Financial Support

The scheme is open to all current Lancaster University UK undergraduate and PGT students who are part of the GROW Your Future programme, and the amount received is dependent on your household income.

NB: Household income is calculated based on information provided to Student Finance England. If students are not in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance England due to personal choice or their UK status, then we will assess household income as being non means-tested.

If you are in receipt of a Lancaster Bursary, you are eligible to join the GROW Your Future programme.

For Undergraduates:

The amount that you can apply for is dependent on household income:

• Lancaster Bursary holder or household income is less than £30,000 - £1000 maximum for work experience, £400 max for travel
• GROW Your Future students who are not Lancaster Bursary holders with household income less than £42,600 – £750 maximum for work experience, £300 for travel
• GROW Your Future students who are not Lancaster Bursary holders with household income more than £42,600 but less than £60,000 - £500 maximum for work experience, £200 for travel
• GROW Your Future students who are not Lancaster Bursary holders with household income more than £60,000 - £250 maximum for work experience, £100 for travel

Note: for these purposes, household income is calculated via the information submitted to Student Finance England.

If you are in receipt of a Lancaster Bursary, you are eligible to join the GROW Your Future programme.

If students are not in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance England due to personal choice or their UK status, then we can only award a maximum of £100 for Travel or £250 for Work Experience.

For Postgraduate Taught Students:

Postgraduate taught students will be eligible for £250 maximum for work experience, £100 for travel.

Clothing

In some circumstances, we may be able to support costs associated with professional attire (£150 max).  

The indicative cost of clothing has been calculated by looking at the typical cost of business attire and accessories from modestly-priced high street retailers, bearing in mind seasonal variability and the fact that larger sizes may sometimes cost slightly more. Students would be free to purchase clothing that reflected their gender identity and/or cultural/religious requirements. They would be also free to allocate the clothing part of the budget as they wished (provided that the resultant purchases were of business attire and that the reallocation doesn't result in spending more than £60 on a single item), so for example if they already had a good jacket but lacked a suitable overcoat, they could spend the money on the latter, but not be allowed to spend the entire £150 budget on one coat.

For Travel:

You can apply for a bursary once you have received an invitation to attend for interview or assessment. You will need to:

• Complete an initial eligibility application form
• Provide a copy of the initial invitation to interview or assessment centre
• Complete claim form with travel/accommodation receipts attached
• Provide feedback on interview/assessment process

Application to the bursary for travel is a 2-part process. The first step is to apply prior to attending your interview to check eligibility. The second step is to complete a claim form to be reimbursed after you have attended your interview.

In cases where students are unable to afford the upfront costs associated with travelling to an interview, there may be ways to assist with this eg an emergency loan. Please email careersprojects@lancaster.ac.uk for further information.

For Work Experience:

Make sure that you follow the steps below to increase your chances of making a successful application!

1. Before completing the application form, ensure that you have downloaded, read and understood the Work Experience Bursaries Terms & Conditions below. This document outlines your responsibilities should you be awarded a bursary.

2. You must then complete the . As part of the online application process students will be asked to provide:

A copy of the work experience offer details and/or job description

Evidence of potential costs (eg screen grabs of transport/accommodation costs)

An outline of how the work experience will:

• contribute to personal development; and/or
• enhance skills development; and/or
• support future career aspirations; and/or
• enhance workplace skills in the eyes of future employers.

Please address all these points above with as much information as you can to support your application. Applications with too little detail will risk being rejected.  Remember this is a competitive selection process.   

The university reserves the right to interview applicants, either by telephone or in person should it wish to do so. In addition, the university may take steps to verify the information provided in the “Your Details” section of the application form.   

Successful Applications   

If an application is successful, the university will notify the successful applicant of the maximum amount they can claim; this money will be paid into their nominated bank account. 

Assessing your application

The Bursary funds are limited. Applications will be considered on a first come, first served basis by the Careers team until the funding is closed. Once you have provided all the relevant information we will aim to inform you if you application has been successful within three weeks.

If your application is successful, the bursary will be paid in advance of completing your work experience. You will be required to evidence, with original receipts, the expenses incurred as part of the work experience.

You will be required to repay any unreceipted or unspent elements of the bursary to the University.

After completing the Experience    

Once a student has completed their work experience they will be required to evidence, with original receipts, the expenses incurred as part of the work experience.    

The university reserves the right to terminate and, where appropriate, require payment from the student should it become apparent that the work experience is not being carried out by the recipient or there is a failure to produce the relevant original receipts.   

Students are also required to provide a short report (maximum 400 words) outlining the impact of their work experience skills on confidence, skills, experience and/or career thinking.

A condition of being awarded the Bursary is that students are required to provide feedback at different stages during the remainder of their time at the university to determine if/how the work experience has supported, influenced or made a difference to their career choices and decisions

The Bursary can be used to enable participation in activities that develop an individual’s employability. This might be a paid-for work experience in an organisation or volunteering. Educational activities such as conferences are generally not eligible unless there is a strong case for this and the applicant can demonstrate a clear connection to their career development and future employment.

The Bursary is designed to support students undertaking a ‘short’ work experience less than 4 months in length.

To be successful in applications for tech equipment for virtual work experiences, the experience should be longer than 35 hours.

Students must secure their own work experience. Work experience can be either full-time or part-time and must not form part of the student’s degree programme (note: Placement students are not eligible as the placement is part of their degree programme).

Work experience can be paid or unpaid experience (including voluntary work) in the workplace. Lancaster University Careers Service does not endorse unpaid internships – further information about unpaid work experience and your rights can be found on TargetJobs.

The work experience must be conducted with a reputable organisation, company or individual within the UK, or overseas. The university reserves the right to assess the suitability of the work experience as part of the application process and its decision is final.

The university accepts no responsibility for the work experience or any other matters relating to, or arising out of it and excludes its liability for all matters (including without limitation any employment-related issues) related to, or arising out of, the work experience.

The work experience must contribute to student’s personal development, skills development and/or support future career aspirations.

If you have any questions or queries about the bursaries or the application process please contact the Lancaster Careers Projects team.

2021/21 Terms & Conditions

21/22 Terms & Conditions

(Careers & Employability Service, Lancaster University)   

Please read this document you will be asked at the end of your application to sign to acknowledge that you have understood the terms and conditions of bursary.

What is the GROW Your Future Careers Bursary?

Work experience is a valuable opportunity to build up experience, skills and confidence in the workplace. Lancaster University has therefore established a limited bursary to help support undergraduate and PGT students with some of the costs associated with undertaking work experience. Likewise, we know that travelling to interviews can be costly, so the bursary is also available to help cover these costs. The bursary is only available to students who are enrolled on the GROW Your Future Programme.

If you are not already enrolled on the programme you can look at the GROW Your Future webpage to check your eligibility and join.

Students must secure their own work experience opportunity; advice on how to secure work experience can be found on the Careers Website.   

The Work Experience Bursary will be awarded on a competitive, first come first served basis, assessed against the strength of the information provided in the application form, until the allocated funding for the Work Experience Bursary has been exhausted.    

Who can apply?    

Full-time students who are enrolled on the GROW Your Future Programme.    

Travel T&Cs:

1.      Eligible students can claim travel and accommodation costs in order to attend a graduate job or postgraduate study interview, student internship or placement interview and/or assessment centre

The scheme is open to all current Lancaster University UK undergraduate and PGT students who are part of the GROW Your Future programme.

For undergraduates, the amount received is dependent on the following:

• Lancaster Bursary holder or household income is less than £30,000: £400 maximum
• Not a Lancaster Bursary holder, with a household income of less than £42,600: £300 maximum
• Not a Lancaster Bursary holder, with a household income of more than £42,600 but less than £60,000: £200 maximum
• Not a Lancaster Bursary holder, with a household income of more than £60,000: £100 maximum
• daily expenses such as food 
• visa/passport application fees  
• railcards (except in exceptional circumstances) 

n.b. Household income is calculated based on information provided to Student Finance England. If students are not in receipt of a maintenance loan from Student Finance England due to personal choice or their UK status, then we will assess household income as being non means-tested

For Postgraduate Taught students:

Postgraduate taught students will be eligible for £100 maximum.

2.      At the discretion of the Careers team, assistance is also available for travel costs and accommodation costs to attend workplace visits undertaken as part of The Career Mentoring Programme, Insight Days and Open Days.

3. Bursaries will be awarded per student, per academic year.

4.      There is a limit of £100 for claims for accommodation related to attendance at an interview or assessment centre.

5.      Students can claim more than once in an academic year, however the totality of their travel bursary will not exceed the maximum as outlined above per academic year.

6.      The bursary will pay for standard class rail fares. Flights are not usually covered unless these are cheaper than the rail fares – evidence of this will need to be provided.

7.      Applicants must provide evidence that travel expenses are not being reimbursed by the recruiting organisation. For example, an email or screen shot of a statement on the organisations website.

8.      Students should apply for their bursary prior to attendance at interview/assessment centre to check their eligibility. This will require completion of an application form and attachment of initial invite to interview/assessment.  

9.    Students will claim their bursary retrospectively once they have attended the interview/assessment. This will require submission of a completed claim form, attachment of relevant travel receipts and completion of an online feedback survey on the interview/assessment process. In cases where students are unable to afford the upfront costs associated with travelling to an interview, there may be ways to assist with this eg an emergency loan. Please email careersprojects@lancaster.ac.uk for further information.

10.   All claims for a travel bursary will be made in the same academic year as the interview/assessment took place. Late claims cannot be forwarded to the next academic year.

11.   Where possible application forms will be processed within 2 weeks of submission providing confirmation of student eligibility as appropriate.

12.   The Bursary Scheme Fund will operate on a first come first served basis. Once the annual fund is exhausted no additional funds will be made available until the start of a new academic year.

13.   Interviews for non-graduate jobs are not eligible for support.

14. The Bursary Scheme will operate until 31st July 2022.

15. Final year students must submit their claim by 6th June 2022 as their payments must be processed before they graduate.

16.   Where possible payments will be made directly into claimants’ bank accounts within 3 weeks of claim forms being submitted with the necessary evidence of travel costs.

17. Students who claim for financial support through the Bursary are expected to complete a short report outlining the experience and providing insights into the recruitment process. Without this report claims may not be reimbursed.

Work Experience T&Cs:    

By applying for the Bursary, you are agreeing to the following:    

You will complete the application form as accurately and fully as possible outlining how you have spent the bursary.  

You understand that the bursary is intended to support students to participate effectively in a short work experience (under 4 months in length and for virtual work experience over 35 hours) eg travel, accommodation, tech equipment, professional/business clothing.  

The Bursary cannot be used to cover:

3. You will provide evidence, by way of full VAT receipts (not credit card slips) to prove that you have incurred the expenses as claim.   

4. You will pay back any unspent money or that for which you cannot provide a receipt. Failure to do so will result in you being formally invoiced by the university. Unpaid invoices may prevent you from being able to graduate. If already graduated we will look to debt recovery firms to recover the costs.    

5. You will write a short report (min 250 words- max 400 words) outlining the impact of the work experience you have undertaken within 1 month of the end of your Work Experience. Please use

6. For the Lancaster University Careers team to hold your contact details and personal information in order to make contact with you at a future point to either offer you future opportunities or to help evaluate the impact that the work experience bursary has had on your graduate prospects.