Aspire Credit

With Aspire Credit you can provide funds to students that are ring-fenced to be spent on the resources and services that will support their study and help them make the most of their time at university.

Credit schemes are tailored to the individual needs and priorities of each Institution, specifically addressing student resource requirements be that course resources or highly targeted issues such as digital poverty.

We support each Aspire Credit scheme with:

A Student Engagement Portal where students can find recommended course resources and a wealth of free information, advice, insights and events.

A dedicated Engagement Partner and team of Student Ambassadors

Detailed reporting and data insights into how funds are being used

UCLAN

Using Aspire Cash, Aspire Credit and Aspire Vouchers to improve retentionand streamline delivery

‘a new streamlined, single delivery mechanism that has transformed the visibility, administration and impact of all UCLAN’s student financial support’

In 2022 UCLAN’s VC Graham Baldwin and his senior team wanted to improve student retention by providing a highly targeted and effective package of bursaries, scholarships and cash payments. They knew the university already delivered over £3 million worth of funding to students every year. They also believed there were significant additional legacy pockets of bursary and scholarship funding administered all over the institution. They were keen to gather together all their student financial support to ensure that every penny spent was visible and used in the most strategic way possible to achieve maximum benefit for the most deserving students. UCLAN’s transformation team worked closely with the University’s finance team to unearth, list and understand all existing payments to students.

UCLAN then worked in partnership with the JS Group to deliver what PVC Andrew Ireland described as a ‘big bang approach’ to their student financial support.

‘The JS Group developed and delivered a new streamlined, single delivery mechanism that transformed the visibility, administration and impact of all student financial support’.

Called the UCLAN ACHIEVE scheme, the university deployed a combination of all the JS Groups tools: Aspire Cash, Aspire Credit and Aspire Vouchers to achieve their new, creative and strategic approach to student financial support.

ASPIRE CASH allows UCLAN to make cash payments to students at real speed, usually within half an hour rather than part of a weekly payment schedule. This worked so well that UCLAN are now using the system for staff expenses.

ASPIRE CREDIT allows UCLAN to deliver tailored, course specific resources via the JS Group to targeted students. This was ring-fenced funding to better engage students with their studies. The JS Group supplies data of what students spent the money on and that allows the university to target its funds effectively.

ASPIRE VOUCHERS allow UCLAN to issue supermarket vouchers at speed in cost of living emergencies and as a creative student reward or incentive.

Benefits for UCLAN

There is now a single system that administers all university financial support. That makes student and staff access much easier.

UCLAN reports significantly reduced administration costs and complexity.

JS Group data insights on how students spend their financial support allows the university to better understand student need and behaviour. This is turn informs effective and targeted student financial support.