UK Free School Meals eligibility document

This page is part of the current applicants section at Christ's College, Cambridge. It is for applicants who are or have recently been eligible for government-funded Free School Meals at a UK school or college, and some mature students who receive benefits.

We would like to receive a document confirming that you are eligible for UK government-funded Free School Meals if one of the following applies:

• You attend a UK school or college AND you are currently eligible for Free School Meals funded by the government in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.*

• At some time in the last six years you have attended a UK school or college AND been eligible for Free School Meals funded by the government in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

• You are a mature applicant currently eligible for benefits that would entitle any dependent children to UK government-funded Free School Meals. 

If you are unsure about your eligibility for UK government-funded Free School Meals, please check with your school/college. Note that you do not necessarily need to be claiming Free School Meals in order to be eligible for them. Please have a look at the FSM eligibility document page.

*there is a note for students who attend UK Independent Schools at the end of the page.
 

How to let us know that you are eligible for Free School Meals

1) Disclose your Free School Meals eligibility in your application

Students eligible for UK government-funded Free School Meals at a UK school/college indicate this in the My Cambridge Application. .

Mature applicants* who are currently eligible for benefits that would entitle any dependent children to UK government-funded Free School Meals are asked to email admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk to let us know. 

*you are a mature applicant if you will be 21 or over at the beginning of the course, if you are admitted to Cambridge.
 

2) Upload an evidence document (e.g. a signed letter from your school) by 2 November.

STEP 1: Please have a look at our FSM eligibility document information page, obtain a suitable document and then scan and save your Free School Meals eligibility document as ONE pdf file on your computer. The file should not be larger than 3MB. If you need help with scanning, we recommend that you ask a friend or relative who has a scanner, or ask your school.

STEP 2: Please save your pdf on your computer with the file name in this specific format:
4.5 - Subject (including biological or physical if Natural Sciences) - FSM document - FAMILY NAME First name - UCAS Personal ID (as a number with no dashes)

Here's an example: for the fictional Elizabeth Cooper applying for Natural Sciences (Biological) with UCAS Personal ID 1590182452, the file name would be

• 4.5 - Natural Sciences (Biological) - FSM document - COOPER Elizabeth - 1590182452

Note that there is a space before and after each hyphen, and there is a number at the beginning.

STEP 3: Please open the pdf on your computer. Scroll all the way through, checking that the document you are sending is all there and legible.

STEP 4: Please upload your pdf using the UK Free School Meals document upload tool

If we have a problem opening the file or there's something wrong with the document you have sent for some reason, we'll let you know (as ever).

Thank you for your help in sending your document following our instructions - it helps us to process everything as efficiently and accurately as possible.
 

Overview: Deadlines

If you need to change the information you gave on My Cambridge Application

If, after you have looked into it, you find that you have made a mistake in the information about Free School Meals that you gave in My Cambridge Application, please email admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk by 2 November to correct your answer. Please remember to start your email with the details we need.

In particular, please be careful to ensure that you are on government- funded Free School Meals as this is a specific thing. If a school bursary or scheme gives you free school meals but you do not meet the criteria for government-funded Free School Meals, then the correct information is that you're not eligible, even though in reality you may be getting your meals free.

Students at UK Independent Schools and eligibility for Free School Meals

Your school may tell you that they are part of a scheme where students at independent schools can have their Free School Meal eligibility verified and reported to us by UCAS. We do not receive this information from UCAS until later on in the application process. You can provide a document at this stage as other applicants do if you want to. Alternatively, if you complete the UK Free School Meals document upload tool you'll see that there is an option for you to opt out of sending a document by telling us that you attend a UK Independent School that is part of this scheme. 

Please be aware that not all UK Independent schools are part of the scheme, so it is important to be sure before opting out.

Stage 3: 2 Nov deadlines / Current applicants page / Subject information