At Sheffield we include a sentence about how to appeal (to the
Financial Help Advisory Panel) in the letter which informs they have
not been successful. It also states that the original decision is
unlikely to be overturned unless it can be demonstrated that their
circumstances have changed since the application was first
assessed. The appeals that we receive tend to be because a
student has not presented the full picture in the first place, some of
them appeal because they have been talking to their friends who
have received an award and it doesn't seem fair, others just
because they don't like the amount awarded or the decision. All of
them are looked at again but only the ones whose circumstances
have changed or were not made clear in the first application are
made awards.
Re: the bursary. We have a Compact scheme at Sheffield so it has
been relatively easy to identify students who are from lower socio-
economic backgrounds or who are not well represented in HE. We
are in the process of developing another bursary scheme which will
also be aimed at younger people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
I also intend to visit local Access Course students to ensure they
know about the bursaries being offered from 2000-2001 but,
obviously, this might be better administered for the following year
when we can let such students know at the time of making an
application.
Finally, we have just produced a handout with some advice about
financial matters, including info. about cash machine charges. We
have been staggered by the amount of students who run up
charges of £18+ per month just by using the wrong hole in the wall.
Liz Hall
The University of Sheffield
Student Services Department
Central Support and Welfare
Firth Court
Western Bank
SHEFFIELD
S10 2TN
Tel. (0114) 222 1268
Fax. (0114) 222 1304
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