First-year PhD Ocular Oncology student Natalie, a scholarship and bursary recipient, shares how the financial support she received has been instrumental in helping her navigate an often challenging and isolating journey to university. Without your support, she wouldn’t have been able to afford university in the first place.
Thanks to your generosity, Natalie has achieved things she never thought possible. She graduated first in her undergraduate cohort, completed a lab placement, and secured a fully funded PhD place in a highly competitive doctoral training programme with only 40 places available from 800 applicants!
Natalie’s journey
I would describe my experience as quite unique. Being the first person in my family to attend university, I had no one to turn to for advice. I didn’t know about UCAS until I was 18. It was hard, and I had to push for what I wanted on my own. It was quite isolating, which was even more difficult during a time when the world was locked down.
I started at another university but ended up hating my course after completing an access programme. My undergraduate degree was much harder than I expected as I sat my A-levels during the pandemic, making the transition to university even more challenging. After a series of personal challenges and the difficulties of being a first-year student during the pandemic, I knew I needed to make a change. I transferred to Liverpool, my original first-choice university, and started from second year as a commuting student.
Once at Liverpool, I found a sense of belonging. Liverpool has been amazing for me. It’s a place where I feel at home. There are people here from similar backgrounds and the University has allowed me to get involved in so many different experiences. I’ve been active with the Widening Participation team, teaching students to read, giving campus tours, and working on projects like Liverpool Plus. Liverpool Plus allows students to build a community by meeting other students and strengthening their relationships with different teams across the university. It also offers a comprehensive programme of activities, drop-in support sessions and regular communication of opportunities and important information through a newsletter and WhatsApp Community. These opportunities have been incredibly fulfilling.
The Impact of financial support
The financial demands students experience can be beyond overwhelming and at times inspire a feeling of impending doom. When you do not have access to support from family (through no fault of mine or theirs), it is so isolating. The financial support from the University not only alleviates this but creates a network of students with a massive span of stories who can support each other too.
University life is not linear. For people like me, we are in a space that is totally alien. I had no family or friends who had done this before, and the challenges I faced were mostly unexpected and, to a degree, uniquely mine. However, challenges as a student are not themselves unique, and many of my friends have also faced barriers beyond the challenges we experience pre-admission. Access to financial support can be transformative for both physical and mental wellbeing for some of the most vulnerable students in our community. The capacity to alleviate the financial burden experienced by students from underrepresented backgrounds can be the difference between loving, growing, and immersing yourself in a degree or simply surviving it.
Reflecting on her journey
The bursary was absolutely critical to me staying on as an undergraduate in my second year and is the only reason I was able to do my master’s. If I hadn’t received the Liverpool Bursary, I don’t think I would have been able to transfer to Liverpool and probably would have dropped out.
I couldn’t have done any of this without the support I received. The bursary helped me access opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. I worked as a Liverpool Advocate and later became a Project Assistant for Pathways to Engineering, which is a very full-circle moment for me!
Liverpool truly had my back, and I want to be able to offer that same support to others in the future.
How to help: The Student Fund
For students like Natalie, the Student Fund makes all the difference. It provides scholarships, bursaries and emergency grants, offering crucial assistance to those who need it most.
The success of many students at Liverpool is made possible through the generosity of alumni and friends. By supporting the Student Fund, you help provide essential scholarships and bursaries to students facing financial hardship. To learn more or donate, please visit our webpage and help create opportunities for students like Natalie to achieve their academic dreams.