Areas of Support

Gifts to the Friends of City, University of London, Inc. support key areas of need that would not be possible without funding from alumni and friends.  You can ensure that your gift to the Friends of City has maximum impact by recommending that it be directed towards the City Future Fund, or if you would prefer to support the Business School, the Cass Future Fund.  These Funds allow graduates and friends of City and Cass to give back in a meaningful way by supporting students, widening participation projects and innovative initiatives that would not otherwise be possible.

Both funds are currently making the following priority projects possible:

Care Leavers Initiative

Supporting and enabling young care leavers to achieve their academic potential through our dedicated care programme is now a priority at Cass and City. Breaking the social care cycle is essential in giving these young adults the chance to see a promising future unfold. With that in mind we aim to, not only attract more care leavers to Cass and City through our outreach work, but when they are here to provide them with a comprehensive support package that includes an annual bursary, a designated member of staff to offer them practical and pastoral support, priority accommodation that extends through the summer, priority for professional mentoring, and, mental health monitoring.

Robin is just one of our young students who grew up whilst moving in and out of care. The constant disruption, the lack of a family who he could rely upon, and a sense that he was not as bright as his ever-changing classmates – Robin changed school five times throughout his education – left him low on confidence and ambition. However, a visit from a higher education outreach officer convinced him that he had the ability and was only lacking the confidence to aim high. A talent for business studies and computing helped him choose a path that eventually led to a BSc in Business Studies at Cass.

“Attending college and then university felt like the most frightening steps I could take. Yet deep down I knew I had to give it a go. The help and support – not least the bursary – that I got when I was there were so important. I cannot stress that enough. Without it, I would have felt incredibly alone and may well have dropped out, probably after a few weeks.”

Robin graduated in 2016. “I feel like I’m ready to take on the world now.”

Student Support

Our Hardship Fund is there to support students who find themselves in situations where there is a real danger that they will not be able to complete their studies.

Michaela Carroll always wanted to be a journalist and embarked on her degree at City certain that she was in the perfect place to fulfil that ambition. However at the beginning of her final year of study her father died and Michaela contemplated having to drop out. Travelling home to the north of England every weekend to be with her family placed a huge burden on her finances. It was at this point that Student Support stepped in and saved Michaela’s degree.

This vital support enabled Michaela to graduate with First Class Honours the following year and she has already made significant inroads into the journalism industry working for both the BBC and a news charity within The Economist.

Michaela told us about her wider ambitions in journalism and what the Student Support fund meant to her: “I want to make more and more people aware of what is going on in the world, to bring those stories that are often overlooked and don’t get told into the mainstream. City has given me a flying start to my career, and that Student Support were there for me at such a difficult time has played a major part in me graduating.”

We promise it will not be wasted.

Student Support does not hand out money indiscriminately. We only help those students who are in genuine – and blameless – financial difficulty.

Scholarships

The cost of undertaking a University degree or postgraduate study in London can present challenges for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. City, University of London, is committed to ensuring that financial circumstances do not deter those who are most academically able. An increasing number of alumni and friends support students through 'Named Scholarships' which provide a life-changing opportunity for the student recipient. Donors can choose by subject or discipline and support can be for undergraduate or postgraduate courses of study.