THE number of students seeking financial support from their universities has skyrocketed in recent years, analysis by the Sunday National has revealed.
The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information Request, suggests an increasing number of Scottish students are struggling to make ends meet.
At the University of Edinburgh, the number of students who asked for help has more than doubled in the last four years.
In 2018-19, 992 students asked for assistance, before surging to 5229 in 2019-20 and falling back down to 2827 the following year. The figures show the number of struggling students has increased by nearly 300% since pre-pandemic levels.
Dundee University had the biggest number of hardship applications of any higher education institution in Scotland in 2021/22, with 3085 of its students seeking funds.
This accounts for 18% of the university’s roughly 16,000 student population and it’s nearly double the figure for 2019-20 where 1583 students applied for financial assistance.
It’s a mixed picture for Glasgow’s universities. Some 1694 students applied for financial help at the University of Glasgow in 2021-22, down from 4536 during 2019-20.
Meanwhile, Strathclyde University saw its numbers more than double since 2018-19. The year before the Covid pandemic, 1088 students applied for discretionary funds, which boomed to 2598 in 2021-22.
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) saw an increase from 175 in 2019-20 to 440 in 2021-22, while Glasgow Caledonian University saw its numbers drop from 2656 in 2020-21 to 1292 in 2021-22.
Glasgow School of Art meanwhile went from 146 applications in 2018-19 to 321 in 2021-22.
The amount given to each student varies between universities – for example, the average successful applicant at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen was handed £1625.
In total, for the 16 of Scotland’s 19 universities the Sunday National has data for (Strathclyde University and St Andrews did not provide data for 2021-22, and the Open University’s data was not specific to Scotland), £24,277,401 was spent on financial assistance for students in need. This includes childcare funds, Covid funds from SAAS and funds directly from the university such as hardship and discretionary funds. This was for a total of 24,187 applications.
NUS Scotland president Ellie Gomersall (above) said an increasing number of students are relying on hardship funds and food banks to get by.
She said: “The rise in applications for hardship grants shows how much students are struggling during this cost of living crisis.
“The cost of survival continues to increase: inflation is consistently over 10%; the average student rent is now 34% higher than it was in 2018; students are struggling to heat their homes, and yet the student financial support package remains stagnant.
“NUS Scotland has heard from students that they are not only relying on one-off hardship funds but also foodbanks and loans that they don’t know if they can afford to pay back.
“The Scottish Government promised to raise student support in line with the cost of living, but we are yet to see action to make this happen.
“Now is the time for the Government to act, leaving it any longer will lead to students becoming more and more vulnerable to poverty and payday loans.
“Without intervention, education will become inaccessible to all but the richest people.”
The data raises concerns that a growing number of students are missing out on support. At the University of the Highlands and Islands, of the 1170 people who applied for funds, only 497 got it.
Meanwhile, at Glasgow University, of the 4536 students who applied for hardship support in 2019-20, 3523 were successful which means around a quarter of students who sought help were refused.
A spokesperson for Universities Scotland said the rise of hardship applications was expected following the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis, especially since students are more likely to work in the industries most impacted by the crises.
They said: “Universities want all their students to flourish and will offer practical support according to the circumstances.
“This often includes additional or emergency financial support through hardship funds, some of which are funded by the Government and others which are raised by universities themselves through philanthropy and fundraising.
“During the pandemic, the processes used to apply for hardship funding were streamlined to help students as simply and quickly as possible.”
During the Covid pandemic, the Student Awards Agency Scotland set up a Covid discretionary fund for students in need. In 2021/22, 239 of the RCS’s 344 applications fell under this funding.
Universities Scotland said this may help explain why universities such as Glasgow or Edinburgh saw applicant numbers peak during the height of Covid as a higher proportion of their funding came directly from the SAAS Covid funds.
They said: “During the pandemic, there was a one-year increase in hardship funding for students from the Government, in recognition of the exceptional circumstances, but the level has fallen back to pre-pandemic levels despite the cost of living pressures facing students right now.
“We think the times necessitate extra help and we’d like to see Government support for discretionary funding return to the peak pandemic levels. More broadly, the loans and grants available to students should be reviewed to avoid situations in which so many students are in need of emergency financial help.”
Higher and Further Education Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “I understand that this is a very challenging time for many students. Free tuition helps ensure that eligible Scottish-domiciled students studying in Scotland already have the lowest student debt levels in the UK, and we are taking all the action we can to help students overcome the issues they face through the cost of living crisis.
“The Scottish Government provided £16.8 million in hardship funding to colleges and universities for the current academic year to support [higher education] students experiencing financial hardship.
“Those facing financial hardship are still able to apply to their college or university for assistance through their discretionary funds.
“We remain in close contact with college and university principals, urging them to continue to prioritise the allocation of hardship funds to those students most in need, and to take account of the impact of the rising cost of living.”
