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Home ›› Access agreements ›› Guidance notes ›› Is the bursary and other student finance information on your website up to date?

Is the bursary and other student finance information on your website up to date?

Dear Colleagues

Is the bursary and other student finance information on your website up to date?

Prospective 2009/10 students will soon be doing their research before they apply to UCAS and will be looking at institutions’ websites to find out what bursaries and other financial support are available. It’s therefore important that the student finance information on your website is up to date.

You need to make sure that:-

• You put 2009/10 bursary and other student finance information on your website as soon as possible, ideally by end of September. In an informal survey, we found several institutions still only had 2008/09 information on their site.
• The bursary map on Directgov links through to the right page on your site. Again, our survey found that the bursary map (http://bursarymap.direct.gov.) did not always link through to bursary information. Sometimes it linked through to a home page, sometimes to a generic student finance page. If you want to report a broken link or change the page the map links to, email the correct link to Tessa King at Tessa.King@dius.gsi.gov.uk
• It is clear to prospective students how to apply for a bursary. This is important even if you automatically assess students for their bursary eligibility using information provided on their student finance application form. If you rely on students agreeing to share their financial information with you, please make this clear.

You also might want to take this opportunity to carry out a general audit of the bursary and other student finance information on your website to make sure it’s as accessible and helpful as possible. We recommend that you:-

• Link as quickly as possible from your home page to student finance information. A ‘Fees and Funding’ or ‘Student Finance’ link direct from your home page is ideal.
• Are clear and concise. Use succinct headings to answer key questions. For example, when talking about bursaries, headings could be What we offer, Are you eligible?, How to apply, When we will pay your bursary, and How to find out more.
• Are consistent. It’s quicker and easier to navigate a site if links and menus are presented in the same format and in the same position throughout the site.
• Use tables and summary boxes rather than long blocks of text. Tables are particularly useful for explaining bursary eligibility.
• Provide advice on budgeting. Examples of average/standard costs are helpful, particularly in the light of recent surveys showing students underestimate the cost of living. Simple budget calculators can help students work out what they need to allow for.
• Use case studies /student videos. Students identify with the experience of other students.

We found that student finance information was particularly well presented on the University of Brighton (www.brighton.ac.uk/studentlife/money) and Newcastle University (www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/finance) sites. There are lots of other good sites out there; these are just a couple of the good sites we came across during our survey.

For more information about how best to present online financial information to students, you might want to look at our best practice guide ‘Improving Information: HEIs’ provision of online financial information’. See www.offa.org.uk/about/research-good-practice.
If you have any queries about anything in this letter, please contact Zita Adamson, OFFA Communications Manager at zita.adamson@offa.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Zita Adamson