A Scholarship Model Built for the North

The gap in higher education participation between the most and least deprived areas of England remains stubbornly wide. In parts of West Yorkshire, fewer than one in five young people from the lowest income quintile progress to university — not for lack of ability, but because the financial and psychological barriers are simply too high. The Yorkshire Education Trust set out to change those odds with a scholarship model that addressed both.

Our three-year investment of £145,000 funded a cohort of up to sixteen bursaries per year, each providing £5,000 in direct financial support and pairing each recipient with an employed professional mentor from the region. The Trust's distinctive feature is its commitment to ongoing pastoral support: each scholar has access to a dedicated adviser throughout their degree, not just in the critical first year.

The results have been exceptional. Across the three funded cohorts, 48 young people accessed university with Trust support. The completion rate stands at 92%, compared to a national average of 74% for students from similar backgrounds. Participants report that the mentorship and financial security were equally important: knowing that someone was invested in their success changed how they understood their own potential.

The Trust has since scaled its model with funding from three additional foundations and a group of individual major donors. The Sanghera Foundation remains a core partner, and the Trust's programme director has been invited to advise the Office for Students on best practice in supported access pathways.