Money – more specifically, not having enough of it – has become such a widespread concern for students that it’s now impacting attainment and threatening non-continuation on a larger scale than ever before.
We have built a powerful ecosystem that’s not only life-changing for students, but also has a real impact on recruitment, retention and attainment for institutions. It’s already being used by over 75 universities, colleges and businesses to support more than 275,000 students by:
- Transforming how money is managed and delivered to students
- Empowering students with money skills and confidence for life
- Providing powerful, actionable insights for staff and students
Here are just some of the ways multiple departments can use Blackbullion to take a whole institution approach to supporting students financially:
Careers teams
- Share learning content on tax, pensions, credit scores, mortgages and much more to help students thrive after their studies.
- Streamline the process of managing and delivering money to students for support funds including travel costs and clothing for interviews in our leading end-to-end funding solution: the Funds Management System.
- Signpost students to scholarships to prevent non-continuation on the UK’s largest hub of student support funds, bursaries, scholarships and grants: the Funding Hub.
- Encourage students to apply for scholarship opportunities on the Funding Hub provided by our corporate partners including Nationwide, Amazon and many more. As well as financial awards, many of these also come with employment opportunities.
- Tell students about our Money Manager app to support them with budgeting so they can manage their money with confidence. It’s a great tool to help students with the transition of receiving a monthly salary after university.
Outreach and admissions teams
- Prepare future students for the real cost of student life with our pre-arrival learning content.
- Use our powerful data insights to provide up-to-date information on student living costs.
- Share content with parents/guardians to help them financially prepare students for university.
- Demonstrate a competitive edge at Open Days by showing prospective students that you prioritise their financial wellbeing.
- Improve your process of managing and delivering funds to support prospective students with the cost of attending Open Days in our Funds Management System, where you can streamline every step from application creation and management to making an instant payment to the student.
- Share our platform with feeder schools and colleges; their students can create a free account and access our learning content with the info they need to make the decision about going to university. And financially prepare them for their studies if it’s the path they choose.
Marketing and communications teams
- Recruit more students by demonstrating that your institution prioritises financial wellbeing and will support them to succeed during their studies and beyond.
- Use co-branded digital resources, physical materials and email and social media templates to engage students with finance in university-wide student comms and events.
- Get powerful data insights on student spending and the real cost of student life.
Student support services
- One place to signpost students to learn about, find and apply for more money. Avoiding overwhelm for students (and staff!).
- Empower students with money skills and confidence for life and take a preventative approach with award-winning financial education on 80+ topics.
- Provide students with the first app designed for students to help them create a realistic budget and stay on track with it.
- Manage and deliver all of your funds, scholarships, bursaries and awards in one place in our leading end-to-end funding solution. Save your staff an incredible amount of time and dramatically improve the experience for students.
- Give your students the opportunity to apply for tens of millions of pounds worth of supplementary funds on our Funding Hub and list your own support funds on the hub to improve discoverability amongst eligible students.
- Get opportunities to collaborate with the Students’ Union and other departments for a holistic approach to supporting student financial wellbeing.
- Act on powerful data insights to optimise your student support, provide accurate info about the cost of student
life, underpin recruitment and mitigate non-completion. - Become part of a thriving community of over 75 universities, colleges and businesses and 270,000 students using Blackbullion and get CPD-training for your staff, ready-made student engagement campaigns and great opportunities for your students.
- See a real impact on retention, attainment and student success at your institution.
Expect to see real impact on…
Non-continuation:
of students are less likely to drop out after using Blackbullion
Attainment:
of students can better focus on their studies after applying for funding on Blackbullion
Student success:
feel more confident about their money after using Blackbullion
Why is it critical to take a whole-institution approach to student financial wellbeing?
Financial shortages are having a proven impact on students’ attainment and threatening their ability to complete their studies:
Non-continuation
- Students report a financial gap of £621 a month between what they have and need to feel confident they will be able to complete their degree
- 10% of students regret their decision to go to university*
Attainment
- 76% of students are worried that the cost of living crisis will have a negative impact on their final degree
- These worries aren’t unfounded – attainment is already taking a hit:
- 57% have received a lower grade than expected on an exam or assignment because they felt too cold to study due to avoiding turning the heating on
- 56% have received a lower grade because they were too hungry to study or concentrate
Recruitment
- If your student satisfaction falls due to the reality of how hard it is to study in today’s economic climate and your graduate prospects are impacted by students receiving lower grades than they expected or are capable of due to financial limitations, your ability to attract and recruit future students is also likely to be affected.
There’s no doubt that supporting students financially is crucial for all universities and HE providers – to ensure the success of current students and continue to recruit future cohorts.
It’s for this reason that financial support cannot be the sole responsibility of student support services. A whole institution approach that proactively supports students at every step of their higher education journey is fundamental.
Enlisting the help of technology wherever possible is key. Not only to provide a central place to facilitate an integrated cross-departmental approach, but also to benefit from the ability to cut admin and automate actions to enhance efficiency.
This too is more important now than ever, with staff increasingly having to do a lot more with a lot less and some facing the situation of having less staff overall.
Act now
Another department within your institution may already be using Blackbullion! Book a call to check if your university or college is a Blackbullion partner or to discuss any of the above. You can also reach us on hello@blackbullion.com.
Read more about taking a whole institution approach to money and financial wellbeing in this guest blog by Lynne Condell MBE.
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