Mandy

Mandy’s GCU story began long before she ever set foot in the University’s lecture halls.

She was connected to Glasgow Caledonian University by its Caledonian Club mentorship programme, which helps secondary school students in Glasgow navigate their options to go on to higher education.

That support continued when she enrolled at Glasgow Caledonian and was granted a Common Good Scholarship, which eased any financial pressures she faced and enabled her to focus fully on her studies across her four years as a Business Management student.

“My dad was a lone parent who worked a full-time job and received additional benefits to support me through school and then University.

“I was the first in my family to come to university, so there were all these ifs, buts, and maybes that I was quite scared of, but having that financial support first and foremost just removed a huge number of barriers for me.

“I do still remember getting my first scholarship payment around October time, and by that point I'd been coming to the University every day to access the library and the computers, because I didn't have that at home.