Universities revise scholarships for underprivileged students

Following on from the government cuts made to the National Scholarship Programme (NSP), Warwick University will be contributing £500,000 to its own scholarship programme.

In order to cover the cuts made to the NSP, the University itself aims to cover two-thirds of the amount lost.

Rather than lose individual scholarships for underprivileged students, the University will be reducing the value of the awards on offer.

Peter Dunn, head of communications, stated that: “We have done what we could with our own earned income to meet as much as the shortfall we could, as we thought that this was the right thing to do.”

According to Mr Dunn, the University remains aware of the need to sustain the ‘student experience’.

However, the process of re-adjusting the programme is still underway. Mr Dunn added that any revisions made to the scholarship programme have yet to be determined in detail and agreed.

Across the whole country, £100m is expected to be cut from the NSP for 2014-15. Many universities have opted to offer their students cash, rather than tuition fee waivers, to help compensate for these reductions.

Warwick is one of only four universities which intends to revise its scholarship programme to help combat the cuts.

The universities of Leicester, York and University College London will be similarly attempting to cover the shortfall.

The scholarship programme provided by Warwick has proved vital in allowing underprivileged students to attend the University.

Molly Gray, a second-year Biomedical Science undergraduate, remarked that “it’s a shame that the scholarships are going to be reduced but it’s good that the University is willing to pay some of the costs itself.”

She added: “These programmes enable students, who can’t necessarily afford university, to get the education they want. If it wasn’t for the scholarship I received, I would have definitely struggled to afford the cost of fees and accommodation.”

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which first made the announcement, intends to end the National Scholarship Programme after 2014-15.

The University’s plan of action in response to such a proposal is yet to be established.