STUDENTS are being offered grants and scholarships worth up to £10,000 towards the soaring cost of university life – and they do not always need to be from a low-income family to benefit.

Brian Heap, author of University Scholarships and Awards, said many of the bursaries available are for academic excellence and tend to be in the less popular subjects such as science and engineering.

Southampton University, for example, has 15 grants of £2,000 a year available for students studying biological sciences.

Only those who get top grades in their A-levels are eligible, and the payouts in the second and third years depend on the students getting 60% or more in their first and second-year modules. Bradford University has 10 awards – each worth £1,000 – for undergraduates wanting to study petroleum engineering.

In addition to academic bursaries, many universities also offer financial assistance for sport and music. Brighton University has an “elite athletes” scheme, which offers scholarships of up to £1,000 a year and free access to the university’s sports facilities, to students who have competed nationally at either the junior or senior level of their sport and who have the potential to reach world-class standard.

The University of Bath offers choral scholarships worth up to £1,800 a year to students who sing in Bath Abbey choir.

Some companies also offer funding assistance through the university – and you are not necessarily tied into taking a job with them. Oil giant Shell offers a technical scholarship which pays two mechanical or chemical engineering students £10,000 each over three years.

Kier Group, an engineering and construction company, also offers annual scholarships to undergraduates. Students receive a bursary of up £1,600 a year, but they also benefit from work experience placements during their course.

Most scholarships and grants for the new academic year will have already been awarded, but there are still a few financial assistance packages available.

Brunel University has 50 scholarships each worth £2,000 that are available to students going through clearing.

Another port of call should be parents’ employers, according to Gwenda Thomas, author of Students’ Money Matters. She said: “A surprising number of large employers have special trusts to help with the education of their employees’ or former employees’ children.

“The National Police Fund helps children of people who are serving, or have served, in the police service. And the Royal Pinner School Foundation helps children of sales representatives.”

While some such trusts are set up to help families who have hit hard times, this is not always the case.

It is also worth trawling professional and trade bodies and charities for scholarships. Their academic criteria may be less stringent than universities, but you usually have to study a specific subject and you may have to accept a work placement.

Engineering institutions are among the most generous, said Thomas. The Institution of Engineering and Technology, the industry’s professional body, offers 26 awards of up to £3,000 a year to undergraduates who demonstrate academic excellence. Ten are reserved for women.

Charities are also a valuable source of funds. There are more than 1,200 charities with upwards of £40m a year to give away, according to the Educational Grants Directory.

For example, the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers, a guild founded in the City of London in 1322, is now one of the leading charities supporting metallurgy and materials science.

It offers two scholarships of £1,500 in conjunction with Corus, the steel group.

Last year, the Savoy Educational Trust, set up by four directors of the Savoy Hotel in 1961, offered four Reeves-Smith scholarships for young people studying catering, sport, leisure, hospitality and tourism. The awards were worth £5,500.

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