Universities double standards (Access Funds)

Name: Taffy101

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Product:	Access Funds
Date:	24/05/01 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The little bit you het helps

Disadvantages: Most goes to people who don't need it

I am doing a self funded Masters course this year and have had find the £2740 tuition fees myself to pay my way through this year. It was only after christmas that I found out about the very poorly advertised Hardship Fund, seen's that I did a three year undergraduate course at this University too and didn't know anything about it then indicates how poorly it was advertised.

The plan was that I would work throughout the summer in order that I would be of sufficient richness to afford the payments and living expenses etc. but unfortunately a trip to hospital at the start of the summer to repair a hernia which I had been waiting three years for soon put paid to any work which I was to do as I had to rest for a month or two. So I started my Masters slightly underfunded and when the mention of this hardship fund came up I was quite pleased.

I applied to it straight away and within a couple of days I was sent a reply asking for a meeting to discuss how much I was eligible for. Very hopeful I turned up on the day only to be met by very intrusive questions about how I could prove I had a hernia op. and what I spent money on since the summer accounting for every single pound which was on my bank statement. After this meeting had finished I was told that I was only elligible for £700 because I didn't have to do the course I was on and if I became too short of money I could simply withdraw from the course. They pointed out that if I did this however the £700 was to be paid back into their account. Naturally I was a little annoyed at this but thought at the end of the day I had been given £700 which calmed me down a bit.

Only a couple of weeks ago though I was speaking to an undergraduate in his first year who made it very obvious that he did not need the hardship fund because his father owned a big business in London and he would never be short of money. However for some reason he applied for a hardship grant and after his meeting he was
given £1965 to cover his fees. Due to the fact his fees are paid for by his Dad he spent this grant on a car which he says he needs because the buses don't run to his timetable and he has to wait for 20 minutes for a bus to get home from Uni some days. Surely the hardship fund was not given to the University for this type of person.

If I'm sounding bitter in this op then I apologise, I'm not. As I mentioned I was given £700 and it really helped me pay the fees off which I am very grateful for. However the way this lad went around and boasted about his new car annoyed me more because I know people who are now pulling out of courses because the fees are too much and the hardship fund say they are not elligible at all. What does the University have to gain from this stance? If most of the students have to leave because they can't afford the fees what sort of image does that give. Well this may be a cynical bit but in this other lads meeting apparently the majority of it concentrated on what sort of business his Dad owned and how big it was etc. finishing on how much it makes in profit each year. Bit different than my meeting.

This makes it seems that the University is given all this money and it will spend it on buttering up the richer people because it is better for the Uni to have them in rather than the people who struggle to pay and bring down the name of the Uni. Nowadays when there are no grants it has priced many people out of University but it seems that some University's aren't happy with that yet and want the elitist in the University and the rest don't get a look in.

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