University is one of the most popular post-
18 options. However for some students and
parents/carers, costs can be a prohibiting factor.
While student finance helps with university fees,
student loans only stretch so far.
Universities offer additional financial support
through bursaries and scholarships. Exploring
these options may encourage students to think differently about their options.
Both terms refer to financial support that does
not need to be paid back. However, there are key
differences:
• Bursaries are usually based on personal
circumstances such as background or
location.
• Scholarships are usually based on an
achievement, including academic, sport or
music. They need to be applied for and are
often competitive.
Bursaries are awards offered to students
who are currently under-represented in higher
education. These bursaries aim to remove
barriers to education and encourage students to
attend university who may not have previously
considered it.
Some bursaries need to be applied for and some
are automatically awarded. Most universities
also have hardship funds: one-off payments that
help students who fall into unexpected financial
hardship.
To help with budgeting, some bursaries are
awarded termly over several academic years.
Scholarships can be more competitive, they
usually involve an application and are often
awarded based on academic performance or excellence in certain areas. Scholarships are
usually given in termly instalments and can be
cash or credit based.
Our University of Sunderland flagship scholarship
rewards students who have the highest
increase between their GCSE grades and Level
3 qualifications. They are given credit to spend
on course resources and cash to help with living
costs.
There are also scholarships for specific subjects.
Sometimes, scholarships are supported by
philanthropic donors. For example, at the
University of Sunderland we have a Creative
Writing scholarship that is kindly supported by a
local author and former student.
Universities may also have music and sport
scholarships. These help support students with
their sporting endeavours and usually go towards
coaching, travel and equipment.
Many scholarships and bursaries have application deadlines, some even before students start university. Therefore, it’s important students look into this as they do their initial UCAS research, and make a note of any deadlines. They should also look out for emails from the universities they’ve applied to for deadline notifications.
With many scholarships and bursaries on offer
from different universities, it’s worth encouraging
your students to do their research. This can be
through various channels including:
• university websites, where the criteria for
all their scholarships and bursaries will be
displayed.
• university Open Days, where finance teams
are available to talk your students through
their options.
• The Scholarship Hub, which houses a large
database of available funding for UK and EU
students.
• the gov.uk website, which lists the
government-funded awards available
The most important thing is to let your students
know there is financial help available. Whether
they are budding musicians or sports people, or
think university isn’t for them because of their
circumstances, there’s likely to be some form of
financial help or guidance for them.
Check out episode 22 of the Uni Guide Podcast - featuring expert guest, Jon Hering from Blackbullion. They also run The Scholarship Hub - which is referenced in this article.
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