Grants for first members of family to go to Uni

Helen_from_yorkshire · 4 July 2005 at 10:30PM

My son is planning to go to Uni in September 2006 and has heard, on the grapevine, about some sort of grant that is available to students who are the first members of their family to go to University.

I can't appear to find anything about this, does anyone know whether such a grant exists?

stuwilky · 5 July 2005 at 2:11PM

Hi Helen

Im not aware of any such grant, the only one I am currently aware of is the HE grant which is income dependant.

There will be more financial info on 2006 entry students out sometime after September so keep an eye out then.

Helen_from_yorkshire · 5 July 2005 at 8:13PM

Thanks Stu, if you do hear of anything, please let me know.
Cheers

Midas · 5 July 2005 at 8:23PM

As I understand it, different grants are going to be available according to various criteria, as universities are required by the government to use a proportion of the money raised by the new top-up fees to help pupils from less well-off backgrounds. However, there is no fixed rules on how this should be done (as far as I am aware) so each university will have its own set of awards and grants.

I would strongly suggest that you consult the websites of the individual universities that he has applied to, to check on what will potentially be available at each. Some universities, for example, are giving some grants according to academic performance (e.g. for above 24 UCAS points), whilst others are purely assessing parental income.

I haven't heard of any grants especially for students who are the first person from their family to go to uni, but they may well exist. Anyone else heard of these???

Helen_from_yorkshire · 5 July 2005 at 8:26PM

Unsure what you mean when you say above 24 UCAS points. I have done some research and believed that the points you are awarded are according to the A Level grade you get and, generally, the amount of points you need are in the 200 mark. Did you mean 240 UCAS points and could just have missed a zero! If not, I'm confused.

Midas · 5 July 2005 at 8:38PM

Whoops sorry, showing my age there. In my day you got 10 points for an A at 'A' level, 8 for a B, 6 for a C etc. But you are right these days you can collect literally hundreds of UCAS points.

UCAS points calculator.

Perhaps because of the points inflation Sheffield Uni are awarding grants according to A level grades, see here

ka7e · 6 July 2005 at 12:18AM

Plymouth University is introducing a one-off payment of £500 to "first generation" HE students, see here
De Montfort intends to pay £1000 Access Scholarships, read page 9 - Variable Fees
Maybe other unis are thinking of introducing similar schemes?

stuwilky · 6 July 2005 at 2:26PM

This is where it gets very confusing, individual universities have a huge range of grants/scholarships available (for 2006 onwards).

University of Central Lancashire have a grant of £1000 per year for all students whose household income is less than £60k.
In addition to this grants for 'shortage' subjects are available.

Helen_from_yorkshire · 6 July 2005 at 6:34PM

How did u find out about the different grants from different Universities, is it via one particular website or will I have to trawl all the Universities own websites.

stuwilky · 7 July 2005 at 7:52AM

I havnt found a site which lists all of them yet, but suspect someone like the Guardian or the Times Higher will do (either already or) eventually. Not all Universities have announced them yet though.

StudentSaver_2 · 7 July 2005 at 7:01PM

Marks and Spencer offer a bursary each year and provide jobs for students if they are the first person in their family to attend university (both parents must not have gone to uni). I applied for it this year, but didn't get it. There's an English/Logic test to pass first, then there's a maths test (that's where I fell down!). Have a look at their website here to find out more.

Grants for first members of family to go to Uni

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