This is a typical example of how students face the everyday barriers and anxieties when it comes to securing fast payment of much-needed hardship funds.
It was a Friday afternoon and Joanna* turned up at her university’s student finance support centre looking very distressed.
She was in her final year and a lone parent looking after two very young children. She explained that she wouldn’t receive any money from her own part-time job until Tuesday and had no money for food or transport until then. She was particularly worried about her children going hungry and missing out on their weekend swimming class.
Over a cup of tea, we looked together at her budget. On paper, she had just about enough to manage over the medium-term, but the next few days would be too much of a struggle.
Amid her tears, she admitted that money worries had prevented her from concentrating on her Finals and she looked to me like she hadn’t had much sleep. We arranged to pay £100 into her bank account for the weekend and made an appointment to examine her budget together in detail the following week.
When I saw her again, she was much more positive. I helped her apply for additional funds for childcare and spotted some ways for her to save money.
Joanna is particularly in my mind at this time of year when students in England, at least, are most desperate because they won’t receive regular funds until September.
But the cost of living has meant that, throughout the year, students like Joanna increasingly need what we call ‘fast cash’ - that is, funds transferred almost immediately, or at least within a day.
University student support services are fully aware of how many more students now struggle with their finances and, as a sector, we are putting a huge amount of effort into helping these students in every way we can.
But our teams are often small and don’t always take advantage of technological innovation. This is an issue when increasing numbers of students need funds transferred within the day.
It’s why more universities are opting to use Aspire Cash.
The Aspire platform ensures funds arrive in a student’s bank account in under 25 minutes and, due to the use of secure open banking technology, it does away with the need for universities to collect student bank details or worry about GDPR compliance concerns.
As I saw with Joanna, paying just £100 into a student’s account almost immediately can make a huge difference to their wellbeing in the short-term, but it also opens up an important opportunity for us to talk to them about how they are managing their money.
I can think of many instances where on paper, students would be deemed to have enough money and therefore not be eligible for hardship funds. The reality, though, was that they had an immediate need for money and could not wait for their next payday or student loan instalment.
Food vouchers are often very useful, but they aren’t always what mature students, for example, might need to cover school meals or after-school activities.
My worry is that universities that aren’t offering ‘fast cash’ will inadvertently be setting vulnerable students up for serious money problems in the future. These students will not only keep their money worries to themselves, they may potentially turn to higher cost credit options.
Neither universities nor students stand to gain from that.
Lynne Condell MBE, is a Student Finance Expert.
She has worked in higher education student support services for over 30 years. She was previously a Chair of the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA).
*The name of this student has been changed.
