A single mother is taking on finance chiefs at the University of Kent after they refused to help her struggling daughter – because of her postcode.

Tanya Vyas says the university in Canterbury turned down the request for additional funding support simply because the family lives in an area where more people go on to higher education.

The furious solicitor says if they lived in a place where a low proportion of people go to university, her daughter, 20, would be eligible for extra funding through the Kent Financial Support Package.

“They have turned her down because of her postcode,” Ms Vyas said.

“There is no means-testing. They haven’t looked at my low income. They have simply looked to see where she lives, seen it is an ‘affluent’ postcode and said she doesn’t qualify.

“Do they expect me to move house?”

Ms Vyas has another daughter, 18, who attends the University of Bristol.

“She has been given the extra funding as Bristol uses a different set of criteria,” Ms Vyas said.

Both girls were given additional support through Student Finance England, based on Ms Vyas’ income, but students are also entitled to apply for extra help from their individual universities.

“Each university can set different criteria when deciding who qualifies,” said Ms Vyas.

“Bristol said yes, but Kent won’t give my daughter the support she is entitled to because of our postcode.

“She is entitled to £6,000 over three years but instead she is struggling – she doesn’t have enough money for books, travel costs, her prescription. She’s living in a rented house so has to pay bills.

“She suffers from extreme panic attacks so she doesn’t have the ability to work while she has the pressures of university.

“I’m on my own; I’ve got a mortgage to pay and a car to run.”

In a letter to the university, Ms Vyas called the postcode criteria “unjust”.

“This explains why Student Finance England does not use it,” she said.

“I am speechless that Kent university even adopts this unfair method.”

She added: “The university has no idea what we have been through the last five years.

“In the face of adversity, my daughters have worked extremely hard and got themselves good A-levels and gone on to university.”

But in a letter of response, the university’s deputy director of finance Frank Richardson emphasised the Kent Financial Support Package is only for students that come from a household in an area that “traditionally has had low levels of participation in higher education”.

"The university has no idea what we have been through the last five years" - Tanya Vyas

“Unlike some other universities, such as Bristol, Kent has chosen to focus its financial support package on students who may not have had the opportunities to enter higher education,” he said.

He added that Ms Vyas – who unsuccessfully appealed the decision – could try to access extra money through the Access to Learning Fund, which helps those with hardship.

But Ms Vyas says she will fight on until her daughter, who is in her second year studying English and American literature, receives what she is entitled to.

She added: “My daughters are going to make their mark on the world. They are very smart.”

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