Cameron

This summer, Cameron Holliday joined GCU’s Graduation Class of 2025 with a BA (Hons) in Physiotherapy.

But back in 2021, he was unsure whether a university degree was something he could pursue at all.

His mum suffered a stroke while he was a child, so Cameron had been a carer in the home throughout secondary school and had to learn to juggle both his studies and care duties.

However, he was worried that he’d struggle to do the same in a university setting.

“It was always difficult through secondary school, and I knew university was going to be a step up. Honestly, I was reluctant to even apply to university, but I did, and I’m very proud of myself.”

When Cameron did thankfully decide to enrol at Glasgow Caledonian, he reached out to the GCU Foundation to find out what support was available to him and was granted a Common Good Scholarship.

“The award helped me not only manage my care responsibilities because I was able to take my work hours down a little bit, but it also helped me focus more on my studies. I was able to successfully graduate the first time around, and I'm very happy and very proud of that.

“Throughout the past four years, it was quite difficult at points with long placement hours. But then, not having to worry about doing extra work on top of that was quite a nice thing, and I feel very privileged to have been able to receive this.”

Not only did the scholarship relieve some of the financial strain affecting Cameron’s studies, but it also helped fund an international placement in Australia working within physiotherapy; an opportunity for which Cameron says he is “extremely, extremely grateful.”

For that reason, he has a message he’d like to share with anyone who has or is considering donating to support scholarships for students like him.

“A massive thank you to every donor that’s helped make this possible for me because I really can’t stress enough that this support, it’s not just a case of money – it’s an opportunity. And it’s helped me manage my whole outside life and be able to help care for my family as well, which means so much.

“And to anybody else that’s in a similar position to me – you’ll be alright. Some days it’ll be up, some days it’ll be down, but it’ll all even out at some point. Just keep going.”