Disaster in Denmark

Going abroad alone is a daunting task for any student wanting to go out and see the world for themselves, be in for a weekend in Paris or for a week in New York. Now imagine you were fortunate enough to go as part of your degree on the ERASMUS scheme. For a 3 month period students on various courses are given the chance to go around the world, partly to study, but partly to experience a different culture without the tourist rose-tinted glasses. For those more adventurous of you this might sound like a chance in a lifetime, one to be grabbed and like that first pint after the day from hell.

However, imagine if you went abroad and found that grant you were promised never arrived? As appealing now? Our sources in Denmark tell us that the grant that was supposed to help students fund themselves in an alien country has yet to arrive despite the students being out there for over a month.

The students were supposed to be receiving a grant of £878 to help cover flights and living costs. However, this grant is nowhere to be seen. The stranded students were promised the money would be in their accounts at the latest by 7th May despite originally being told that they would receive the money before they left the country. The money is likely to be delayed even longer because the 7th May is in fact a bank holiday so no money shall be transferred, thus prolonging the students’ strife.

“It’s ridiculous to the point of offensive,” one student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us. “Covering costs is hard enough sometimes at home with a student loan and overdraft. When you’re trying to that going at home, and in an expensive foreign country know that there’s money you were promised SOMEWHERE, possibly gathering interest in the university’s account, it just makes you angry.”

The student told us that it was ‘ridiculous financial mismanagement’ whilst continuously cursing those delaying the transfer of the money. Denmark’s economy means wages are higher than in England and thus prices can be standardised to that, meaning higher prices for simple commodities. This makes the money students are owed even more essential.

“It would have been better if they were straight with us from the start, saying the money could be up to a month late,” our anonymous student told us, “then we could have made financial arrangements at home. These are impossible to do here as banks like NatWest and HSBC have no partner banks in Denmark.”

Concerns may arise for future groups of students heading abroad. With tuition fees rising, it is possible that such money would become more necessary than ever to those students wishing to spend a summer in Denmark, or even a year in partner universities in North America or Australasia. With the increasing dependence on student loans and the like one must look at the students’ welfare if this financial support fails to materialise. In attempts to save money it is logical to think that corners will be cut, and unless the issue is solved soon a meal that would have been a square, may become a perfect circle.

“It’s just not good enough. It’s not like I want the money for beer, I need it for food and rent too,” our exasperated student concluded.