Jennifer Kennedy

The housing, care and property management group has 50 education bursaries available for people living in Wheatley neighbourhoods.

The bursaries are worth up to £1500 for full-time students and £750 for part-time studies and will help support people on college and university courses.

Funded by the group’s charitable trust, the Wheatley Foundation, the bursaries are available to people living in homes owned by one of Wheatley’s social landlords - GHA, DGHP, Dunedin Canmore, West Lothian Housing Partnership, Loretto Housing and Cube - and people who live in a home factored by or rented from Lowther.

Sameer Khalid, a GHA tenant from Milton in Glasgow, received a bursary to study medicine at the University of St Andrews.

The 18-year-old, who has completed his first year, is able to fulfil his dreams of becoming a doctor thanks to Wheatley. He said: “The bursary has really made a difference for me. Despite having the academic qualifications for the course, the financial side of things can be a big burden. Having the bursary has meant not having the stress of worrying about my finances and has let me focus on my studies.

“It has helped me meet the costs of living and studying in St Andrews. I’ve used it towards food, accommodation, books and resources for studying.”

Sameer Khalid

Jennifer Kennedy, a WLHP tenant from Blackburn in West Lothian, has recently completed an honours degree in Business Management and hopes to pursue a career in marketing.

The mum of three, 34, completed her final year and dissertation remotely due to the pandemic. She said: “The bursary has been an absolute god send. The pandemic meant that libraries have been closed and access to books has been very limited, so the bursary helped to pay for some of my books.“It also made a big difference to us as a family, and took away some of the stress and worry about our finances while I was studying.

“I’m the first person in my family to go to university and my parents and partner are really proud of me. Unfortunately, there is no graduation ceremony, but my mum is throwing me a party in the garden to celebrate!”

More than 230 have been helped to go on to further education since the scheme launched in 2017.

Wheatley Foundation director Lorraine McLaren, added: “Over the last four years, we’ve been able to help hundreds of people from Wheatley communities go onto further education and take a step towards achieving their dreams.

“Through our range of social and economic programmes, the Wheatley Foundation tackles the barriers that people face growing up in poverty, creates opportunities and helps people achieve their ambitions.”

Customers living in Wheatley Group communities have until 30 June 2021 to apply.