As the cost of living crisis endures and university fees for non-Scottish students rise by nearly £300, university appears further and further out of reach for young people all over the country. While there are those with parents who can afford to help out, especially at the University of Edinburgh, where a reported 40 per cent of the UK intake are from private schools, the vast majority of young people in the country are forced to question whether they can afford to go to university at all.
Many of these students are encouraged to research and apply for scholarships at the university, as part of ‘widening access’ and increasing equality of opportunity, when social mobility only seems to be falling. However, as one of the many universities in the country facing budget cuts, meaning such measures often take a backseat, is the University of Edinburgh doing enough to ensure that access is truly widened?
The University of Edinburgh currently offers what it calls ‘access awards’ and ‘merit-based scholarships’ to provide funding to students living in the UK. The Access Edinburgh Scholarship provides some funding, dependent on household income, to eligible undergraduate students who live in the UK. The university claims: “There is no application process and no limit to the number of scholarships available, and this highlights the University of Edinburgh’s commitment to supporting our students.”
Testing out the university’s ‘scholarship search’ tool, I find that the vast majority of scholarships are either region-specific – such as one provided by the City of Dundee Educational Trust – or subject-specific. For example, there are only two merit-based scholarships listed. The Margaret Campbell Scott scholarship, awarding the value of £1,000 to students who achieved the best entrance qualifications in physics, and the Science and Engineering and Global Talent Fund BIG (Backing Invisible Geniuses) Scholarships, which can be applied for by students from any country who have earned a medal in a major international science Olympiad.
Beyond the university-pioneered scholarships, Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy recently announced a scholarship alongside the University of Edinburgh to support young athletes aiming to balance university studies and training, saying that: “The financial support and practical support they receive at the university is important to make their sporting dreams a reality.”
The question remains: do these scholarships do enough? The amounts provided by Access Edinburgh fail to cover living costs, especially in Edinburgh, where affordable housing is scarce. Those on a household income of £20,999, well below the median average income for an individual, receive £3,000 per year, which covers far below half of the rent for the majority of first-year accommodation options. Though these students will be receiving the maximum student loan, scholarships should do more to address the issues within the current funding system, where those whose parents are able to help out end up paying less for their education, borrowing less, and therefore paying less interest.
Excluding a few provided by external bodies, the university fails to offer any scholarships for non-STEM subjects. This exclusion of arts and humanities degrees can be seen as very problematic, further perpetuating the narrative which discourages students, particularly working class people, from studying what some deem to be ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees, while the rich and privileged continue to be allowed to learn for the sake of learning – and also for the sake of a country that gains much of its soft power from the arts.
Surely, at a time when humanities departments are cut, the upper classes dominate the arts industries, and Conservative politicians tell the working classes to undertake vocational training or apprenticeships that they would not dream of pushing their children into, this is a crucial time for universities to provide scholarships to those who are at the most disadvantage in nurturing a passion for philosophy, sociology or literature.
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