Before you make the call ensure you have your unique Customer Reference Number (CRN) and you know your secret answer and password as you will need this information to access your account.

Keep your questions clear and simple and get them to recap the question and answer back to you to ensure they are helping to resolve your query correctly.

Make sure you have a pen/pencil and paper handy to write down any additional evidence they ask for as this can sometimes be complicated and very specific.

Get them to re-read it all out to you and check you have everything written down correctly before you end the call.

SFE will clearly say whether you need to provide COPIES or ORIGINALS.  

Make sure you double-check which is required before you send it

COPIES:

You can now upload evidence via your online account so you can provide any copied evidence quickly and easily this way.  Alternatively you can send via post (see below).

ORIGINALS:

Any original evidence required will have to be sent via post to:

Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington DL1 9HJ

Send all requested evidence Recorded Delivery and keep the barcode the Post Office give you so that you can track delivery details and the exact date you sent the last piece of evidence.

Do not discard this even when SFE confirm they have received it. Keep it until your funding has been fully approved and payments have been received.

If SFE still require further evidence ensure you know exactly what it is that they need. Every time you have to chase SFE it means that your application is being delayed and you will not receive your funding.

Any changes in your circumstances can have an impact on your funding so you must ensure you keep Student Finance updated correctly.  Before you start your course some changes may be possible via your online account but do check with them first.

If your course has already started you will also need to ask your institution to send a CoC as well (see below for instructions).

CoCs can include the following:

Transfer between universities - the institution where you are actually studying needs to do a Transfer-in to ensure your funding (fees and maintenance) is released correctly.

Transfer of course within the same institution - even if you change to a course with the same name but with a sandwich year (placement) you will need to send a CoC to confirm this with SFE

Change in mode of study - you change your study from part-time to full-time or vice versa

Leave of Absence (LoA)  - you can request to take up to 4 semesters (2 years) LoA from your course.  This is a way to temporarily step off your course without withdrawing from your course.  Pressing pause.  This will, however, have ramifications where your funding is concerned. 

Return from LoA - before you can return to your studies after a LoA there is a specific task that needs to be completed on your e:Vision before you will be able to re-enrol and which will trigger this CoC to SFE

Repeat study - this is where you may need to repeat some of your modules from a previous year when SFE believe you are progressing on to your next level of study

Change of cohort - this is mostly related to nursing courses however it can apply to others.  For example, you may go on a LoA and return in the January rather than September which would put you in a different 'cohort' (specific year and start date) of study 

Change in fees - you may have put a specific fee amount on your application which will need to be updated

This is the student identifier that is used in student finance communications between the Student Support Award Authorities, providers and Student Loans Company (SLC).

The SSN is unique to each funded student and it is this that identifies you to us with SFE.

Please note that you will need to obtain your Student Support Number (SSN) from SFE for any CoCs to be actioned.

The SSN is 13 characters long. The first four characters are alpha. The next 8 characters are numeric. The last character, which is a check character, is alpha. Students in receipt of SLC funding will have both a Student Support Number and a Customer Reference Number allocated by the SLC.

It will normally start with SFDU followed by 9 further characters, for example SFDU12345678D.

An SSN must be returned where the student is in receipt of any funds from the SLC for their Engagement e.g. maintenance loans, postgraduate loans etc.

The University will be unable to report any CoCs without this and your application will be delayed.

Yes you can! As long as any changes can be done before the official start date of your course.

How do I do that?

1. Log in to your Student Finance account
2. Choose 'Change my application' (don't cancel it!)
3. Click the link to make any changes, for example, name of course, change of address, etc.
4. Submit changes

Once you have enrolled any changes with your course will need to be sent to Student Finance directly from the University.

If you need to update your personal details, such as your contact address or bank account, these can still be done via your online account.

You will need to log a helpcall via the ASK@WLV tab on your e:Vision

How to log a helpdesk call:

From a phone via myWlv

1. Select e:Vision tile
2. Then the 3 lines at the top right of your screen for the drop-down menu
3. Select Help
4. Select Ask a question
5. Select the tile that is most appropriate for your query (Finance in this case)
6. That should then bring up a drop-down list of various possible options, some of which will mention Student Finance/Change of Circumstances (CoC)
7. Chose the most appropriate
8. It may ask you to answer a series of questions including requesting your Student Support Number
9. When you scroll down you’ll see a Subject Line and a text box. Insert a subject e.g. Change of circumstance and give details in the text box
10. Press Send

From a pc

1. Log in via www.wlv.ac.uk/evision 
2. Front the top menu – click Help
3. Select Log Helpcall to (your Faculty)
4. As above select the appropriate category and enter the details of the query and press send

To resolve any CoCs SFE will need the University to send electronic notifications to update your details and process your application. These notifications will be sent via your Faculty Student Records or Central Student Records (CSR). Make sure you know exactly what SFE require from the University, as this information is very specific.

You will need to log a Helpdesk call via the ASK@WLV tab on your e-vision account. They will pick this up and report back to SFE.

Processing times will vary depending upon what time of the academic year it is.

Make sure you confirm a timescale with SFE and chase them up at regular intervals if necessary.

Ensure you keep an eye on your online SFE account by checking on My inbox as they will confirm all updates there.

Alternatively, give them a call on a regular basis for updates.

This allows someone from the University to call Student Finance and speak to them about a specific student's account. 

This would allow us to check the stage of your application to ensure everything is proceeding correctly.

If you do end up applying late for funding, or you end up needing a CoC to update your funding, and they are taking a while to process it this would allow us to confirm with our Finance that your funding is on its way and so ensure no sanctions are placed on your account due to unpaid fees.

Over the years we have found that when having issues getting your funding in place it can make a great difference by having one of us speak to them to ensure you know exactly what stage your application is at.  

We understand how frustrating it can be when they seem to keep asking for the same thing but still say you haven’t provided it.  We act as a kind of translation service, finding out from them what it is they actually need and then letting you know exactly what to do to make that happen.

To do this please ring SFE on 0300 100 0607 and request set up a 3rd party consent to share with your university.

The details you need to give are:

• Company name :  University of Wolverhampton
• Relationship to the Student : Higher Education Provider
• Password:   Wolverhampton

Please email money@wlv.ac.uk to confirm when you have done this (with your student number).

We will also need your Customer Reference Number to make the call to them