Brookes offers scholarships

Each of the students, who will receive £1,000 for each year of their studies, was nominated by their school or college. It is the first year of the scheme, which will next year be extended to students from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Janet Beer said: "The community scholarships are just one more way for Oxford Brookes to make a contribution to our region. The scheme is one of the most recent steps the university has taken to break down the barriers to a university education."

All state schools and colleges in the area can nominate a student who has firmly accepted an offer from Oxford Brookes. Those nominated must have shown exceptional ability or commitment, whether it be academic achievement, becoming a role model in their school or community, overcoming personal or family difficulties or showing outstanding commitment to their studies.

Prof Beer said: "Each of our community scholars has, in their own way, demonstrated great drive and determination. Many of their achievements have been motivated by generosity and concern for others. The university recognises and values these qualities as well as academic success."

Course fees at Oxford Brookes in 2008-2009 will be £3,145, for which students can take out a loan to be repaid on graduation. A maintenance loan of up to £4,625 is available - barely enough to cover rent in Oxford.

Edward Trewella, UK marketing director for the university said: "For some students, the additional £1,000 per year of scholarship money might be enough to reduce their potential debt enough to make university a serious option.

"For others it might mean more freedom to get the most out of university life, for example by volunteering and for others, the £1,000 might cover the costs of childcare."

The students received their awards from Prof Beer.

OLIVIA Ransted, 19, was nominated by Banbury School Sixth Form. Miss Ransted wanted to study locally because her father became ill shortly after she completed her A-Levels. She said: "My dad has leukaemia. He has not been doing amazingly well and my parents don't really have a lot of money. I was going to go to Cardiff University, but I changed my mind and came here because he is in the John Radcliffe Hospital at the moment.

"When my dad got ill I was debating whether to go at all, but I decided that if I didn't go to university, I would never get anywhere. Going to Oxford means I can help my family and it also gives my mum one less thing to worry about."

The teenager will be the first member of her family to go to university and hopes to become a history teacher. She said: "The scholarship means a lot because my parents can't support me financially and it means I can stay here. I can live in halls, and I am within walking distance from the hospital."

MARY Pickles, 18, of Cumnor Hill, Botley, had family reasons for staying close to home.

Her 16-year-old brother John, has severe learning difficulties and requires a lot of care and attention. Miss Pickles, pictured left with Ben Liversage, 10, during a lesson, said: "I did apply to other universities and I do not think it was the main factor for staying at home, but it was a factor.

"I am not his sole carer, but I do love him and it's important to me to stay close to him. John needs to be occupied quite a lot of the time and he can't communicate very well. He has to come up to you and get your attention so you have to be on the ball the whole time."

Miss Pickles, who is studying primary teacher education, was nominated by Abingdon and Witney College.

VICTORIA EDWARDS: Mum-of-six Victoria Edwards, who lives with her family in Thorney Leys, Witney, was not eligible for student loans or grants, having completed a teaching degree in her 20s.

After enrolling on a healthcare course at Abingdon and Witney College to fulfil her dream of being a midwife, her life became more complicated as her father died, aged just 65, and her husband lost her job.

Mrs Edwards said: "We had no income apart from the two days teaching I was doing. We were really struggling. I lost my car and I had to cycle to do shopping for a family of eight."

As her mother is also now seriously ill, Mrs Edwards is juggling 12-hour shifts as a maternity assistant at the John Radcliffe Hospital, visiting her mother, looking after her family and studying. She said: "It has been very traumatic, but we are managing. I just felt that if I didn't take my place I might never get the opportunity again. I'm not sure I would have been able to take the place without the scholarship money. I absolutely love the course, it is everything to me as well as my family."

HIU Man Chu, 18, moved from Belgium to Oxford to study when she was 15, speaking almost no English. But she managed to complete her GCSEs and A-Levels - all in English - at Cherwell School and won a place at Oxford Brookes.

She lives in Cutteslowe with her aunt, and said Oxford was now her home, despite her parents and family still living in Belgium.

She said: "I was really homesick when I first came but I used to go home every half-term and in holidays. It's really good here, I am really happy in England. Winning the community scholarship means there is less pressure about money matters, which is good."

ERSAN Isti, 21, travelled from Tottenham in London to Cherwell Valley College in Bicester every day because he could not afford to live in Oxford. Winning the scholarship meant he could afford to live in halls - and he planned to stay in Oxfordshire once he completed his degree. He said: "It was difficult, but I wanted the good grades. I don't have a very privileged background and both my parents are unemployed so this means a lot."

SCHOLARSHIPS: Victoria Edwards, midwifery; Hiu Man Chu, mathematics with accounting; Kimberley Dawson, learning disability nursing; Mary Pickles, primary teacher education; Ersan Isti, motorsport engineering; Laura Cooper, primary teacher education; Sam Parker, construction management; Olivia Ransted, history; Anthony Alsworth, mechanical engineering; Cassidy Bell, foundation art and design; Hazell Downer, primary teacher education; Nick Elliott, film studies and Japanese language and contemporary society; David Hibbert, history; Chris Stabler, construction management. (Two others asked not to be named.)