Bursaries and Scholarships

With it being nearly two weeks since I last blogged I wouldn't be surprised if people assumed I had walked out of the office for good.

Bursaries are a constant source of heartache for bleeding heart liberals like myself. In the past there were significant under spends on the money that was earmarked for student support. This has been the case at the University of Birmingham before now and I decided to conduct a little investigation.

Every university in the England and Wales has an 'Access Agreement'. This is an agreement between the institution and the Office for Fair Access regarding how the university will provide extra bursaries from its 'additional fee income' (the extra money that it got from top-up fees) and what outreach activities it will run.

Check out the Access Agreement for the University of Birmingham here.

In 2006-07, the first year of the new bursary scheme, the University of Birmingham pledged to spend £1,796,000 but underspent by £380,000.

However, the situation has improved. In 2007-08 the underspend equates to 0.1% and this year £3,078,000 was spent on bursaries and scholarships. In addition to this £254,000 was spent on additional outreach activities.

Despite this the University are concerned that students who are entitled to money may not be recieving it. if you think you may be eligible then check out the website here.