A university goer has been denied access to student finance because he was deemed not English enough.
Larry Parkes was told he will not be given a grant to stay in higher education due to his nationality – despite being born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, the Sentinel reports.
The youngster was born to an English father and French mother at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and attended St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School and St John Fisher Catholic College.
However, he has been informed he is not entitled to a British passport – a form of identification he must produce in order to qualify for a £3,000 grant and £2,000 loan to pay for his £5,000-a-year place at Aberystwyth University.
The 19-year-old stated: “I’ve been living in Stoke-on-Trent all my life, I was born here, I can’t understand why I can’t get a grant like everyone else.”
He added this lack of student finance has resulted in the university – which has been at its current location since the 1960s – blocking his internet access, which means he cannot read his emails or check the homework assigned to him.