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New financial support tool live: helping students choose Manchester

01 Oct 2026

A new Financial Support Tool is making funding information easier to find for students and prospective students. Find out what it means for colleagues and how existing finance webpages may change.

Financial tool

This week, we launched a Financial Support Tool on our website, beginning the final testing and feedback phase of its production.

The tool significantly improves the experience for students and prospective students using our website to understand the financial support available to them – something students tell us is one of the most important parts of choosing a university.

Changes for colleagues

In coming months, content on student finance pages you are used to directing home students to may change, link to the catalogue, or be deleted and redirected to it.

What the tool covers

The tool brings together information about undergraduate financial support schemes for home students, including bursaries, scholarships and grants, into a single filterable list, making the information more consistent, clearer and easier to find. In future, it will expand to include taught postgraduate support schemes. International students should continue to be directed to the existing International fees and funding pages.

Why are we doing this?

This addresses a longstanding issue with our funding information being spread across almost 200 webpages, making it difficult for students and prospective students to find what they need and challenging for colleagues to keep information accurate and up to date.

Putting users first

User research shaped everything, from helping to evidence the need for the tool to informing its language, search, filtering and categorisation. That focus on user needs is reflected in the words of our key stakeholders:

“Within the current financial climate, our students are looking for every opportunity to identify where financial support is provided that helps them access and succeed in higher education without facing financial barriers. It is important as an institution that we provide every opportunity we can to simplify and enhance their understanding of the many ways the University, our external partners, donors and alumni can support them”

Emma Britain, Student Access, Success and Development Manager, DSE (Project team member)

"Behind every bursary, scholarship or grant is a student whose university experience may be transformed by the support they receive. At a time when many are facing significant financial pressures, this new easy-to-use resource, will help students find the opportunities that can make a meaningful difference to their time at Manchester. Our aim is simple: that no student misses out on support because they did not know it existed or could not easily access it".

Simon Merrywest, Executive Director for the Student Experience

A One University solution

This is joint initiative between the Access, Student Development and Success (ASDS) team and the External Digital Experience Programme (EDE). Student funding specialists, recruitment colleagues, web professionals and digital specialists have worked together to design and deliver the solution, showing the value of cross-University collaboration.

Strategic alignment This work aligns with many financial support priorities outlined in our Access and Participation Plan. It also demonstrates how the EDE programme is turning our Manchester 2035 ambitions into tangible outcomes and putting Delivery Handbook principles into practice.

By improving the University's digital front door, simplifying user journeys and making important information easier to access, the programme is removing barriers to choosing Manchester, creating a better experience for students and prospective students and supporting student recruitment.

Next steps

The project team will continue to:

  • Refine the tool, governance and content processes based on feedback.
  • Finalise the admin interface and training for colleagues who will manage scheme information.
  • Begin work on the PGT expansion.

For further information on this project, please contact emma.britain@manchester.ac.uk or abbie.hyde@manchester.ac.uk.

Note to funding page editors

Stakeholder communications and engagement is well established and ongoing, but as a reminder:

  • We are asking colleagues not to create new webpages for student funding information, as the new financial support tool reduces the need.
    - Instead, requests for such pages should be submitted to the central Content or Faculty web teams who will provide guidance. Next steps will depend on whether the scheme is for undergraduates or postgraduates.
    - This interim approach will help ensure information remains consistent while governance processes, the administrative interface and colleague training are finalised.
  • We will continue to also submit schemes to the UCAS Scholarships, bursaries and grants where appropriate.