Student Nicole is ‘quids in’ as a Santander scholar

The myth goes that a pot a cash lies at the end of a rainbow, but one lucky student has found it’s closer to home after winning national scholarship funds.

The Santander Universities Scholars Programme supports higher education students from under-represented groups.

Scholars each receive £30,000 of funding (paid in instalments over the course of their degrees) and access to employability training and development opportunities, plus a dedicated mentor to guide them through Santander’s programme.

There were more than 6,000 applications to become scholars, with 69 submitted from students at University of Northampton (UON). Joining the lucky final 100 from 72 universities across the UK who were successful is Nicole Kolenyo.

Nicole – who lives in north west London – is in the second year of her Accounting and Finance degree. She explains why she applied for the Santander scholarship: “My degree is going well and I’m really enjoying it, but the work has been harder this year. I commute to Northampton and, until recently, I didn’t have a car, adding extra costs and stress to my studies.

“I’m serious about committing to my degree and wanted to avoid adding any further stress with the demands of a job, but I was toying with the idea rather than applying for a scholarship. When I think of scholarships, I associate them with students who are getting the top grades which, if I’m being honest, is not me. But I ticked a few boxes on the application form, so I thought I’d put myself forward for it.”

Moving forward a few months, Nicole was pleasantly surprised when she not only ‘made the grade’ for the scholarship application, but was successful in receiving the funds, and she’s already thinking big about putting the money to good use. She adds: “I still can’t wrap my head around this. It seems so surreal as I’ve never had an opportunity like this.

“I’m originally from Kenya, so I have family there and in the UK so as soon as I got the confirmation news article, I posted a link on Facebook and all of my aunties, cousins, and my mum congratulated me.

“I’m keeping my options open about what to do with the scholarship, but two options are to use the funds to travel to European business seminars to boost my education and help me network with the right people. My grandfather owns a factory in Kenya, so I would also like to support the management and development of his business.

“My pipe dream is to – eventually – have a career in finance within the music industry, but that’s a long way off in the future. But so many more avenues are available to me, so I’m just happy with the extra potential I have before me thanks to the Scholarship.”