What would you do with a University Bursary in this situation?

[kmo0416]

If a university were to offer a non-repayable bursary in the thousands of pounds due to you being care-experienced or from a low-income household as most do, do you think you should decline it or not? By this I mean some students/people may find it embarrassing or think that the university would look down on them for being poor. What would you do?

Take it, absolutely. It's there for a reason, and the university have specific funds for this and in no way look down in the students.

Even if people at the university had that attitude, which they wouldn't, probably no-one you came into contact with would even know that you were in receipt of a bursary as it would be handled by the admissions or widening participation team and not the academics.

Take the money.

First off I am a uni lecturer and we as staff have zero idea what students get financial support. The tutees who I have had talk to me about more complex difficult backgrounds are advised of the additional support they can get both from the lecturing staff but also the welfare team ect. And there is no judgement.

Also a number of our students get student loan, the only real difference is you don't have to repay it.

I come from a working class background in ireland where my single mums income was low enough that I qualified for a grant. It meant I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to uni and I actually wish the government would bring back a similar system here which would contribute to social mobility.

In short take the opportunity and good luck in uni.

The university, assuming you mean actual people won’t know and certainly wouldn’t look down on anyone. Lecturers won’t be told, and administrators do it on a student number basis, and trust me we do not memorise what student numbers are allocated to what student. Take the money!

Absolutely no one would look down on you, especially not the university personnel. A bursary like this is a gesture of great respect, acknowledging that the recipient of the award has overcome significant barriers to get there. I donate significant amounts to my own university's bursary fund and it's a really important way of levelling the playing field. Some of the people there will be getting thousands of pounds extra from their parents (over and above the minimum expected contribution that students from wealthy households are supposed to have if they don't qualify for the maximum maintenance loan) - having the bursary just equalises things if that kind of family support isn't possible. I hope no one gets put off from accepting this.

I’m a uni coordinator and there’s no way me or any of my colleagues would look down on anyone taking advantage of a bursary payment. We’d be incredibly pleased to have helped a student from a “non-traditional” background in this way.

I applied for and got a bursary from my university’s hardship fund many years ago, it made a big difference to me. I have since donated back to the same fund a fair few times over the years as a way of returning the favour and to help others in the same situation.

Me too.

Take it!

No-one will know. And if they do, it is likely to be looking UP to you with admiration for getting to university from such a disregulated background. Care-leavers are the least likely category to get to university.

If you want to go to university, and the bursary helps, go!!!

Sounds like an amazing opportunity and I would try to reframe thinking - the university is not looking down on anyone for being poor, they are delighted that you have the opportunity to study with them and wish to help make that a little easier for you.

I'm involved in administering some Bursaries, although not at a University. The only people who know who receives a Bursary are those who need to know for the purposes of administering them or recording how the funding us being used. I often become aware of people who would qualify and could really use he help but don't want to apply for the sort of reasons that you mention. It's always a relief to me and the rest of the team when these people do claim and we make the process as easy as we can for them. We definitely don't look down on people who apply, we just want them to do well and we know how hard they have worked to get there.