Commuter Travel Bursary

The Commuter Travel Bursary will open on 10th February 2025.

The University Student Financial Support team is providing financial support to commuting students to help with their public transport costs to study at our Whiteknights or London Road campus as part of our Access and Participation Plan commitments.

Student eligibility:

To be eligible to apply for the Commuter Travel Bursary a student will need to:

• Be a Living at Home Student* who commutes from their permanent home address to the University to study.
• Be studying for a full-time undergraduate degree at one of our Whiteknights and/or London Road campuses.
• Be enrolled and attending in the current academic year for which you're applying for funding.
• Be using public transport.

And a student must meet at least one of the following access and participation criteria:

• Be a mature student (i.e. aged 21+ when you started your current undergraduate course)
• Have a home address recorded on their RISIS student record that falls within an area of low participation of young people progressing into higher education (POLAR4 or TUNDRA quintile 1 or 2) or be considered to be from an area of general disadvantage according to the governments Indices of Multiple Deprivation quintile 1 or 2. Please check if your postcode meets the criteria.
• Be a Reading Bursary recipient
• Be a student with a declared disability to the Disability Advisory Service

What is the bursary worth?

If you meet the eligibility criteria and apply to the Commuter Travel bursary, your application will be assessed on the following basis:

Any award from the Bursary is discretionary and does not automatically mean that this Bursary will be available in future years and as such should not be relied upon as a source of income.

The Bursary considers daily commutes from a student’s permanent home address to one of our campuses for timetabled activities and is not available to cover placement or other travel costs. For placement travel costs support please take a look at the eligibility criteria for our Work and Study Placement Bursary.

How to apply?

Eligible students will be contacted by email when applications open, but you can also apply online. Once received, your application will be processed within 10 working days and the outcome emailed to you.  Failure to provide the correct evidence will result in rejection of your application.

What information will you need to provide?

• Personal Details - including your address and postcode, these will be checked against your university student record on RISIS, so please ensure this is up to date.
• Daily Travel Information - including your usual method/s of transport and a breakdown of your average daily cost with receipts for a typical week of travel to the University for study. Please note we can only support with public transport costs.
• Supporting Statement - each application will be assessed on merit, therefore we ask you to provide a brief statement about you and how receiving an award will benefit you.

Deadline for applications 

Deadline for applications will be 1pm on 9th May 2025 or until the funds are exhausted whichever date is sooner.