Gift of education
The maximum student maintenance loan now covers only half a student’s basic living costs, and working part-time only covers another quarter. For young people from low-income families, who cannot rely on financial help from home, this gap can be devastating.
Almost all our Pathways to Birmingham (P2B) scholarships are made possible through generous alumni, who recognise that their own university studies would have been so much harder without financial support.
But the need has never been greater. Nine out of ten P2B students say they would not have been able to afford the essentials or, for many, to even go to university at all without the P2B scholarship. More bright, determined young people than ever need our help.
Together, we can make sure financial barriers don’t hold them back.
As the head of the Outreach programme at Birmingham, and a proud graduate myself, I see the impact of higher education every single day. With food, private rent, energy bills and books costing more than ever, a scholarship of £1,500 per year of study can be life-changing for a young person at university, helping them to thrive.
A Pathways to Birmingham (P2B) scholarship could help with the things that a student loan just doesn’t cover:
- Study essentials, from books to their first basic laptop of their own
- Bus or train pass, so they can get to lectures, placements and visit home
- Subs for a student society or a sports club, to get the extracurricular experience essential for today’s CVs
As someone from a family where no one had gone to university before, applying to study Medicine was very daunting. Having Pathways to Birmingham was a huge help and took so much of the pressure off. The financial support is a big help, especially as a medical student where part-time jobs are nearly impossible to balance with the course and with the travel costs of getting to placement five days a week.
Every penny you give goes directly to support students through a Pathways to Birmingham scholarship. Through every exam, every lecture and every challenge, they will know you support them. You will give them the time to focus on getting good grades, without needing to work evenings plus weekends.
By supporting a Pathways to Birmingham scholarship, you can give bright, determined young people the means to succeed at university.