Harder Hardship

The Government has deliverately made it more difficult for students to get supplementary hardship grants - the national rejection rate in 1981 is nearly 35% - an increase of over 10% from 1980 on top of this the department is paying out hardship grants at a much lower average value than in 1980. Amongst the things which cannot be included as grounds for a hardship grant are fiat retainers, emergency dental treatment, repayment of loans from previous years, and books other than prescribed texts (very often "recommended" texts outnumber "prescribed" texts).

Under the current bursary system students are faced with a no-win situation. If you haven't earned enough over the holidays you don't get a hardship grant because you haven't tried hard enough. On the other hand if you've earned "too much" you're undeserving and don't need one.