How your gift supports students

Find out how, when you give to Leeds, you support a wide range of people from different backgrounds to benefit from higher education.

Why do Leeds students need my support?

Some students experience barriers, which mean they need help to take advantage of every opportunity and put them on a level playing field with their peers. 

Your generosity enriches a wide range of support offered by the University, starting before they arrive at Leeds, through to the day they leave.

The students who will benefit are from low-income households, where families struggle to afford to support a student studying away from home. They may also:

• be estranged from their families, or are care experienced, so they don’t have personal or financial support
• have extra commitments such as caring responsibilities that impact their studies or ability to join in extra-curricular activities
• have refugee or humanitarian status and be adapting to a new country, language and culture alongside settling into university life and their studies.

How will my gift help? 

By giving to Leeds, you support students like these through scholarships and a wide range of student support initiatives.

Scholarships

Scholarships provide financial security to students so that they can realise their full potential.

Scholarships are granted to students with the greatest need based on eligibility criteria, and provide £3,000 a year to cover living and other associated costs of being at University. 

Students tell us that scholarships help them pay for essentials like rent, food and bills, but also provide them with a sense of certainty and financial freedom. This allows them to get more involved in University life, for example through:

• industry placements, internships and study abroad opportunities
• volunteering for the local community and activism, supporting those in need
• clubs and societies and social events. 

These activities enrich their time at Leeds and provide the skills, confidence and experience that help with graduate job applications and further academic study.

Our students also tell us that knowing that someone, like you, believes in them and their abilities is life-changing. It gives them a sense of wellbeing and confidence that frames their university experience and drives them to succeed.

81% of scholarship recipients received a 2:1 or higher in 2021, despite often starting university with lower entry grades than their peers. 

Your support has provided me with an incredible level of confidence – and for this I am forever indebted to you. The fact that alumni believed in me enough to back me financially has been life changing.

Student support

Your gift will also enable us to support students as they transition into university, progress through their studies and go onto great things beyond graduation. 

Much of this is channelled through the Plus Programme, which supports around 4,500 students each year.

The support is tailored to their specific needs and includes:

• workshops to develop study and writing skills
• social events where they can meet other people with similar life experiences or circumstances
• wellbeing and careers guidance, including in-depth careers advice and mentorship for those who feel a certain profession is out of reach because they don’t have the right connections or cultural capital. 

Opportunities at university are so important. Part of our role is helping students to take advantage of them without finance being a barrier. It’s about levelling the playing field – helping students to know they are as deserving as any other student.

The programme constantly adapts to meet the needs of our diverse student community; their work informed by a student-led steering group. 

Positive feedback from students confirms the programme’s value:

The team really helped me fit in and feel part of Leeds.

It made me feel that I’m surrounded by people who can relate to where I’ve come from to get here.

Student stories