Every year so many students miss out on thousands of pounds worth of scholarships. Unlike loans, scholarships are free money. With the rising cost of living, they can help minimise your debt, reduce financial stress and help you focus more on your studies.

In this blog, we are going to myth bust some of the most common misconceptions about applying for a university scholarship.

‘Most scholarship awards are too small, so why bother’.

There’s a wide range of amounts available. Our scholarships range from £2,000 to £27,000. Something is better than nothing, every penny counts! 

‘It’s really competitive and too many people apply. I have no chance’. 

The reality is that not many people apply! Numbers can sometimes be low, so you really do have a good chance if you’re eligible. What’s the saying? If you don’t ask, you don’t get. 

‘Teesside University doesn’t offer scholarships, only the top-ranked universities like Oxford and Cambridge do’. 

Teesside offers a range of scholarships and bursaries to help you on your way. You’ll find a variety of scholarships available, some of monetary value and others that provide equipment and learning resources to support your studies. 

‘I don’t have time to write an application, it takes too long to apply’. 

Many of our scholarships require just a 5-minute application.

There’s a word count to highlight that we don’t need pages and pages from you. It might be that we only want 200 words per question, it says on the form. 

‘The process is really difficult, it’s not worth the hassle’. 

When you apply you’ll likely be asked a few details about yourself and a handful of questions such as ‘What would the award of a scholarship mean to you?’ or ‘What are your career ambitions?’. There will be nothing complicated that you may find difficult to answer. 

Watch our top tips for applying video to help. 

‘Scholarships are only for high achievers’.

Many students don’t realise that there are different criteria for scholarships. For some scholarships, it’s your UCAS points (merit-based) that will matter, for others – it’s your financial need (need-based) scholarships. Most of Teesside’s scholarships are the latter.

There’s something for everyone including care leavers and students seeking asylum.

‘You have to pay the money back anyway in the end’. 

Scholarship awards are usually paid directly to you, and they don’t need to be paid back like a student loan. 

‘It will affect my student loan’.

Student Finance England doesn’t need any information on a scholarship, this will not affect your entitlement.

‘I don’t know where to start – there’s no help’. 

We are here to help. The best place to start is by visiting the scholarship pages on our website. That’ll give you an idea of which opportunities are available and how you can apply.

Read our guide to applying guide to help. 

‘Scholarships are only for certain subjects’.

A lot of people think scholarships are just for sports, but this isn’t true. We offer a generous funding package for many of our courses. We have general scholarships and subject scholarships for arts and media, business, computer games, computing, engineering, nursing and health and science. Plus, new ones are getting added all the time.

To see what you could be eligible for head to tees.ac.uk/scholarships.