Supporting our students with the cost of living

Working in partnership with the Students’ Union, we have put in place a range of support and with your feedback we want to continue to find ways in which we can provide cost of living assistance for our whole community.

Financial Advice and Support

We know that the right information and guidance can help manage financial worries.

Our Student Support Advisers can offer advice and support on:

• funding for full and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses
• university bursaries and scholarships
• applying for hardship funds including digital poverty hardship support
• assistance available in the local community

They also offer advice about:

• budgeting and money management (including student banking)
• how to make your student budget stretch as far as possible
• ideas for saving

Getting early financial advice can help put you on the right track and give you peace of mind - so get in touch with our friendly advisers or come for a chat at one of our face-to-face or virtual drop-in.

Supporting our placement students

We are working with our Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care and Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education to provide our placement students with advice on budgeting for travel costs. Please check in with your course teams to find out what support is available for you.

Helping you to save money

Whether it is the big or small expenses we are looking at ways to help reduce your costs – as we know every penny counts.

Accommodation

We are pleased that we have been able to freeze the cost of University accommodation for five years and with all your bills included in the annual price, you don't have to worry about the rising costs of energy. For those in private accommodation, the Students' Union are working with the local councils to ensure students can claim the energy rebates and grants that they are entitled to.

Travel

If you are a commuting student, we have secured some great discounts with local transport providers including a Stagecoach Unirider and Arriva UniMed special season ticket offer.

Food

We want to ensure all of the University community has access to nutritious, healthy food at affordable prices. This is why we have got together with our Head Chef to create our helping hand menu - a selection of classic and healthy lunch dishes costing £3.00 or less. We have also reduced our bargain breakfast to £2.20 for five items and don’t forget to look out for a range of discounts and offers via UPay, our cashless and secure payment system.

Check out Chooseday Chill, every Tuesday at Augustine House between 5- 7pm, an opportunity to relax over some free tea and toast and have a chat with other students and the Student Wellbeing team. In Medway the Chaplain offers a World Café with free hot drinks and biscuits every Wednesday from 12 noon at the Blake Building, while at Canterbury there is tea at three every weekday with the Chaplaincy - so there is always somewhere to go for a free warm cuppa and a bit of company.

We have a Refillable Van coming on to campus on the last Thursday of every month outside Verena Holmes between 12 noon and 3pm. This provides a cost-effective way to top up on essentials while avoiding unnecessary packaging at the same time.

Learning Resources

Our Libraries provide students with the free learning resources they need for their studies and soon they will be saying farewell to library fines, as we believe there should be no financial barriers for students accessing our collections (further information to follow).

Our campus Bookshop has a Price Match promise for all core recommended titles and textbooks included in your course module handbooks.

And don’t forget that as a Christ Church student you have access to free software and productivity tools via your Student App store.

Careers and Work Experience

If you are looking to undertake a career development opportunity but finding it financially difficult to do so, then you may be eligible to benefit from the Career Development Fund.

The fund provides two types of bursaries for those who have a work experience opportunity that is an unpaid or low-paid role or has additional costs associated which would make it difficult for you to take up the opportunity now without financial assistance

Other

Other initiatives include, in partnership with the Students’ Union, providing period products for free across all campuses. Research shows that 43% of students have struggled to afford period products at one point and at an average cost of £10 per month we hope this saving makes a difference.

Finally remember there are a range of great discount schemes available to students such as Totem or Unidays and if you are a Canterbury resident, you are eligible for a free MyCanterbury Discount Card.

Helping you to make money

Help to find and apply for part-time jobs

If you are looking to earn while you learn and boost your income then sign up to our recruitment service Unitemps which has a great range of part-time jobs on offer within the University and local area.

Also remember our Careers and Enterprise Team are on hand to give advice in CV writing, job applications and interviews. The Careers and Enterprise Online Hub has an online CV checking tool (CV360) and an interview simulator for practise (Interview360) `as well as a Job Search linked to jobs based on your degree as well as internships. Please feel free to contact them for any help you need with finding and applying for part-time work at careers@canterbury.ac.uk. 

The above outlines just some of the ways we hope to help our students during the living cost crisis. We have lots more planned to support our community from cosy warm informal study spaces to working in partnership with local food banks, from introducing a veg box delivery on campus to lots of free events – so we will keep you up to date on all that is on offer.

We appreciate that concerns about the cost of living will affect our students in different ways, so please remember that there is a range of emotional wellbeing support available for our students if you are ever feeling concerned or overwhelmed.