STUDENTS across Swindon were this week in celebratory mood as they prised open the envelope containing their A-level results.

From Commonweal to New College, pupils were frantically ringing universities to see if they had been accepted onto the course of their dreams.

And amid the tears and elation, one Wiltshire charity is trying to raise funds to support as many students as they possibly can.

Wiltshire Community Foundation’s One Degree More scheme is a charitable venture which helps students from Swindon manage the crippling costs of university.

Last year they supported 42 students – seven from schools in Swindon – by giving financial help to youngsters from low income backgrounds as they navigate their formative years at university.

Rosemary Macdonald, the charity’s chief executive, has spoken of the “gap in funding for young people in Swindon wanting to progress to higher education”.

She said: “We want to close this gap and make life fairer for Swindon students.

“Our grand aim is to raise £45,000, which would mean we can send 10 students from Swindon through all three years of their university courses.”

The average award is £4,500 per student, which supports them over a three-year course.

One student who benefited from the scheme is 20-year-old Melissa Oliver who is a year into her three-year geography degree at Bath Spa University.

Melissa, who still lives at home with her mum in Devizes, receives close to £3,000 a year to support her while she is at university.

She said: “The grant has helped me with a lot of things.

“When I started at uni I didn’t have a working laptop, so I could get a new one. My cat got ill and I was able to spare some money for the vet.”

She takes the bus up to Bath Spa’s university campus four times a week for lectures, library sessions and to meet with her friends.

“I’ve made some really good new friends since I started. I didn’t expect to, because I’m not living there,” Melissa said.

Former Swindon Academy student Marcos, 19, said the programme has helped him in his first year studying mechanical engineering at the University of Manchester.

Marcos said: “Money is always tight, especially when you’re a student. So this grant from One Degree More really helped me. If it wasn’t for the scheme I would have struggled.”

For more information, or to donate to the cause, log on to www.wiltshirecf.org.uk/ODMSwindon.