At the University of Edinburgh, the number of students who asked for help has more than doubled in the last four years.
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.
In total, for the 16 of Scotland’s 19 universities the Sunday National has data for , £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 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. 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.
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.
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