Beyond the bursary: are we making a real difference with student financial support?

This blog was kindly authored by Peter Gray, Chairman and CEO, JS Group. JS Group is a HEPI partner.

Despite the many millions of pounds that UK universities invest in financial support for their students through bursaries, scholarships, hardship funds and other means, there has traditionally been relatively little analysis of the difference this support makes, or how its impact could be strengthened.

The conversation often focuses on how much to invest, how much students are struggling financially or how much more support they need, rather than how effectively that support is delivered.

In the current financial climate, universities face the dual challenge of supporting students through significant financial pressures while ensuring that limited resources deliver maximum impact. Therefore, the more important question is: how do we ensure that the limited financial support available makes the greatest possible difference to the students receiving it?

We need to move beyond thinking about financial support simply in terms of expenditure and start considering how it can be designed around students’ real circumstances, enabling better experiences and outcomes.

What does the evidence tell us?

JS Group’s relationship with higher education stretches back to 1751, when John Smith opened a bookshop in Glasgow. Today we are a very different business; our work with universities gives us a valuable perspective on how financial support is delivered, accessed and used by students.

Our latest annual report, Beyond the Bursary: Rethinking Student Financial Support, draws on four years of activity across more than 45 higher education institutions, covering £352 million in financial support delivered to over 1.2 million beneficiaries, alongside feedback from 5,000 students. This provides a substantial evidence base to help universities better understand the factors that influence the effectiveness of their financial support.

In particular, we’ve identified the main considerations as timing and speed, along with control and capacity. This challenges us to think differently about what makes financial support genuinely effective.

Timing & speed: does financial support arrive when students need it most?

Students face considerable costs before arriving at university, from accommodation deposits and travel to essential equipment and learning resources. Yet much of our traditional thinking about student support begins after enrolment.

Our analysis highlights the importance of providing support earlier in the student journey, even before students have applied. The scale of this need is evident in the response to the Save the Student bursary (specifically designed to help cover essential costs when starting university), which attracted 2,685 applications for just six awards – almost 450 applications per bursary. From helping prospective students attend open days to providing digital access funding before term starts, early financial support can remove barriers at critical moments, influencing university choice and helping students arrive prepared.

Timing matters throughout the student journey – our data reveals clear peaks in demand for financial support, particularly as students stretch their finances between student finance payments and when unexpected financial difficulties arise. This highlights the importance of providing timely, flexible support that responds to students’ changing needs.

When students need urgent support, speed can be just as important as the amount provided. 90% of students said immediate access to funding was important, while 88% said receiving funding quickly reduced their stress or anxiety.

For a student struggling to pay rent, buy food or travel to lectures, waiting days or weeks for support can compound an already difficult situation. Universities must therefore consider not only whether support is available, but whether it can reach students at the moment it will make the greatest difference.

What difference does choice and control make?

Providing students with greater flexibility over when and how their funding is received and used can help them take greater responsibility for managing their finances. 89% of students said having control over when they accessed their funding helped them budget more effectively, while 86% reported a greater sense of independence.

But choice is also about providing the right form of support for different circumstances. An emergency payment to cover an unexpected bill, credit for essential learning resources or vouchers to help with everyday living costs can each serve a different purpose. The challenge for universities is to match the right support to the right student at the right time.

Financial support is about more than financial security; it creates capacity to participate

Perhaps the most significant findings concern the wider impact of financial support on students’ university experience. Among students receiving financial support, the proportion expressing concern about their finances fell from 70% before receiving support to 27% afterwards – a reduction of 43 percentage points.

But the benefits reported by students extended beyond reduced financial pressure. 77% said support helped them participate more in university life, 86% said it strengthened their sense of belonging, and 92% said it positively affected their student experience. Furthermore, 86% said the funding supported them in continuing their studies.

These are students’ reported experiences rather than proof of a direct causal relationship with institutional outcomes. Nevertheless, they highlight the important relationship between financial wellbeing, participation and the ability to make the most of higher education.

We often talk about student engagement, belonging and continuation as strategic priorities. Yet financial pressures can prevent students from participating in the very activities and opportunities that help them feel part of their university community.

Effective financial support can create the capacity for students not simply to remain in higher education, but to engage with it more fully. And the benefits may extend beyond graduation, through greater financial confidence, independence and resilience.

From delivering support to designing it for impact

What does all this mean for universities? In a sector facing significant financial constraints, the answer is not necessarily to spend more, but to ensure that existing investment delivers the greatest possible benefit.

Our analysis shows that the method, timing and purpose of financial support all matter. Understanding how funding is used, when students need it and the difference it makes should inform future decisions about its design.

Different circumstances call for different approaches. Cash, credit for books and essential resources, vouchers for groceries or fuel and other forms of support can each play a role, depending on what students need to achieve.

This requires universities to ask three fundamental questions:

When will support make the greatest difference?

How should it be delivered to reflect students’ circumstances?

For whom can it remove the greatest barriers to participation and success?

After 275 years working alongside universities, we recognise that students’ needs and institutional challenges will continue to evolve. Our approach to financial support must evolve too.

The opportunity is to move beyond measuring financial support by the amount distributed and towards understanding the outcomes it helps make possible.

Effective financial support is not simply a question of how much is provided. It is a question of how well that support is designed around students’ real circumstances.

That is what it means to move beyond the bursary.