The students crowdfunding their tuition

Shameless e-begging, or a justified act of desperation? The ethics of crowdfunding university fees seem bound to divide opinion. But raising money on sites such as Hubbub, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo is becoming a go-to strategy for thousands of students.

Faced with unregulated and increasing tuition fees, postgraduate students are among the most desperate of these self-fundraisers. Some are ineligible for the government’s new postgraduate loan, while prospects can be just as bleak for those who are: the scheme’s repayment terms are steeper than those of undergraduate student loans, and it won’t always cover all costs.

Scholarships and bursaries are otherwise few and far between, and a part-time job could jeopardise a student’s academic work. It isn’t difficult to see why university applicants are turning to the crowd for help.

‘I worry what people will think of me’

Take Ellie Burch, 24, who has recently launched her campaign to crowdfund an art psychotherapy course at Goldsmiths, University of London. She graduated a year too early to be eligible for the postgraduate loan, and was unable to secure any other funding. Her “quest” – as it’s described on her Hubbub page – is to raise £20,000 from relatives, friends, and good-willed strangers.

Burch’s friends and family were unaware of her campaign at the time she launched it, and she felt reluctant to let them know. “There is a fine line between begging for money and genuinely asking people for help when you need it most. I worry what people will think of me – especially those who don’t know me personally,” she says.

Her fear of a backlash is probably well-founded. Back in 2014, Oxford student Emily-Rose Eastop attracted media attention when she was branded “a posh brat” during a similar fundraising drive that raised £14,000.

And perhaps the criticism is understandable: Ellie Burch is hardly the UK’s only squeezed student. So, what makes her entitled to special treatment? It’s a question she anticipates, and has led her to pledge some of the proceeds of her campaign to charity. “What separates my plea from others is that I am not solely basing my fundraising mission around my own gain. I have made a promise to donate a percentage to the Fountain Centre [a cancer charity], which I have been associated with in recent years both professionally and personally.”

Burch originally signed up to Hubbub after observing the success of crowdfunding pitches she had read online. “The first time I saw someone releasing a campaign I thought, ‘how cheeky’ – but over recent years, it has become an option that more and more students are having to explore. It is now an increasingly normal thing to do.”

‘I know other students who have been very successful’

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A further scroll through the site leads to Lutomi Kassim, who recently launched a campaign to crowdfund her PhD in the politics of urban choreography and theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Like Burch, Kassim initially tried more conventional means of funding, including a failed application for a studentship. She turned to crowdfunding after witnessing a fellow student use it cover their fees. “I know a handful of other students who have used crowdfunding and they have been very successful,” she says.

‘People seemed to admire my stop-at-nothing attitude’

But how likely are these campaigns to reach their targets? According to one successful crowdfunder, it’s not easy. “I did quite a lot of research before I started my campaign,” says Joanne Garner, 30, who last year raised £4,530 on Indiegogo to fund her master’s degree in jewellery and metal at the Royal College of Art.

“I only found a few people who had successfully crowdfunded their studies. For a campaign to work, you have to move beyond the people you know at some point, since there is only so much your friends and family can give. You have to get to the next layer of people.”

The probability of an Indiegogo campaign reaching its goal more than quintuples (page 21) once a quarter of the goal is raised. Garner says she managed to pass this threshold by offering rewards – handmade earrings, scarves, dresses – to increase the incentive for donors.

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“They were the real success of my campaign. I asked maybe 13 people if they would like to donate things [to offer as rewards], all people I knew very well. Then, throughout the project, I was getting messages and emails from people offering me things – some worth as much as £170.”

Garner acknowledges that some people might have been bemused by her campaign, but the overall response was positive. “People seemed to admire my stop-at-nothing attitude and the fact that it was my own proactive and creative approach. People understand how hard it is for regular people to take on further education, which entails enormous tuition fees.”

Is it really viable?

As Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, points out, crowdfunding is far from being viable for most. He calls it “an ingenious but insecure way to fund education”.

“If individual students can make it work, that’s fantastic. But it is almost certainly those who seem a little out of the ordinary – perhaps in what they want to study or their background – who stand to gain the most,” he says.

Andy Westwood, professor of politics and policy at the University of Winchester, says the hard work doesn’t necessarily stop once the fundraising target is reached. Successful crowdfunders next need to deliver on all the promises made during their campaigns. “The hardest part is presenting an idea or an ‘investment’ that has appeal, and then managing multiple relationships when you are actually studying.”

But many will be tempted by the success of Garner and others regardless of the potential pitfalls.

“Crowdfunding is becoming more and more prominent as a way of fundraising,” Garner says. “The irony for me now is that my uni is advertising a crowdfunding event to help people run their campaigns effectively. Maybe someone needs to let them know that people could do with this kind of support well before they begin their studies.”

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