Funding boost for cost of living support

The University’s Cost of Living Working Group has been given an extra £30,000.

The Cost of Living working group includes University staff, the Students’ Union, and the SU Executive team to respond to the financial challenges facing students.

The Cost of Living fund offers students experiencing financial hardship with grants between £250 and £2,000.

This is one of several grant options, with alternatives such as the Students’ Union Recreation Grant and Emergency Loans.

The fund, open to all full-time students to apply for, is made up of donations from alumni and friends of the University.

Alongside grants, the University’s Cost of Living scheme includes several initiatives aimed at helping students.

One such initiative is ‘Snack and Chat’, a drop-in session with peer to peer study advice. The meet takes place in the Library Living Room every Friday.

From 1 November, 2023, the Weekly Free Breakfast initiative returned to campus, with 250 vouchers distributed each week to students in the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons for use in the cafe. This will continue throughout the academic year.

The Students’ Union-led SU Eats meal kits have also returned to campus, with recipes and tips of how to make meals go further.

This lines up alongside other SU initiatives, such as the ‘Cosy Campus’ scheme brought in in 2022, which aimed to designate spaces for students to seek relief from cold weather, and access amenities such as microwaves and boiling water taps.

In the 2022/23 academic year, the Cost of Living Group was established to tackle student hardships amongst rising inflation.

Through this initiative, more than 90% of students at the University were given £170 as a cost of living support payment, with some students receiving a further amount later in the year.

Information on how to apply for Cost of Living grants can be found here.