Concluding article: University students missing out on financial support

University students are missing out on crucial financial support because of poor communication, suggests Birmingham City University’s Financial Advisor, Harj Singh.

For universities to charge students higher tuition fees, an Access Agreement must be set up. This is a document put together by universities, which include targets and milestones. The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) then approve and monitor these documents. Sean Beynon, OFFA Officer, gives a brief overview of how Access Agreements work:

“Every year, universities publish an Access Agreement in the summer which covers what the university plans to do within the upcoming academic year.”

Birmingham City University have set targets relating to their financial support sector. The Access Agreement states that the university will promote the initiatives and support services available to all students.

Whilst discussing how the financial support services are publicised, Harj Singh acknowledged the need for further promotion of services and schemes for current students, briefly skimming over the university’s Access to Learning Fund.

The Access to Learning Fund is a hardship fund, which means students who are in need of extra financial support can receive it. However, students must apply for the funding to be assessed, but making this request is something Birmingham City University students are finding difficult. This is because many are completely unaware of the scheme.

Harj Singh uncomfortably stated:

“Not many students are aware of the programme.”

A recent study by The Independent Commission on Fees suggests that this lack of financial support promotion is deterring working class youngsters, boys in particular, to apply to university. The number of socio-economically deprived males taking a place at university fell by 1.4% between 2010 and 2012.

David Willetts, Universities Minister, stated that the OFFA should be targeting disadvantaged groups in regards to economic class:

“I don’t see why they couldn’t look at white, working class boys.”

He went onto imply that universities should be encouraging socio-economically deprived individuals to apply, by focussing on them in Access Agreements. It has become clear that Birmingham City University are failing to take part in this notion.

David Farrow, Director of Marketing at Aston University, commented on the issue of a lack of financial support deterring working class applicants. He stated that the university will be keeping a close eye on the situation. When asked if Aston University are doing all they can to promote financial support to socio-economically deprived youngsters, David Farrow said:

“Probably not… I don’t think we do as much as we feel we could do.”

A representative from the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA), Harj Kallu, helps deal with students who have financial problems.

NASMA is a charity which trains people in supporting and advising university students in financial strain. The association then sends these trained representatives into universities, where they put their skills into practice.

Harj Kallu is based at Birmingham City University and has supported some of their students who have money issues. He emphasises that:

“There are people really struggling out there.”

Randel Brookes, who is studying second year Law, is just one of Birmingham City University’s students who are worried about finances. He felt disappointed in the university for not publicising the Access to Learning Fund to continuing students:

“I had never heard of such a thing before and by talking to colleagues, neither had they. The thing is I am actually eligible to apply for this but because I didn’t know, I haven’t.”

Other Birmingham City University students have significantly suffered because of the poor communication. Jenna Jarrett is dealing with financial worries while living away from home. She explained that student life has not been what she expected:

“My mum always told me to be sensible with money at university and I can honestly say I am, but sometimes there just isn’t enough financial support.”

The second year student at Birmingham City University feels like she has not been provided with enough financial knowledge:

“I have learned a lot through mistakes at university, but I do think that universities should have equipped us with better financial knowledge during our first year or before starting university.”

Jenna is finding the price of living a constant worry. She maintains her lifestyle by having a part-time job, just like around 50% of university students across the UK. She works long hours behind a bar at weekends, which is still not enough to avoid her overdraft. Jenna is also concerned about her work hours replacing the time to complete her studying:

“I work at a local club, it is long hours and sometimes I don’t get back until early hours of the morning. It’s hard to have this as well as my studies. I find I don’t sleep much because I haven’t got time due to assignment deadlines. I’m starting to wonder why I’m actually at university if all I do is work to live.”

Birmingham City University’s failure to communicate their financial support has had a negative impact on many of its students. Sean Beynon, OFFA Officer, has spoken of what action is taken when universities do not meet milestones set in their Access Agreements:

“If universities do not meet their targets, we would look to understand why and provide them with challenge and support to help them to progress.”

Birmingham City University on track to meet promised targets

Birmingham City University claim to be on track to meet targets proposed in their 2012-13 Access Agreement.

The university intends to invest 15% of its fee income on additional access and retention measures. Matt Height, Press Office Administrative Assistant at Birmingham City University, is confident that this target will be met:

“I have no reason to believe that we will not meet the 15% target.”

He went onto explain the process of evaluating additional access and retention measures:

“The reason it is not possible to be more definite is because the figures are currently based on estimates so we do not yet have final figures for either fee income or expenditure.”

Additional access and retention measures include the cost of extra activities such as bursaries and fee waivers. Matt Height explained what 15% of Birmingham City University’s fee income will be spent on:

“More than two thirds of the money is due to be spent on either fee waivers or bursaries to individual students. The rest of the money has been committed to other activities to aid access and retention.”

The Birmingham based university also aims to offer bursaries to those students who need additional help. This usually includes students who have a significantly low household income.

Matt Height claimed this promise is being kept to the university’s students and those who need extra financial help are receiving it.

“Over £1.5 million was paid out to students in March and further payments will be made up until the end of July.”

In their 2012-13 Access Agreement, Birmingham City University set a target of providing 327 scholarships to the value of £3,000 per scholarship. The Press Office Administrative Assistant claimed that the university will offer even more scholarships than first proposed:

“BCU will be providing 376 National Scholarships to students in the form of a £3,000 fee waiver each. The University is still in the process of deciding which of the students who have applied should receive the scholarships but all 376 will be awarded.”

Matt Height then defined how the scholarships will be paid for:

“Half of these are being funded from our government allocation and half from the university’s own funds, such as our fee income.”

Although Birmingham City University claim to be on track to meet their set targets, it is not officially confirmed until the following January. Therefore, 2012-13 promises will be assessed in January 2014. Matt Height explained:

“All universities with an Access Agreement are required to submit a monitoring return to OFFA to confirm whether they have met their commitments in the following January. We will be compiling more accurate income and expenditure information after the end of the academic and financial year in order to meet that deadline.”

However, Birmingham City University have acknowledged areas of the institution which need improvement. Click here to read about the university’s lack of financial guidance to students.

Students need financial guidance from universities

April 22nd couldn’t have come quick enough for Jenna Jarrett, a day most students celebrate by going on a big night out or finally buying that new watch, but for Jenna just knowing she  has a loan for  food and bills is enough.

These are the financial worries of today’s students who are so overdrawn that the price of living is becoming a constant worry.

For Jenna student life has not been what she expected,

“My mum always told me to be sensible with money at university and I can honestly say I am but sometimes there just isn’t enough financial support”

According to a recent survey one in three students suffer insomnia due to financial worries as students loans are running out before the end of term. The survey revealed that students are claiming to be cutting back on alcohol and course text books as a result of financial worries.

The survey found that many students  lacked knowledge in regards to money management  with 54 per cent  not knowing the interest rate on their credit card, this was something Jenna was quite familiar with,

“I didn’t know the interest rate on my card….I have learned a lot through mistakes at university but I do think that universities should have equipped us with better financial knowledge during our first year or before uni.”

With overdrafts at their limit students are forced to take on jobs during degrees with 44 per cent of students  having to work part-time during their university terms to fund studies. Currently a second year student at Birmingham City University Jenna has to maintain her lifestyle by having a part-time bar job at the weekends which is just is not enough to help her out get out of her overdraft and with long hours club work seems to be replacing university work,

“I work at a local club, its long hours and sometimes I don’t get back until early hours of the morning, its hard to have this as well as my studies as I find I don’t sleep much as I haven’t got time due to assignment deadlines…I am looking at getting another job but I am starting to wonder why I am actually at university if all I am doing is working to live.”

Martin Lewis, who runs Moneysavingexpert.com, and heads a taskforce on student finance feels students should calculate all finances they will receive during university, identifying an income and spend no more than this. It is the financial advice like this which is what is needed to students during the start of university as Jenna explains,

“Having financial advice for when your in trouble is fine but what about stopping the problem before it starts?”.