Solent supports students with Contextual Offers Scholarships

That’s why we offer contextual admissions – these are offers with adjusted UCAS entry requirements that are typically below the standard entry points needed. Contextual offers take into account a student’s personal challenges, background, and achievements.

The use of Contextual Offers is a Widening Participation initiative that forms part of the University's Access and Participation Plan

Learn more here Scholarships to ease cost of living

These offers are designed to help students who might have faced difficulties in the past and make it possible for those who might otherwise struggle to attend university to reach their goals.

To further enhance the support we provide for students in receipt of a contextual offer, students may also receive a one-off contextual offer scholarship upon enrolment. This £500 scholarship aims to support eligible students with the cost of student living or course tuition fees.

This initiative recognises and addresses disparities in educational opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and aims to support students with the cost of living while they are studying at Solent.

The contextual offer scholarship is a non-cash payment, is non means tested, and non-repayable. It is available in addition to any other funding applicants may be eligible to receive (excluding other Solent University scholarships).

In 2024-25, a total of 98 contextual offer scholarships were awarded and we intend to increase this number over the coming years.

For 2025-26 academic year entry we hope to be able to provide 150 scholarships – these will be awarded as a £500 dining credit which is applied to the student’s Solent University Everyday catering app account. This credit can then be used to purchase food and drinks from any of the University’s catering outlets, including Costa Coffee and Starbucks.

The contextual offer scholarships that we’ve awarded in the past have had profound and lasting impacts for our students, as you can see from Keira’s story which is shown in this video.

Contextual offer scholarships are awarded on a first-come-first-served basis in the order the UCAS applications are received.

Eligibility for the contextual offer scholarships is assessed post-enrolment by the Admissions Team and eligible students are notified and then automatically provided with a voucher redemption code for their catering credit.

At Solent, we’re dedicated to helping all our students succeed and achieve, and we’re very proud to be able to offer these scholarships which have had such profound and wide-reaching benefits for the students who have benefitted from them, as Keira's story shows.

You can learn more about Solent’s contextual offer scheme, and our contextual offer scholarships, here.

The University would like to thank Sodexo, our catering provider, for their continued support and the use of the Everyday app to deliver these dining credits to our students.

Further information on Customer Dining Allowance Vouchers can be found on the Portal, or contact Contacts and Projects for further guidance. Any new dining allowance vouchers purchased after 1st May 2025 will be valid through to July 2026.