10,000 students to receive second cost of living payment

We're proud to have worked with the Students' Union since summer 2022 to develop the most extensive cost of living support package available at any UK university. Today, we are announcing the next stage in this support: an additional payment to 10,000 students, which comes from the £9million package announced in November 2022.

The payment will be made to:

• Students who received a contextual offer from our University, for example because they lived in an area of disadvantage when they applied.
• Students who declared during University registration that they were care experienced, estranged, have caring responsibilities or dependents.
• Students who are seeking asylum in the UK.
• Recipients of the following scholarships and bursaries:
  • The Manchester Bursary
  • Foundation Year Bursary
  • Undergraduate Access Scholarship
  • Humanitarian Scholarship
  • Equity and Merit Scholarship
  • Manchester Master’s Bursary
  • Manchester School of Architecture Bursary
  • Article 26 Scholarship

Eligible full time students will receive £230 and eligible part time students will receive £115.

Eligible students will receive an email by Wednesday, 8 March confirming that they will receive the payment and asking them to update their bank details on the student system.

The payment will be made through our own finance system rather than through NatWest PayIt and we expect that this will lead to significantly fewer queries. Students with queries should be directed to our frequently asked questions.

• If their question is not answered they can contact costoflivingpayment@manchester.ac.uk.

How we’re standing up for our students

We’re proud of the cost of living support package we’ve developed with the Students’ Union, but we recognise that there are still significant challenges facing the student community. We’re committed to advocating on behalf of our students to government to improve the situation. For example:

• We agree that that the 2.8% increase in the student maintenance loans provided by the UK Government is insufficient. We're actively working with other universities to encourage a review of this and our President and Vice Chancellor, Professor Nancy Rothwell, has been lobbying government ministers on this issue.
• The Students’ Union is making sure that students’ concerns are heard by Mayor Andy Burnham through the Greater Manchester Student Assembly and is collaborating with other students’ unions to lobby central government.
• We’re advocating for affordable rents and when Manchester City Council ask us to comment on planning applications, we won’t support any new student accommodation unless it offers good value for money.

Sam Bronheim, Union Affairs Officer at the Students’ Union, commenting on behalf of the elected SU Officer Team, said: “We are delighted to announce this second targeted payment to 10,000 students and we’ll continue to collaborate with the University to support the wider student body with the rising cost of living. We’re also lobbying local and national government, on students’ behalf, to introduce greater financial support for the student community”.

Further support

Our Cost of Living support doesn’t stop with these payments to students. We also have a support fund that can provide, depending on a financial assessment, non-repayable grants up to £2,000; trained advisors on hand to help with a range of money matters; an emergency loan scheme; and mental health and wellbeing support.