Northeastern University London will consider a student independent if any of the following apply:
You are the primary carer of a person under the age of 18 on the first day of the academic year you’re applying for student finance
You’re 25 or over on the first day of the academic year you’re applying for student finance
You’ve supported yourself for at least three years before the start of your course. This includes supporting yourself through:
Paid, full-time employment
Receiving Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance or other state benefits
Receiving any pension, allowance or other benefit because of their disability or by any reason of confinement, sickness or illness
Receiving training under any scheme for the unemployed or other funding by any state authority or agency
You’ve been married or in a civil partnership before the start of the academic year (even if you’re now divorced or separated)
You have no living parents
You’ve not communicated with your parents for one year before the start of the academic year that you’re applying for student finance, or you can demonstrate you’re permanently estranged from your parents. This includes where your parents can’t be traced, or it’s not practical or possible to contact them
Your parents live outside the EU and an income assessment would put them in jeopardy, or it’s not reasonably practical for them to send funds to the UK to help support you
You are care-experienced (meaning you have experience of care for any three month period ending on or after the date you turned 16) or have lived in a foyer.