nowhere else to turn Fund offers hope


WHEN THERE IS


THIS SUMMER 3,000 STUDENTS WILL BE CELEBRATING YEARS OF HARD WORK AND COMMITMENT AT THEIR GRADUATION CEREMONIES AND LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT CHAPTER IN THEIR LIVES.


However, for some students, this achievement is denied as a financial crisis meant they had to leave Surrey. This is both devastating in the short term and has a far-reaching negative impact on their long-term prospects.


We’re determined that no-one should drop out of university because of hardship and the Forever Surrey Fund awards grants to a wide range of students who are hit by money worries during their studies.


In 2018, we awarded £75,000 in hardship grants to 78 students – with your support we can help many more finish their studies.


surrey.ac.uk/foreversurreyfund JESSICA’S STORY


Nursing student Jessica is eagerly looking forward to taking up her first job this summer as a theatre nurse at a hospital specialising in burns and plastic surgery.


It’s a career she has long dreamt of, but it could so easily have ended unhappily as there were times during her nursing studies when Jessica thought she would have to leave university.


She comes from a very supportive family but one unable to contribute financially and so her part-time job as a care assistant at Royal Surrey County Hospital was vital to make ends meet and pay the rent.


However, on several occasions Jessica considered leaving Surrey when hip surgery and then her nursing placements prevented her from earning the money she so desperately needed.


“While on placement you work 12-hour shifts across the week and it is impossible to fit in your part-time job around it,” says Jessica. ”When you are in financial difficulty it’s the only thing on your mind and eats away at your mental health – you can’t sleep or study properly. And it’s not just me – my parents were so worried and upset that they couldn’t help.”


Happily for Jessica the Forever Surrey Fund supported her through these tough times and she can’t wait to start her nursing career.


“I know I would not have been able to graduate without it,” said Jessica. “I hope the people who contribute to the Forever Surrey Fund appreciate the huge difference it makes to students’ lives.”


JOHN’S STORY


Life became so tough for engineering student John* that in his second year he had to withdraw temporarily from his course because he could not afford to carry on.


Not eligible for finance as a non-EU student, John has had to fund all costs himself with his family helping out when they could – his mother even sold her


modest house in Nigeria to cover his first-year fees.


“This was an extremely difficult period of my life, but I managed by envisaging myself as a graduate engineer,” said John.


He returned after a year of working, committed to getting a first-class degree. However, in his final year, he was spending so much time at his part-time job that he felt the dream slipping away from him.


“I was having to work much more than I would like to afford my living costs and I could see it was going to be very difficult to achieve my First.”


It was at this point that John applied for a grant from the Forever Surrey Fund – “I was at breaking point and, despite my feelings about accepting money, it was the only option.”


This summer, thanks to support from the Fund, John will be graduating with his class-mates – on track for a First and having already secured a graduate job with a large engineering firm.


“The Forever Surrey Fund gave me a new lease of optimism, that, regardless of a person’s upbringing, they can succeed in life with hard work. It actually touches people’s lives and gives hope to students who have nowhere else to turn.”


* We have changed the name of the student SURREY.AC.UK 21


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