Imperial announces increased bursaries

Imperial College London has today unveiled a new bursary package for UK students due to be affected by the planned rise in tuition fees.

The new package will provide a substantial increase of £2,500 towards the College’s maximum bursary, which currently stands at £3,500. This financial aid of up to £6,000 also includes a newly introduced fee waiver, designed to ensure that Imperial is ‘attractive and reassuring to prospective students.’

This news follows official confirmation of a rise in fees to the maximum of £9,000 across a third of the United Kingdom’s universities. These increases have met approval from the university standards watchdog, the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), and will be implemented for the student intake from 2012 and beyond.

Staff and students were informed of the College’s bursary plans earlier today by emails from Rector Sir Keith O’Nions and Imperial College Union President Alex Kendall respectively.

Under the new scheme, students applying to Imperial from households with an annual income of £25,000 or less will receive the College’s maximum financial support. This maximum will stand at a figure of £6,000 per year. Students will have the decision to either place £3,500 of this directly in their bank account or use it to contribute towards accommodation costs. The remaining £2,500 will act as a fee waiver.

"What’s on offer will in the future ease the challenges for those who would struggle with the finances if awarded a place at Imperial" Alex Kendall, Union President

The financial threshold for households to recieve support is also set to increase from the current limit of £50,000. Following from proposals considered earlier this year, the new scheme will aim to help a ‘wide range’ of students, with those from households earning up to and including £60,000 being eligible for some form of support on a sliding scale. The smallest cash bursary of £900 will be provided for households in the income bracket of £55,001 – £60,000, with no fee waiver.

In his email message, Kendall said that he was “confident” with the new package, assuring students that “what’s on offer will in the future ease the challenges for those who would struggle with the finances if awarded a place at Imperial.”

The Rector also praised the scheme and its overall intent in his message to staff, remarking that, “Although the fee has increased, so will our financial aid to the neediest. The College currently spends approximately £3.5 million; we estimate we will spend between £6 - 8.4 million by 2015-16, on financial aid for UK students.”

Of the 139 higher education institutions listed in a table of access agreement figures on the OFFA website, Imperial stands at 39th with regards to the lowest estimated average cost per student, after allowance for financial support. With an estimate of £7,503, this places Imperial ahead of both the University of Oxford, which finds itself 43rd with a cost of £7,549, and the University of Cambridge at 87th with £8,034. Both universities were notable for expressing early interest in raising their fees, alongside Imperial.