UCD Access & Lifelong Learning Financial Support

Main idea

Outline

UCD Access & Lifelong Learning have put a range of supports in place to help students build their money management skills including:

• Information sessions/Workshops/1 to 1 Budgeting Guidance & Advice 
• Money Management Webpage 
• Resources which include sample budgets, templates, spending trackers, resources to help prioritise spending and a money management guide has been developed for the 2023/24 Orientation/Welcome Programme. 
• Funding & Scholarships 

Information Sessions

Student Finance information sessions are delivered as part of the Access & Lifelong Learning Welcome Programme which is an orientation programme for all incoming access students at the start of the Academic Year. The information session focuses on budget planning for the academic year, outlines the financial support available, how to apply and where to access 1 to 1 support for budgeting advice and support on how to apply for financial resources. 

When starting the budget planning and tips we try to keep it practical and start by asking students to ask themselves a couple of questions about their budget plan: 

1. Am I realistic? 
2. Does the purchase have to be new ? 
3. Is it essential? 
4. Can I identify all reliable sources of income that I will have for the duration of the academic year? 

It is a good way to raise awareness on the topic. We then share practical resources to help students budget. 

Specific online information sessions are also delivered for certain student groups and on specific supports:

• Students who enter through the HEAR (Higher Education Access Route) pathway are offered a tailored information session as there is additional support & funding available for these students. 
• Student Support Fund (incl parenting and part-time) specific session on this fund around the eligibility and the process to apply. 
• UCD laptop Loan Scheme outlining the eligibility and how to apply. 
• Scholarships – Outlining all scholarships available through the Access & Lifelong Learning, explaining the eligibility criteria and how to apply. 
• We also offer application workshops in person and online to help students complete the application process for the various financial supports.

Workshops 

• A money management workshop is also delivered as part of the academic skills workshops. Again there is a really practical approach taken where we run through how to budget, practice budgeting, discuss ways to cut costs and how to access support.  
• 1 to 1 Budgeting is offered by Student Support Officers in the Access and Lifelong Learning Centre – where they will run through budget plans with students individually on how to manage financial difficulties and where they can access further support. 

Financial Supports 

UCD Access and Lifelong Learning recognise that many students could not participate in university without some financial support. UCD has a range of financial supports in place to ensure: 

• HEAR Student Assistance Fund – Annual funding payment for students who entered UCD through the Higher Education Access Route pathway.
• University Student Support Fund – Means-tested annual funding for Irish / EU students on full-time programmes.
• Parenting Support Fund – Means-tested annual funding for Irish / EU students who are parenting
• Part-Time Student Support Fund – Means-tested payment for Irish / EU students studying part-time.
• Student Assistance Fund – Emergency funding for unforeseen circumstances. Students must meet with their Student Adviser to apply for this fund.
• Laptop Loan Scheme  A long term loan of a laptop for the duration of a student’s studies.
• Cothrom na Féinne – Graduate – Fee waivers for students from Access backgrounds on agreed postgraduate Social Science and Science courses.

Scholarships

• Cothrom na Féinne Scholarship (CnF) – For incoming first-year students. The scholarships are awarded to new entrants who demonstrate clear motivation to pursue higher education despite educational challenges faced and demonstrate leadership to others experiencing similar challenges to pursue third-level education.
• Cothrom na Féinne for Traveller Students – For incoming students who are from the Travelling Community. This scholarship will support students from Traveller, Roma, Asylum Seeker and Refugee groups to attend UCD. The scholarship will provide a stipend to cover living expenses and accommodation.
• 1916 Bursary – For incoming first-year students. The 1916 Bursary is a financial award to encourage the participation and success of students from sections of society that are significantly under-represented in higher education. This bursary is funded by the https://hea.ie/policy/access-policy/path/ Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH). 
• Sanctuary Programme – There are a number of scholarships available for students who are refugees, international protection, and those with leave to remain and who have secured a course offer by UCD. 

Money Management Webpage

The money management webpage has tips and resources to help students to plan ahead and be more strategic when it comes to their financial expectations. It gives them the tools they need to set realistic goals in terms of their finances and to give them the resources they need to help manage their money. It can be shared with prospective and current students. Anecdotally students have expressed that they are not aware that there are scholarships they can apply for and think scholarships are only for ‘top athletes’ so it is important to raise awareness about these supports – early & often.

The initial webpage was developed by researching good practices of other institutions, looking at existing resources from Australia, the UK and Ireland but with a UCD context in mind and we really wanted to take a practical approach so we included lots of downloadable resources.

Goals

• To develop students’ money management skills and to raise awareness of the costs involved in coming to College. 
• To raise awareness of the financial supports in place to ensure that we reach students that are most in need 
• To ensure that prospective students are aware of these supports and can successfully budget for their college year
• To develop autonomy in students’ ability to financially plan and budget for their time in College

Target group

• Students experiencing educational difficulties
• Students experiencing geographical obstacles
• Students from other communities
• Students from non-academic backgrounds
• Students with caring responsibilities
• Students experiencing obstacles based on ethnic-cultural differences
• Students experiencing socioeconomic obstacles
• Students with (mental) health problems

Obstacles targetted:

• Economic obstacles

Students involvement

• Students are asked for their feedback on the information sessions, workshops and webpage which influences how we run future sessions and how we update the webpage. 
• Students also give their feedback and experience of receiving a scholarship or financial support and were involved in the planning of this academic year.  
• Students were also involved in the planning of the workshops and information sessions for the ALL welcome programme.

Inspiration and evidence

It has been identified that finances, or the lack of finances, is a particular barrier for students that are deemed to be under-represented in university. We have developed a number of initiatives to try and support students to overcome such barriers.

Success criteria

• The support is practical and contributes to a students lifelong learning skills.  
• Recipients of the CnF and PATH scholarships have reliable funding for the duration of their studies. 
• We are trying to ensure that the message around money management and financial support gets to students as early and as often as possible. That is why support is offered in a number of different ways i.e information sessions, workshops, web resources and 1 to 1 and at different times, there is a big emphasis on it in the first semester but 1 to 1 support is offered throughout the academic year. 

Points of attention

The need for sustainable and ongoing funding sources.

Effectiveness

• Track the number of students that apply for scholarships 
• Track the number of students that attend workshops & information sessions 
• Track the retention of access students
• Track students’ perception of the effectiveness of the initiative

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

strongly agree

Evaluation

We seek feedback from students who participate in the initiatives. Here is a sample feedback form relating to the money management webpage.  

The initiative will be evaluated annually both  quantitatively and qualitatively. This will include

The number of attendees at the workshops, meetings and application sessions. We will also record the number of times students attend the individual sessions and if/how often they return. We will survey students to seek their perception of the usefulness of the initiate and if the goals below were achieved:

• To raise awareness of the cost involved when at college
• To develop students money management skills 
• To raise awareness of the financial supports in place to ensure that we reach students that are most in need 
• To ensure that prospective students are aware of these supports and can successfully budget for their college year
• To develop autonomy in students’ ability to financially plan and budget for their time in College

Communication

• Social media 
• Direct emails
• Website 
• Information sessions
• ALL Welcome
• Support personnel

Timing

Application for scholarships generally opens in early September and closes in October. Other financial support can be applied for throughout the academic year. 

Day information

During regular ‘school’ hours.

Resources

• Staff to provide 1 to 1 support, deliver information sessions, workshops, develop resources and administer the scholarships and funds. 
• Administrative support 
• Promotional material 
• Ring Fenced funding to pay for resources for e.g. designing and printing a money management guide.

Extra information

• Money Management Webpage

Transferability

We think it is quite easily transferable to other contexts or groups.

Easily transferable – quite easily transferable – somewhat transferable – minimally transferable – hardly transferable. 

The website, money management workshops and 1 to 1 support is easily transferable as long as you have designated staff to run it. 

The financial support would require funding, in UCD’s case the funding is a combination of government and philanthropic funding. The UCD Foundation manage all donors and external funding.