Opportunity to scope evaluation plans for financial support schemes

The scoping project will work with up to eight higher education providers to develop a theory of change and evaluation plan to understand if their financial support schemes – such as bursaries – are suitable for evaluation later next year. 

We will be prioritising the development of randomised-controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs. However, where we receive particularly strong applications, we will consider scoping the feasibility of theory-based evaluations.

Potential evaluations

We believe that prospective evaluations of financial support are possible in the following ways:

• Testing how often financial support is provided or when it is provided: for example, a randomised controlled trial of those eligible for financial support where a one-off payment is compared with monthly installments.
• Evaluating a change in eligibility criteria or amount of support: for example, using a quasi-experimental design to understand the impact of a financial support scheme due to a change in eligibility that changes the reach of the financial support.
• Evaluating the introduction of a new scheme using a quasi-experimental evaluation such as differences-in-differences or interrupted time-series analysis.

Financial support influences students’ academic outcomes and experiences, particularly for students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds. However, further evidence is needed to determine how specific financial support structures, delivery mechanisms and level of support are related to student success. 

Application process

• The invitations to tender will open on 16 November 2026 for approximately five weeks.
• The online application process will be relatively light touch – we will gather details about your financial support schemes and proposed research questions. 

Who should apply? 

• We will select and work with providers (or groups of providers) who are interested in evaluating their financial support schemes.
• The lead applicant must be a registered English higher education provider in the approved (fee cap) category.

Funding

• Successful providers will be eligible to receive up to £8,000 to take part in this project and cover associate costs for participating. 

When will the project take place?

• The project will run from January 2027 to July 2027.

Please note: 

1. We aim to evaluate needs-based financial support. Within English higher education, this primarily encompasses bursary schemes, but may also extend to other means-tested assistance such as tuition discounts and targeted grants. 
2. Schemes where eligibility is purely merit-based are out of scope for this project.