There are a lot of financial aid options available today for students and among the most prominent ones are scholarships, grants, and bursaries. Financial aid is incredibly important because it ensures accessibility to higher education for most economic situations. So today, we will learn about what is a student bursary, as well as how to find and apply for one.

What is a Student Bursary?

Wondering, “what is a student bursary?” A bursary is a type of scholarship with the main purpose of providing financial support for students who aren’t able to cover the cost of their education even with the help of their parents. A student bursary helps by giving students money to pay for their education.

You can call bursaries a need-based scholarship because the main focus of a bursary committee is to assess the financial situation of the student. If the parents of the student are able to bear the expenses of their child’s education, then the bursary may not be given to the student no matter how well the student performs academically. The amount awarded for a bursary depends on how much income that household has—the higher the income, the lower the amount the bursary will be.

It is important not to confuse a bursary with a loan. Bursaries are funds given to you to pay for your education that you do not need to pay back. If you have a student loan, on the other hand, you will most likely pay them back with a higher interest rate.

Another misconception is that bursaries, grants, and scholarships are the same. Although all of them serve a similar purpose, they have different criteria and functions. Scholarships are awarded to a student based on their merit—academically or in other achievements like volunteer work, sports, arts, and more. Bursaries instead are more need-based, and grants can be funds based on the need for people in a certain field or for project opportunities.

How to Find Student Bursaries

Now that we are clear about what is a student bursary, it’s time to find out how to find student bursaries. The best way to learn about a bursary program is to check the website of the college or university you want to study at and see whether they offer some sort of bursary program. If the information on their site is not clear enough, give them a call or go to their admissions office to check if they offer a bursary program. If they offer a bursary program, go ahead and ask them if you are eligible for the bursary program or not.

To increase your chances of winning a bursary, try applying to multiple bursary programs. The more you apply to, the better the chances you’ll have of winning a bursary. If you are having trouble finding a bursary program that fits your needs, try one of the programs at GrantMe.

GrantMe offers programs crafted to help more students get financial aid. On our website, there is information available on more than a thousand scholarships and bursaries. When you provide your information through our scholarship assessment, we run a quick scan that cross-checks all the available information in our database and find the programs that are the most suitable to you.

How to Apply for Student Bursaries

We know what a student bursary is and how to find a student bursary according to your needs. After you have found a student bursary program that matches your needs, it is time for you to work on the application process for the student bursary program. 

After you have found a college or university that offers a student bursary program, the next thing you need to do is submit an application. Some bursary programs have an age requirement for submitting an application, so be sure to read the eligibility requirements carefully. 

It is important for you to know the eligibility requirements for the bursary program you are applying to. These bursary requirements vary from one program to another. So, it is very important for you to go through the application guidelines thoroughly before you put in the time and energy for the application for the bursary program.

Most students who are above the age of 16 are able to submit their own applications. However, some specific bursary programs require the guardian of the student to submit the bursary application on their behalf.

You typically need some documents to complete the application. Your high school results or transcript and some sort of documentation showing that you have financial need are usually required. Some bursary programs may also require you to provide documentation of your parents’ income to see if they are able to pay for your education or not.

You should know the total financial amount that the bursary program is going to cover. You need to know whether that bursary program is going to cover all the years of your education or if it will only cover a couple of semesters. Then you can plan ahead for the remainder of your education.  

If the bursary program is not going to cover your whole educational expense, you may try applying for a scholarship if you have good academic results or are high achieving in an extracurricular activity. Scholarships are usually awarded based on merit, so find a scholarship that you think you can win and give it a try.

Every bursary program has a deadline. Check out the deadline for the bursary program that you have decided to apply for and make sure to submit the application within that deadline, otherwise your application won’t be reviewed.

Most bursary applications need to be submitted online, so you may need to create an online account to submit the application for the bursary program. The steps to create an account should be available on the application guidelines of the bursary you are applying to.

After you have applied for the bursary program, it is time for you to wait for the results. You should be informed when the results of the bursary program are made available. Be patient, as there are lots of students applying for this financial aid and only a handful of them will win the award. The bursary committee will go through all the eligible students’ applications and from there, they will decide who the bursary should be awarded to.

Sometimes the bursary committee may shortlist you for the award and ask you for an interview. It’s a good idea for you to prepare your interview responses in advance to make a good impression on the committee.

To increase your chances of landing a life-changing bursary, you should give a GrantMe program a try. Our scholarship experts not only find you the top-rated scholarships that you have the highest chance of winning, but we will even help you with the application process. All you need to do is sign up. If you’re interested, one of our team members will give you a call to help with the application process.