Leaving a legacy: the Dr Maud Tyler Scholarship

Leaving a legacy: the Dr Maud Tyler Scholarship

To fulfil the wishes of the late Dr Maud Tyler, her family have set up a care leavers scholarship in her memory to provide maintenance grants to five deserving final year students.

Dr Maud Tyler retired as Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2006 after 35 years at Westminster. Dedicating her life to the development of the University, she was committed to giving students from all backgrounds an equal chance at reaching their true potential, and care leavers were an important part of this.

For care leavers, the prospect of entering higher education can be especially daunting. Unlike most students, they have neither the financial nor emotional support of a family to fall back on. In 2018/19, just 13 per cent of care leavers entered higher education, compared to 43 per cent of all other pupils in the UK. Those who do go to university are also less likely to complete their degree compared to students who have not been in care. This is largely down to financial pressures, with a reported 6.5 per cent of care leavers resorting to using payday loans while studying.

Westminster’s mission is to support people from all backgrounds and we offer a variety of support for care leavers, including bursaries, tutorial support and accommodation scholarships through the Unite Foundation. However, as Dr Maud Tyler was aware, there is always more that could be done to give these students the best chance of success.

Thanks to the generous support from Dr Maud Tyler’s family, the Dr Maud Tyler Final Year Care Leaver Scholarship has been set up in her memory to support students during the crucial time of their final year of studies. Each scholarship, worth £4,000, will help these students cover day-to-day living expenses such as accommodation, food, study materials and travel costs, eliminating the need to take out extra loans or risk getting into debt. With fewer financial concerns, care leavers can focus on completing their studies and taking part in other extra-curricular activities to make the most of their time at university.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Daniel, a Computer Science student, upon receiving the scholarship. “It is going to be a great financial help as I am a care leaver living alone. This means a lot to me because now I don’t have to worry about money for rent, food or travel.”

Through the scholarship set up in her memory, Dr Maud Tyler continues to support students as she did as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, allowing her work to have a prolonged impact on those who were unable to experience her positive presence at the University.

“When we learnt of the proposal for a scholarship fund for care leavers,” said Maud’s family, “we were delighted to be able to help honour Maud’s wishes.”

LEAVE YOUR LEGACY

You too could change a student’s prospects through leaving a legacy in your will. To write or amend you will for free, visit westminster.ac.uk/legacy-giving or email development@westminster.ac.uk for more information.