Universities spend huge amounts of money on bursaries and scholarships – over £400m in 2014. Yet there is no evidence that the level of financial support offered to students by institutions has any impact on their choice of where to study.
One of the reasons for this, according to Gill Wyness, a researcher in education policy at the centre for economic performance at the London School of Economics and a lecturer at the University College London Institute of Education, is that students simply don’t have enough information.
“There has never been a way for students to compare what they are entitled to,” she says. “It’s only through trawling through individual university websites that they can find the information.”
Students faced with the high cost of living really need to know about bursaries, Wyness points out. “The numbers aren’t trivial. Bursaries can be a huge help with living costs. Some universities are offering thousands of pounds of support that doesn’t need to be paid back.”
When tuition fees rose to £3,000 a year in 2006, universities were instructed to spend 10% of the fees they received on bursaries for poor students. In 2012, the minimum spend rule was abolished but much of universities’ widening participation money is still spent on bursaries.
Where’s best for bursaries?
When it comes to the largest bursaries, it’s “poor students who go to elite universities who hit the jackpot”, says Wyness. That’s because elite universities have fewer poor students than new universities, and often contribute more money to student support, so their students get a bigger share of the available money.
“In some ways, the system creates inequality ,” she adds. “Students with the same amount of parental income can receive very different amounts of money, depending on which university they go to.”
Research done by Wyness and her colleague Richard Murphy, of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, means that students can now make a simple comparision of what’s on offer.
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Fee waivers
Some universities also offer fee waivers as an incentive to students - which means you get a discount on the cost of their courses.
Fee waivers will reduce the total sum you are supposed to pay back, but they don’t make any difference to your finances in the short term.
And it’s worth remembering thatthey may not make any difference in the long term either. Because tuition repayments stop after 30 years regardless of how much debt is remaining, some students will never pay back enough to benefit from a fee waiver.
The following institutions offer fee waivers, though the conditions you’ll need to meet vary.
- Aston (up to £500) – replaces bursary/accomodation grant
- Bath Spa (up to £1,000) – replaces bursary
- Birkbeck (up to £1,500) – replaces bursary
- University College Birmingham (up to £1,060)
- Greenwich (up to £1,000)
- Royal Academy of Music (up to £3,000)
Accommodation
Contributions to accommodation costs are also available at a handful of universities. These are:
- Aston (up to £500) – replaces bursary/fee waiver
- St George’s Hospital Medical School (up to £1,000)
- Sussex (up to £2,000) – for students living in university managed accomodation
- York (up to £2,400)
Other funds
Some institutions offer funding for other costs, such as books or public transport:
- Anglia Ruskin (up to £800) – to be spent on books and stationery at the campus bookshop
- Bedfordshire (up to £400) – means-tested
- Bradford (up to £2,000) – year one only
- Sunderland (up to £1,000) – awarded in years one and two
There are also a number of scholarships available, that are awarded by universities to a few students each year who excel academically. For example, the Central School of Speech and Drama offers up to £3,000 to four new students each year.
Other bonuses are sometimes available for care leavers and disabled students. These are detailed on university websites.
Dig deeper
- Download a spreadsheet of all financial support data
- Bursaries and other offers change over time, and the requirements to qualify for some bursaries can be complex. You should always check university websites for the latest information.
- The data used in this article was compiled by Gill Wyness and Richard Murphy
- This article was amended on 11 June 2015. An earlier version said the Student Loans Company was responsible for paying bursary money.