Edit: This blog first reported £30,000, however it came to my attention afterwards it was actually £40k and was edited as such.
Students living in financial hardship whilst at University is a huge issue.
When I first started this job I didn’t have my eye much on the finance aspect of my role but as I’ve gone on it’s become one of the most central parts and one of my biggest passions; particularly since so many issues affecting students relate back to money.
The Access to Learning fund (ALF) is a government pot of money distributed to Universities in order to award non-repayable discretionary funds to students in financial hardship based on a set of guidelines. Its primary focus is to stop students from dropping out due to money issues and therefore helps them through their difficulties. Sadly this fund has been cut massively since its conception in 2004/05; with a whopping 53% drop at Kent over the 7 years.
I’ve seen what a difference this fund has made to students lives (I sit on a committee that oversees the distribution and make decisions on awards in some cases) but some of the worst days I’ve had in this job have been seeing students not receive an award when they could really benefit from it. Having stood in my re-election last year on a platform of increasing student funding, I realised over the summer that this was something I could really get my teeth in to.
If the government are going to continually slash the fund then I felt that the University itself should start taking more ownership to support students in financial difficulties and centrally contributing. I wrote a proposal to the University outlining all the problems and recommending that the University start to subsidise cuts to the fund and look at how financial hardship fits in with the rest of Universities operations relating to student finance. And we’ve had some excellent news.
One of the biggest drains on the fund is that students who require dyslexia tests are funded through this pot of money – whilst this is obviously excellent it means there is less available to go straight to students in financial hardship. The University have agreed to start funding these separately from the fund straight away and in the future; this effectively injects over £40,000 a year back into the fund to assist students directly.
The University have also taken the rest of my recommendations forward to consider in the wider context of the financial packages available to students and include Kent Union in these discussions.
I’m incredibly thrilled with this result and applaud the University for taking our proposal on board with such gusto. There are still some big discussions to be had about expense faced by students (my report on campus accommodation costs is currently in process and will be released soon) but today we reflect on this achievement and hope to see lots of students benefiting from it.
I very much look forward to myself (and my successors) being involved in getting the best deal for students and putting money in their pockets in the future.
If you are a student who believes you may benefit from the Access to Learning fund you can learn more about it, if you are eligible and how you apply here.
Colum McGuire
Vice-President (Welfare)
Kent Union
Email me (union-welfare@kent.ac.uk)
Tweet me (@ColumMcGuire)
Phone me (01227824200)
Visit me (Student Activities Centre, above Essentials, Canterbury campus)
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