No support for the sick · Issue 872

Students with cancer get a raw deal when it comes to financial support, finds Sarah Powell

Everyone knows that for students, money is tight. When you think of the typical stereotype, an image of a penniless individual eating supermarket ‘value brand’ baked beans immediately springs to mind. The fact is that it’s an occupational hazard that comes with being a student.

A little known fact, however, is that for students with illnesses such as cancer, money is even more scarce.

It does not occur to most people that applying for financial support is actually quite difficult. As students, we apply for our loans, and everything seems simple. But for students with cancer, the system is much less accommodating.

When my cousin Melissa was diagnosed with a rare type of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (cancer) in August 2007, it came to my attention that there is a serious flaw in the financial system which is meant to give support to those in need. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), to which individuals can apply for financial support, currently fails to recognise students with cancer as worthy of help. Benefits in the form of Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, and Disability Allowance are all available from the DWP to provide financial support to those who need it most, be that single parents, carers, or “people with a serious illness or disability.” What this body fails to inform us is that students do not fall into any of these categories.

This meant that for Mel, securing financial help was not only very difficult, but also a very long and tedious process. If she had been a single parent or disabled financial help would have been more accessible. But because she was a student, help was incredibly difficult to secure. She was told by the DWP to take out a further student loan, or give up her degree altogether, which would mean she may qualify for income support benefits. Emphasis here is on the ‘may qualify’. This was by no means certain.

It is a common problem for students to finish their degree with a huge financial debt. To incur further debt through illness seems incredibly unfair; a student loan is in place to support studies, not to supply an income when you are ill and unable to continue your studies. Cancer treatment is often so intrusive and debilitating that students have no option but to take time out of University. But to be forced to give up their studies altogether in order to be eligible for financial support is completely unjust. For some students the idea of returning to university provides a psychological impetus to help them through their illness, and it is wrong to take this away from them.

Recently I saw an advert for Macmillan Nurses, which read: “It’s amazing what cancer can take away.” Where I once would have stopped and spared a thought for those suffering from cancer before proceeding with my life, I now realise the full extent of the phrase. Cancer not only has the power to take away your freedom and health, it also can take away your right to financial support and with it, even a right to your degree.

To me, it’s a no-brainer; the law needs to change. It needs to stop ignoring the needs of students who desperately require financial support. Instead of subjugating the financial plight of students with cancer, the Government needs to implement change into its policies.

A Facebook group has set about trying to encourage change through a petition which members sign. The group, ‘Time for protection-Students with Cancer have NO RIGHTS’ argues that there is a need for greater protection of students with cancer, and a definite need for better communication between Doctors, universities and the DWP. This would eradicate the need for students to fill in endless forms to prove that they are ill and to confirm their eligibility for financial help. As the law stands, this is what the current system requires them to do in order for them to have a hope of receiving any form of financial support.

In my view, individuals who are suffering from cancer should be concentrating on getting better, and should not have to fill in extensive forms which require effort and energy, and which could ultimately end up being rejected. Ask anyone who has undergone the rigorous chemotherapy/radiotherapy regime, and they will affirm that the last thing they want to do is go home and fill in a mountain of paperwork.

There is a desperate need for the system to be improved, and it should be made easier to gain access to financial support. Instead, as it stands there are endless forms, with intrusive questions, and unrelenting amounts of agencies to contact. Most importantly, however, the system should recognise that students are deserving of financial support, and so there should be a special benefit for them that doesn’t require them to give up a degree, or seek a further student loan. It should be made more accessible and straightforward.

Luckily for Mel, she had very supportive parents who were able to help with the complicated form-filling. And even with their help she had to give up her studies and wait 5 months before eventually receiving a minimal sum. Until they received this, her family endured a great amount of stress trying to cope with the financial burden of transport to various hospitals, as well as trying to help with medical needs.

Clearly the system is inadequate and need to be radically updated to accommodate the needs of students and their families. Being diagnosed with cancer is stressful and terrifying enough without the added worry of having to secure financial support. Students shouldn’t have to give up their studies in order to get help. It’s true that cancer can take away so many things – we need to stop letting it take away our right to an education.