Dear Alumni and Friends,
I used to think that people like me couldn’t go to universities like LSE.
‘People like me’ might sound like I have an inferiority complex – I don’t: I’m confident in my intellect and capacity to benefit from an LSE education. Rather, it’s based on being brought up in a single-parent working-class family in Bradford – on a combination of my mum’s salary and tax credits – and not seeing how I might afford to study at LSE and live in London.
But I was wrong. There are lots of people like me at LSE: young people who want to use an exceptional education as a platform from which we can make our impact on global societies.
As I approach the end of my second year studying Social Policy, I’ve never felt more at home than I do at LSE. I’m eternally thankful to people like you, alumni and friends whose generosity to the Annual Fund supports the New Futures Fund scholarship enabling me to embrace the chance of a lifetime as part of the LSE community.
My background and upbringing can cultivate fairly entrenched views on certain social issues. But being able to hear all sides and compare differing angles cannot fail to open the mind – LSE campus is such an important cultural and intellectual exchange for us all.
I benefit immeasurably from the discussions and arguments had in class, continued in corridors and revisited in our flat with friends. I hope my peers from around the world similarly enjoy engaging with a working-class lad from West Yorkshire. I know that diversity of opinion is a sacred tenet of LSE, and philanthropic scholarships and bursaries such as my own help to maintain it.
Why Social Policy – and why LSE?
I came to study Social Policy at LSE because I want to shape future UK policy from Westminster that improves people’s lives. From education to healthcare, from climate change to population studies, and from inequalities to international development, an LSE academic or graduate will be leading the global policy debate. These experts are our teachers on campus, our role models and mentors around the world. I can’t fail to learn from the daily access LSE provides me to expert insight from world leading authorities in their field.
The School’s interdisciplinary approach was appealing, too. LSE Social Policy brings together policy-making, government, law, geography and history in a practical education. I've really felt the benefit of studying across disciplines – and it has already had a practical impact on me, informing my policy objectives in local politics, which I got involved with as soon as I came to LSE, running as one of the youngest council candidates in London.
Helping to improve the student experience
I am glad that the student experience is front and centre in higher education at the moment. At LSE that means excellent academics in exceptional academic departments, and a community of brilliant people learning and advancing knowledge in brilliant facilities and innovative study spaces – such as the Annual Fund-supported Social Policy living room, which I use frequently. More than 70 projects across LSE have been supported by regular donations from alumni and friends this academic year.
I’m active in the LSE Students’ Union. As well as providing a student voice, the LSE SU coordinates a range of clubs and societies which add so much to our student experience. As a previous Student Governor and current Ethics and Environment Officer, I am proud to represent the student body to School leadership. I am also privileged to learn from and be mentored by some of our prominent alumni Governors, whose advice and support is invaluable to me as I plan for a career in politics and policy-making. When I graduate, I want to pass that on and share my experiences with future students, alumni and friends of LSE, too.
Make LSE an attainable dream
My mum left school with few qualifications. She worked tirelessly to offer me a brilliant childhood from her limited means. At 33, she said she knew she was more than the sum of her parts and was not prepared to settle: she aspired to better herself. She resat her GCSEs, studied and passed her A Levels, completed her degree and is now becoming a fully qualified teacher – realising a dream she had never thought was possible. She’s an inspiration.
Annual Fund donors help to ensure that students like me can always aspire to better ourselves. You are a visionary and generous community of alumni and friends around the world. Without you, for all my drive and ambition, LSE and London would have been my unattainable dream. I would have missed out on a life changing education. I wouldn’t have met the inspirational students and teachers who will become friends and mentors for life. Thank you so much for making this dream a reality.
Please consider making a gift to the Annual Fund before the deadline date of 31 July 2018 so LSE can plan for the next academic year.
Kind regards
James Slater
BSc Social Policy (2019)
The New Futures Fund supports undergraduate students from lower income or financially disadvantaged families. It offers scholarships and bursaries ranging from £4,000-10,000 per year for the three-year duration of their course.
In 2017/18 the Annual Fund is supporting 34 undergraduates via the New Futures Fund. Your gifts to the Annual Fund can help the School increase its support in 2018/19.