A Corpus education must be affordable for all. The College is working hard to achieve this goal with needs-based bursaries. Your help is required to meet rising needs.

The challenge faced by students

Studying for an undergraduate degree is more expensive than ever. This is true at universities throughout the UK. The typical cost to a student is now £19,000 a year (tuition fees and living expenses).

Most UK undergraduates can take out loans for tuition fees and maintenance. However, these loans carry significant interest rates. Many students graduate with debts of £60,000 or more.

Moreover, the loan available to cover living expenses has not kept pace with recent cost of living increases. Some students can make up the difference with the help of their families, but others cannot. As a result, students could miss out on all-important opportunities and activities that are critical to a happy and fulfilling university experience.

What Corpus is doing to help

Corpus is proud to participate in the Cambridge Bursary Scheme. Means-tested awards are available to UK undergraduates whose household income is less than £62,215 a year. Eligible students receive up to £3,500 a year – more if they are care-leavers, were eligible for free school meals, or are undertaking the clinical component of a Medicine or Veterinary Science degree.

The College also provides top-up bursaries to many of its students who are eligible for a Cambridge Bursary. These top-up bursaries are worth up to £1,000 a year.

The number of Corpus students eligible for help has increased over recent years. There were 83 recipients in 2023/24, up from 54 in 2018/19. With increased benefit to students comes increased cost to the College. The value of Cambridge Bursaries and College top-up bursaries awarded to Corpus students last year exceeded £310,000.

Your role in transforming lives

You can make a huge difference to a student’s time at Corpus. It might even be the difference between affording university and not. The impact of your support could last a lifetime.

There are several ways to support undergraduate bursary provision at Corpus:

• Contribute to the current appeal to establish the Margaret Andrew Bursary.
• Donate to the Alumni Fund, which provides several Cambridge Bursaries each year.
• Establish an in-perpetuity undergraduate bursary fund. The sum required to do so is £150,000. If this is of interest to you, please contact Mrs Rachel Lawson, Director of Development, on +44 (0)1223 335492 or development.director@corpus.cam.ac.uk.

To make a gift now, visit our donation pages.