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Please meet Isaac, who has just graduated from the University of York this summer, after being funded through his three years of studies by the Postal Family Fund University bursary. We spoke to his postal worker mum Claudette about their experience.
Why did you apply for the Postal Family Fund bursary?
Isaac is an only child raised in a single parent household. He has always been involved in school and scouts. His friendships from both of these activities led me to having a conversation with a teacher at primary school who told me Isaac had great potential but needed more confidence. The teacher asked me to encourage Isaac to attend maths club. As a single parent it was a pleasure to see Isaac loving maths club and forming lifelong friendships with the other attendees. To support him I found an undergraduate tutor who offered a more affordable weekly addition to maths club. I juggled my part time job at Royal Mail with parental responsibilities to make this work as I could see Isaac’s interest in learning grow. Isaac found it challenging but enjoyed it. As Isaac went through school, his interests developed further and he joined a coding and an engineering club. He went through his GCSE and A levels with a keen interest in computers. He attended engineering summer camps and got himself a small paper round and managed to be part of an online gaming team that got flown to Miami for a weekend. Isaac found a course at York University that offered a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. We looked at different Universities and Isaac decided that this was the one for him.
What impact has the bursary had?
As a single parent, I found it important for Isaac to become part of groups and be involved with his peers in a social and responsible way. Via scouts he has been involved in all sorts of fundraising activities and loves to walk which aided him to get his Gold Duke of Edinburgh award at Buckingham Palace. Isaac willingly thinks outside of the box to do the things he’s interested in. I knew his interests and his determination to get to university meant he would be planning on how to improve his funding situation coming from a single income household. I wanted Isaac to have the opportunity to focus on university and immerse himself in the university experience completely. I was told about the bursary and am so grateful that he was fortunate to receive this. It made a huge difference. Isaac was able to get the proper equipment and access to books and media as well as cover additional costs related to his course along the way. As any parent would, I tried where I could to support him the best I could, but university is one expense I could not cover. Unfortunately, whilst Isaac was at university, I became seriously ill and had a spell in hospital which put me under financial pressure. It was a very difficult time. Isaac was worried about me but we were both so grateful he had this bursary in place!
What’s next for Isaac?
Isaac has just been awarded a First in his Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and is excited for the future. He will be looking for jobs within software engineering after pursuing some personal projects to build up his CV.
