Benefits of Aspire

Our Aspire Cash solution will transform the way you make payments to students, staff and other beneficiaries.

There are 4 core benefits to adopting Aspire Cash.

Save Admin Time

"Aspire Cash has reduced the administration process for bursaries by 80%"

- Lena Smith, Funding Officer, Cardiff University

Payments can be made to students very quickly – within a maximum of 25 minutes a student receives cash in their bank account. There is no need to collect bank details or wait for payment runs, which increases the speed significantly. This is particularly transformational for hardship and urgent funding and means that students are better supported.

Using Aspire cash reduces administrative burden on universities by:

  • Providing a single delivery mechanism for any/all awards
  • Eliminating the need to collect, update or verify students bank details
  • Reducing GDPR compliance risk
  • Integrating with data sources on award criteria and benefiting students whether determined internally or externally (such as through the SLC)
  • Providing first line student customer service
  • Removing the need for university finance team to make direct payments or set up/check new payees
  • Significantly reducing payment queries from students

Empower Students

"The feedback has been incredibly positive, it’s not just about speed but also some unforeseen benefits"

- Simon Lee, Assistant Director Student Journey, University of Sunderland

Aspire Cash has been designed to guarantee students can get their funds 24/7

  • Payments are delivered in minutes
  • Funds can be drawn down in phases helping with budgeting
  • Students can choose their preferred account, reducing the risk of funds going into an overdraft or restricted account

Gain Powerful Analytics

"It really helped us in terms of our clarity of reporting and had added a lot of efficiency to how we operate."

- Andy Cook, Vice Chancellor, Ravensbourne University

Aspire cash gives unrivalled data insights and reporting.

Each time a student makes a cash withdrawal a reason for the funds is selected, and these can be personalised per institution. This builds up a rich picture of student need, providing valuable data for regulatory reporting, and enabling improved tailoring of future support. Data from the 22/23 cycles shows that 96% of funds withdrawn fall under the 8 main categories:

analytics infographic

63% of total withdrawals are for core “cost of living” uses (household bills, food and groceries and rent). For full details of the reporting available please contact us for a demo of the Aspire Cash system and reporting capabilities.

Reduce Costs

"This has significantly improved student experience and also delivered a cost saving to the University"

- Aston University, 22/23 Financial Statement

As well as the savings in reduced administration costs, Aspire Cash reduces the overall expenditure, (when compared to paying via alternative systems) on cash bursaries for two reasons:

  1. Funding is allocated for students to draw when needed, rather than making a single payment into their bank account. Should the student withdraw from studies their account is frozen and no further funds are drawn.
  2. Not all funds are drawn by students and there is always a small amount of ‘orphan funds’ at the end of a cycle.

These funds can be repurposed into hardship or other areas thereby alleviating other financial costs. Across all universities using Aspire Cash in 22/23 between 4-12% of funds remained at 31st July 2023.

Example of fund drawing pattern for a typical Aspire Cash Scheme:

reduce costs infographic

*Based on average Aspire Cash use 22/23 academic year.

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Contact us to find out how easy it is to transform the way you make payments with Aspire:

  • Save Administration Time
  • Empower Students
  • Gain Powerful Insight
  • Reduce Cost

FIND OUT MORE

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